J

Simply fantastic. Sci-fi, from 125 years ago, that still holds up and is relevant today. Obviously the setting is telegraphs and trains instead of cars and airplanes, and the writing itself is slightly dated. But the meat of the story could easily be written, and still feel like futuristic sci-fi, today, with very minor cosmetic changes.

This is comfortably my favorite of my recent efforts to read/reread a bunch of classics I have broad strokes knowledge of but want to get the real deal as an adult. Moby Dick is "the book" everyone thinks of on obsession, but this is a far more interesting examination of it to me. (I also vastly prefer that he mostly just tells the story without the bombastic, repetitive style.) Edmond is obsessed with revenge almost beyond reason, and at several points flirts with where the line is and who he's willing to sacrifice to achieve it.

It also feels like it lays the outline for modern heist movies, with intricately laid plan on intricately laid plan that you get to watch slowly unfold.