The Three Musketeers

The Three Musketeers, by Alexandre Dumas, pere

This book is well known because of a 1993 movie, and a remake in 2011.  I have not seen the 1993 movie since its release, and have not seen the 2011 movie at all.  But, I would venture a guess that the plots of the movies do not come close to doing justice to the plot of this book.

This book is an excellent read and has such a complicated plot that I do not think movie makers could possibly fit the entire thing into one film.  The reason for this is that there are no side plots.  What you think are side plots actually turn out to be essential to the main plot happening "according to plan" and working out for the good of the main characters.

To attempt a nutshell plot synopsis, D'Artagnan travels to Paris to become a musketeer.  He meets three, Aramis, Porthos, and Athos, and his desire to join their ranks is not realized right away (it takes more than half the book).  Each of the men has their own little love interest and history, as well as a faithful servant.  The book was originally published in installments, which explains the somewhat episodic feel of the plot's events.  But, each scene is absolutely necessary to the main story arc, and the development of the characters is quite enjoyable.

The main villain could be said to be the Cardinal Richelieu, but in my opinion, his true evil-ness is not fully revealed the way it is done in the movie version.  More villainous is the Lady de Winter.  She appears early on, but we do not know who she is yet.  Later, she becomes a target for D'Artagnan, who wants information from her, and still later, the narrative leaves the Musketeers and follows her to England.  It is there that we discover just how evil she is, and in the final few pages of her England journey, the light slowly dawned on me that she had really overcome the setbacks laid on her by "the good guys," and accomplished her task even while being completely locked up in a prison.  Although she caused the destruction of an innocent man by psychological manipulation, I was willing to concede that it was ok, because her performance was truly brilliant, so she deserved to win that one, even if she was evil.  Which makes me wonder, did she actually perform her psychological manipulation on ME instead?

I find myself wishing someone would make a movie with her character exactly as she was originally authored (compare the 2011 movie, which makes her out to be a deadly assassin), perhaps played by Tilda Swinton.  I would even speculate that although the book is called "The Three Musketeers," the main character is actually Lady de Winter.  Her story is the one that unites all the side plots and the others' stories into each other to make them essential.  From an acting perspective, she and Athos have the most substance with which an actor skilled at subtle facial expressions could work.

I recommend this book to anyone with a lot of time (it is a 520 page book), a love for the classics, an interest in historical novels, high adventure, and court intrigue.  Also, there are a lot of big words.  I'd say high school and up; maybe a mature middle schooler would enjoy it.