I am not OP, but I've been studying French for 7 years in school before I read Monte Cristo in French, and it was still a very challenging read - to the point o

I am not OP, but I've been studying French for 7 years in school before I read Monte Cristo in French, and it was still a very challenging read - to the point of being more work than pleasure. It is full of old grammatical forms and full of passé simple, much harder to read than contemporary novels let alone Le Petit Prince.