As in, you know, how much of the reputation and fame of the book is based on the abridged version(s?), and how much on the unabridged one. (Or of course various movie and TV adaptations - to the extent I know the story, myself, I know it because of that adaptation with Gérard Depardieu and Ornella Muti as Dantes and Mercedes, which iirc was in four episodes, so doubtlessly cut a lot.)

And with your experience, yeah, your being a kid at the time might have a lot to do with not getting that fairly essential detail.