Baudolino Audiobook By Umberto Eco cover art

Baudolino

Preview

Try for $0.00
Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts.
You will get an email reminder before your trial ends.
Audible Plus auto-renews for $7.95/mo after 30 days. Upgrade or cancel anytime.

Baudolino

By: Umberto Eco
Narrated by: George Guidall
Try for $0.00

$7.95 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $25.79

Buy for $25.79

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

As Constantinople is being pillaged and burned in April 1204, a young man, Baudolino, manages to save a historian and a high court official from certain death at the hands of crusading warriors. Born a simple peasant, Baudolino has two gifts: his ability to learn languages and to lie. A young man, he is adopted by a foreign commander who sends him to university in Paris. After he allies with a group of fearless and adventurous fellow students, they go in search of a vast kingdom to the East - a kingdom of strange creatures, eunuchs, unicorns and, of course, lovely maidens.

Fusing historical events with myths and fables, this is a lighthearted, splendid tale.

©2000 RCS Libri S.p.A (P)2002 Recorded Books
Fiction Historical Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Fantasy Funny France Royalty
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

What listeners say about Baudolino

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    185
  • 4 Stars
    67
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    13
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    199
  • 4 Stars
    38
  • 3 Stars
    11
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    160
  • 4 Stars
    55
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful wanderer

Reccomended for lovers of history and fantasy and where those two things overlap. If you enjoy getting lost in mysterious medieval maps you will love following the long long tale of Baudolino. Delicious language and loved the reader's voice.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic story with a great narrator.

A fascinating story made all the better by the philosophy, history, and theology woven throughout.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A fine tale.

This book is a mixture of medieval myth and medieval history as told by a congenital lyre. It's fun to try to detect where the truth ends and fantasy takes over. The reader is, as usual, superb and adds a great deal to the enjoyment of the book. A great escape.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not as good as I hoped -but it’s Eco’s not as good

Nothing read by George Guidall can be all bad. His reading doesn’t put one to sleep, but this particular novel has the potential to cause one to lapse into a spontaneous coma. I was a Religion Minor in one of the top 5 private colleges that offered one such minor without affiliation! Still, enough on the dang vinegar already. But sometimes it was very very good, and sometimes it was horrid.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Slow strange start, but then it gets better

A bit hard to follow at first, but it grew on me. Glad I stuck with it past the six hour mark. Maybe it is a bit difficult to listen at first because it attempts (and succeeds) at getting you 'inside the head' of a medieval person/character. That is a very strange place for a modern person to visit. He's not a modern person in a medieval setting. The story is rambling, chaotic and sometimes incoherent, but I think that might be deliberate and designed to capture the experience of the characters. The protagonist is a fabulist, and maybe that is an unintentional satire about people in the news in the present moment who indulge in 'alternative facts'. Overall, it's entertaining and funny. Well written. Go with the flow and enjoy.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great reader and and interesting story

Umberto Eco books are always convoluted and tricky and this book is no exception. I enjoyed the story but the reading was first rate. This probably the best reading I have heard out of the 10+ books I have listened to. He enlivened a story that dragged a little at times. I'm sorry it's over.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

wonderful

Umberto Eco delivers in a wonderful snd strange story on merging realities and old myths. excellently narrated

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Masterpiece

The great Umberto Eco doesn't need any additional praise or commentary. But I have to give a shout out to George Guidall for his phenomenal narration of Baudolino. What a performance! How did he do it? It takes a special talent to keep pace with Eco's milling crowd of characters, wisecracking and yelling at one another. Not to mention the nonstop linguistic pranks in Italian, Greek, Arabic and assorted fantasy languages. Just amazing and hilarious.

Get this audio version and give it a listen. You can thank me later.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

An absolutely fantastic story

Highly recommended to anyone with an imagination, and anyone with skin think enough for blasphemies.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Reading of a great sprawling tale

The reading is really first rate. The story itself is one of my favorites, hilarious in many ways, and the reading makes it a pleasure to listen to

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!