Bel Ami
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Narrated by:
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John McDonough
About this listen
Guy de Maupassant is revered for his naturalistic fiction, which brilliantly captures flesh-and-blood characters as it evokes the most telling details of everyday life. Considered one of the finest French novels ever written, Bel Ami follows journalist Georges Duroy and his increasing stature among the Paris elite. With an immense thirst for power, Georges is not above an almost gleeful use of wealthy mistresses to achieve his ends.
©2001 Margaret Mauldon (P)2011 Recorded Books, LLCListeners also enjoyed...
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To Those who Appreciate Wisteria and Sunshine. Small medieaval Italian Castle on the shores of the Mediterranean to be Let Furnished for the month of April. This small advertisement sparks something long dormant in the reluctant hearts of two downcast London women - the possibility of happiness.
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My absolute favorite book.
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The Beautiful and Damned
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- Unabridged
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Published in 1922, Fitzgerald's second novel chronicles the relationship of Anthony Patch, Harvard-educated, aspiring aesthete, and his beautiful wife, Gloria, as they await to inherit his grandfather's fortune. A devastating satire of the nouveaux rich and New York's nightlife, of reckless ambition and squandered talent, it is also a shattering portrait of a marriage fueled by alcohol and wasted by wealth. The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald wrote to Zelda in 1930, "was all true."
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i loved it
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Madame Bovary
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Though he embodies neither wealth nor a lavish persona, Charles Bovary - a somewhat established doctor - takes a chance in marrying the young, vibrant, and ambitious farm girl Emma Rouault. At first, Emma is delighted to be married and away from her father's farm, but her thirst for the rich and ornate lifestyle that she witnesses other people living soon drives her away from her husband and into the arms of various suitors.
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Madame Bovary doesn't disappoint
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Here, we have a glorious ensemble of Woodhousian characters knocking elbows to foreheads in the elegant and grand Blandings Castle. Meet Freddy Threepwood, the vagrant son of doddering old Lord Emsworth of Blandings Castle. Freddy has recently become engaged to Aline Peters, the American heiress of an irascible father. The snag is that Freddy seems to have at one point become enamored of a struggling actress, Joan Valentine, and written some impetuous and imprudent letters to her.
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Same book as Something Fresh
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By: P. G. Wodehouse
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Crime and Punishment
- Penguin Classics
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- Unabridged
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This acclaimed new translation of Dostoyevsky's 'psychological record of a crime' gives his dark masterpiece of murder and pursuit a renewed vitality, expressing its jagged, staccato urgency and fevered atmosphere as never before. Raskolnikov, a destitute and desperate former student, wanders alone through the slums of St. Petersburg, deliriously imagining himself above society's laws. But when he commits a random murder, only suffering ensues.
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Best translation on audible – mediocre narrator
- By Fantod on 04-29-20
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The Voyage Out
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The Voyage Out is Virginia Woolf's haunting tale about a naïve young woman's sea voyage from London to a small resort on the South American coast. In symbolic, lyrical, and intoxicating prose, her outward journey begins to mirror her internal voyage into adulthood as she searches for her personal identity, grapples with love, and learns how to face life intellectually and emotionally. Its wit and exquisiteness, and its profound depth and insight into humanity, will capture the imagination of the listener.
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Lovely
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Of Human Bondage
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Of Human Bondage is one of the greatest novels of modern times, and it is certainly Maugham's greatest achievement. It was published in 1914, when Maugham was at the height of his creative powers. The story concerns Philip Carey, afflicted at birth with a club foot, and his passionate search for truth in a cruel world. We follow his growth to manhood, his educational progress, his first loves, and the wrenching tragedies and disappointments that life has in store for him. In some of the finest prose of the 20th century, Maugham has presented us with the timeless story of one man's search for the meaning of life.
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Greatly Unsettling
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Nicholas Nickleby
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The most gorgeously theatrical of all Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby follows the delightful adventures of a hearty young hero in 19th-century England. Nicholas, a gentleman's son fallen upon hard times, must set out to make his way in the world. His journey is accompanied by some of the most swaggering scoundrels and unforgettable eccentrics in Dickens's pantheon.
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Amazing
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Dombey and Son
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In this carefully crafted novel, Dickens reveals the complexity of London society in the enterprising 1840s as he takes the listener into the business firm and home of one of its most representative patriarchs, Paul Dombey.
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Perfect pair
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By: Charles Dickens
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What listeners say about Bel Ami
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-25-21
Mediocre performance doesn't do justice
The narrator doesn't do enough voices to keep it interesting and varied. I wish there were more narrators to choose from. He's not bad, but not good. Considering how much scheming, intrigue and seduction there is, his voice does not sell it.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Bill
- 12-26-23
Grabbing power and status
Climbing the social ladder using good looks, charisma and no regard for others. With multiple marriages and numerous affairs a
man climbs from poverty to wealth and power.
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- Neil Chisholm
- 12-03-13
Bel Ami or how to socially climb in 1885 Paris
Bel Ami starts as a penniless returned soldier and by the end of the book after affairs and marriages he is one of the most powerful men in Paris if not France. He tramples on all he meets, money and position become everything and his sexual gratification is the cherry on the top.
The women in the story seem to be strong but really are weak and bend to his every whim and it shows that the story is basically a story of human desire, weakness and determination. Maupassant was well know for his excellent characterisation and in Bel Ami the characters are brilliantly portrayed.
Listening to my favourite Maupassant has really stimulated my hunger for more French literature which I have read extensively in my 30s. However, having it read to me gives it a whole extra layer of richness and complexity (and correct pronounciation of the French names and places!).
This book is highly recommended - listen to it before you see the film. The movie has been given a bad review but if you go in knowing the story and the main characters you might get more from it. Certainly you will go in understanding better the times and morals and be less judgemental. I hope to see the movie myself shortly. Standby - I might add to this review after I have seen it!
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11 people found this helpful
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- Robyn
- 09-26-11
Thought-provoking commentary on the human conditio
Typical Maupassant story of a young man developing his character during an earlier era.. A social commentary on the mores of the times with a fascinating narrative of a young man finding his way in the world when marital fidelity amongst the upper classes was accepted.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Laura G. Marcantoni
- 01-04-19
No wonder it is a classic.
Bel Ami is a dispassionate , non judgmental and elegant description of people and society. The author keeps his distance and this makes the book more enjoyable and the characters more appealing and real. It could be a denunciation of the society of the time of just a portrait in any case it is done with such a mastery that this novel, even after two hundred years, it is very pleasant to read .
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1 person found this helpful
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- Mona Chipman
- 05-18-24
Fascinating
Being intrigued by the Belle Epoque Society of Paris & its literary geniuses like Proust, Guy De Maupassant has always fascinated me. Belle Ami, to some extent being autobiographical has me wondering to what degree was Georges Guy? Unscrupulous dangerous man.
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- Ashleigh
- 04-01-24
the readers voice with the accent was great
sometimes they cut a word short and say now chapter 10 or whatever the next one was
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- Elaine Brandt
- 09-07-24
What a nasty dirty man that Bel Ami!
The adjectives and descriptions were beautiful.
I really did not love the book. It was okay.
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- D. Evans
- 11-27-12
Scary to think people like Bel Ami actually exist!
I listened and listened and kept hoping one of the characters -- any of the characters -- would give Georges Duroy a good thrashing!
If this story is any indication, Guy de Maupassant doesn't have a good opinion of women. Is there nothing he can do that would make them dump him?! Only one woman in this story had any self-respect, and even she gave in to him!
In any case, while this was written in 1885, I could see the exact same story being written about people today.
And that is scary!
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4 people found this helpful
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- I. D.
- 05-09-15
Pure excellence
This book is extremely well written. I don't understand that it's not more popular and how it didn't find its way to compulsory school literature.
Maupassant is a master story teller. Much more so than many other, far more famous, classic authors.
I was absolutely delighted by this read.
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3 people found this helpful