Madame Bovary
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Narrated by:
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Kate Reading
About this listen
Now a major motion picture starring Mia Wasikowska, Paul Giamatti, Laura Carmichael, Ezra Miller, and Rhys Ifans, and directed by Sophie Barthes.
Emma Bovary is the original desperate housewife. Beautiful but bored, she is married to the provincial doctor Charles Bovary yet harbors dreams of an elegant and passionate life. Escaping into sentimental novels, she finds her fantasies dashed by the tedium of her days. Motherhood proves to be a burden; religion is only a brief distraction. In an effort to make her life everything she believes it should be, she spends lavishly on clothes and on her home and embarks on two disappointing affairs. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, Emma takes drastic action with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter.
When published in 1857, Madame Bovary was deemed so lifelike that many women claimed they were the model for its heroine. Today the novel is considered the first masterpiece of realist fiction. In this landmark translation, Lydia Davis honors the nuances and particulars of a style that has long beguiled readers of French, giving new life in English to the book that redefined the novel as an art form.
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Victor Hugo's tale of injustice, heroism and love follows the fortunes of Jean Valjean, an escaped convict determined to put his criminal past behind him. But his attempts to become a respected member of the community are constantly put under threat: by his own conscience and by the relentless investigations of the dogged Policeman, Javert. It is not simply for himself that Valjean must stay free, however, for he has sworn to protect the baby daughter of Fantine, driven to prostitution by poverty.
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Great Book, Great Translation, 5 Great Narrators
- By Rain Wiegartner on 06-07-20
By: Christine Donougher, and others
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Merivel
- A Man of His Time
- By: Rose Tremain
- Narrated by: Sean Barrett
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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In search of answers, Merivel sets off for the French court. But Versailles leaves him in despair, until a chance encounter with a seductive Swiss botanist allows him to dream of an honorable future. But back home, his loyalty and medical skill are about to be tested to the limit, while the captive bear he has brought back from France begins to cause havoc.
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On Foolishness and Mortality
- By Ilana on 12-27-14
By: Rose Tremain
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Oblomov
- By: Ivan Goncharov
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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A member of the landed gentry, with a seemingly guaranteed income from his estate in the country, Oblomov lives in Petersburg, uninterested in the business that provides his living and barely aware that the revenue is diminishing. Not that he leads a dissolute life of extravagance, balls and entertainment. Instead he is a dreamer, a sybarite, content above all to spend most of the day supine, in bed. The novel opens with Oblomov thus ensconced, attended only by his dirty, grumbling, indolent servant Zahar, who has looked after him since childhood, catering to his every need.
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funny and smart
- By Bennett Weiss on 07-29-20
By: Ivan Goncharov
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The Essex Serpent
- A Novel
- By: Sarah Perry
- Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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When Cora Seaborne's brilliant, domineering husband dies, she steps into her new life as a widow with as much relief as sadness: her marriage was not a happy one. Wed at 19, this woman of exceptional intelligence and curiosity was ill-suited for the role of society wife. Seeking refuge in fresh air and open space in the wake of the funeral, Cora leaves London for a visit to coastal Essex, accompanied by her inquisitive and obsessive 11-year old son, Francis, and the boy's nanny, Martha.
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Unbearable Narrator
- By ACB on 06-08-17
By: Sarah Perry
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Doctor Zhivago
- By: Boris Pasternak, Larissa Volokhonsky - translator, Richard Pevear - translator
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 23 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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In celebration of the 40th anniversary of its original publication, here is a new translation of the classic story of the life and loves of a poet/physician during the turmoil of the Russian Revolution. Taking his family from Moscow to what he hopes will be shelter in the Ural Mountains, Zhivago finds himself instead embroiled in the battle between the Whites and the Reds. Set against this backdrop of cruelty and strife is Zhivago’s love for the tender and beautiful Lara.
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Russian Philosophical Feast
- By Syd Young on 02-16-13
By: Boris Pasternak, and others
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Claude & Camille
- A Novel of Monet
- By: Stephanie Cowell
- Narrated by: Christopher Cazenove
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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In the mid-19th century, a young man named Claude Monet decided that he would rather endure a difficult life painting landscapes than take over his fathers nautical supplies business in a French seaside town. Against his fathers will, and with nothing but a dream and an insatiable urge to create a new style of art that repudiated the Classical Realism of the time, he set off for Paris.
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As a painter
- By janice hedwall on 03-08-16
By: Stephanie Cowell
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Elaine Wise
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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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
- By Arlene Olsen on 12-11-16
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Ghosts: Edith Wharton's Gothic Tales
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: Alison Larkin, Jonathan Epstein, Corinna May, and others
- Length: 4 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Beneath the brilliance that was behind The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome was a dark side. A dark side which produced magnificent tales of the unseen influences in our lives, such as "Mr. Jones", "The Eyes", "Kerfol", "The Ladie's Maid's Bell", and "The Looking Glass".
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Ghastly Shadows of the Feminine Condition
- By Diane on 10-16-12
By: Edith Wharton
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Les Miserables
- By: Victor Hugo
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 57 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Set in the Parisian underworld and plotted like a detective story, Les Miserables follows Jean Valjean, originally an honest peasant, who has been imprisoned for 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his sister's starving family. A hardened criminal upon his release, he eventually reforms, becoming a successful industrialist and town mayor. Despite this, he is haunted by an impulsive former crime and is pursued relentlessly by the police inspector Javert.
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one happy insomniac
- By Kathryn on 01-27-05
By: Victor Hugo
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Tulip Fever
- By: Deborah Moggach
- Narrated by: Rula Lenska
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Seventeenth-century Amsterdam is a city in the grip of tulip mania, basking in the wealth it has generated. Sophia’s husband Cornelis, an ageing merchant, is among those grown rich from this exotic new flower. To celebrate, he commissions a talented young artist to paint him with his young bride. But as the portrait grows, so does the passion between Sophia and the painter; and as ambitions, desires and dreams breed an intricate deception, their reckless gamble propels their lives towards a thrilling and tragic conclusion.
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Very interesting book
- By Kevin Crumpton on 01-31-17
By: Deborah Moggach
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
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- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
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Emma Bovary is not content to be the mere dutiful wife of a French country doctor. She yearns for excitement and a sense of romance that pulls at her so strongly she is powerless to resist, even though pursuing her dreams will exact a terrible price. Learn why Gustave Flaubert's compelling heroine has enchanted and puzzled readers for centuries.
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Now Here's a Story
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Madame Bovary
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- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
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In Madame Bovary, one of the great novels of 19th-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply felt and sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having married a country doctor and found herself unhappy with a rural, genteel existence, longs for love and excitement. However, her aspirations and her desires to escape only bring her further disappointment and eventually lead to unexpected, painful consequences. Flaubert’s critical portrait of bourgeois provincial life remains as powerful as ever
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Excellent narrator, beautiful writing
- By DHW on 06-11-14
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- Penguin Classics
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Fiona Glascott
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Emma Bovary is beautiful and bored, trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her affairs bring her disappointment, and the consequences are devastating. Flaubert's erotically charged and psychologically acute portrayal of Emma Bovary caused a moral outcry on its publication in 1857.
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Irritating French pronunciation
- By Amazon Customer on 10-02-20
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Glenda Jackson
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Abridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Emma Bovary is the original desperate housewife. Beautiful but bored, Emma is not content to be the mere dutiful wife of a French country doctor. She believes she was meant for something more—a life of luxury, leisure, and, above all, true and passionate love. She spends lavishly on clothes and on her home and throws herself headlong into a reckless series of doomed affairs. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, she takes drastic action, with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter.
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Good descriptions throughout story.
- By Anonymous User on 09-04-24
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert, Gerard Hopkins - translator
- Narrated by: Ronald Pickup
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Before marrying, Emma Bovary believed she would enter a life of luxury and passion like the sentimental stories she'd read in her novels and magazines. Now married to an ordinary country doctor her life is not the romantic ideal she imagined and seeks an escape through having extra-marital affairs. This devastating spiral into deceit and despair leads to catastrophic consequences. Emma Bovary continues to be enjoyed to this day because of its profound humanity, still as fresh today as when it was first written.
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Fantastic Narrator
- By A. Laprade-velasco on 07-18-10
By: Gustave Flaubert, and others
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Madame Bovary: A Signature Performance by Leelee Sobieski
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Leelee Sobieski
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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A Signature Performance: Leelee Sobieski’s Emma is sultry but vulnerable, offering a sympathetic rendering of the heroine and her plight, allowing the listener to draw his own conclusions about Madame Bovary in this cautionary tale of love, passion, and desperation.
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Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick
- By Darwin8u on 07-25-15
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Emma Bovary is not content to be the mere dutiful wife of a French country doctor. She yearns for excitement and a sense of romance that pulls at her so strongly she is powerless to resist, even though pursuing her dreams will exact a terrible price. Learn why Gustave Flaubert's compelling heroine has enchanted and puzzled readers for centuries.
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Now Here's a Story
- By P. Giorgio on 09-06-03
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
In Madame Bovary, one of the great novels of 19th-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply felt and sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having married a country doctor and found herself unhappy with a rural, genteel existence, longs for love and excitement. However, her aspirations and her desires to escape only bring her further disappointment and eventually lead to unexpected, painful consequences. Flaubert’s critical portrait of bourgeois provincial life remains as powerful as ever
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Excellent narrator, beautiful writing
- By DHW on 06-11-14
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- Penguin Classics
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Fiona Glascott
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Emma Bovary is beautiful and bored, trapped in her marriage to a mediocre doctor and stifled by the banality of provincial life. An ardent reader of sentimental novels, she longs for passion and seeks escape in fantasies of high romance, in voracious spending and, eventually, in adultery. But even her affairs bring her disappointment, and the consequences are devastating. Flaubert's erotically charged and psychologically acute portrayal of Emma Bovary caused a moral outcry on its publication in 1857.
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Irritating French pronunciation
- By Amazon Customer on 10-02-20
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Glenda Jackson
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Emma Bovary is the original desperate housewife. Beautiful but bored, Emma is not content to be the mere dutiful wife of a French country doctor. She believes she was meant for something more—a life of luxury, leisure, and, above all, true and passionate love. She spends lavishly on clothes and on her home and throws herself headlong into a reckless series of doomed affairs. Soon heartbroken and crippled by debts, she takes drastic action, with tragic consequences for her husband and daughter.
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Good descriptions throughout story.
- By Anonymous User on 09-04-24
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert, Gerard Hopkins - translator
- Narrated by: Ronald Pickup
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Before marrying, Emma Bovary believed she would enter a life of luxury and passion like the sentimental stories she'd read in her novels and magazines. Now married to an ordinary country doctor her life is not the romantic ideal she imagined and seeks an escape through having extra-marital affairs. This devastating spiral into deceit and despair leads to catastrophic consequences. Emma Bovary continues to be enjoyed to this day because of its profound humanity, still as fresh today as when it was first written.
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Fantastic Narrator
- By A. Laprade-velasco on 07-18-10
By: Gustave Flaubert, and others
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Madame Bovary: A Signature Performance by Leelee Sobieski
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Leelee Sobieski
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A Signature Performance: Leelee Sobieski’s Emma is sultry but vulnerable, offering a sympathetic rendering of the heroine and her plight, allowing the listener to draw his own conclusions about Madame Bovary in this cautionary tale of love, passion, and desperation.
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Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick
- By Darwin8u on 07-25-15
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary [French Version]
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Claude Cyriaque
- Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Ce roman n'est pas seulement un drame, c'est un virulent réquisitoire contre la société bourgeoise, contre la médiocrité, contre les conventions, les formules toutes faites et les pensées sur mesure. Si "Madame Bovary" a conservé un immense succès auprès d'un très vaste public, c'est à son caractère profond d'humanité qu'elle le doit. Flaubert a réussi à rendre grand le banal et à donner à ce "cas" un caractère universel.
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary (AmazonClassics Edition)
- By: Gustave Flaubert, Eleanor Marx-Aveling - translator
- Narrated by: Michael Page
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Emma Bovary, daughter of an uneducated farmer and wife of a dull doctor in northern France, harbors a passion for everything beyond her grasp - sophistication, romance, love, and deliverance from her banal provincial life. Motivated by the primal, idealized, and vain, she seeks adventure. And with each new endeavor, Emma sets for herself an inevitable and inescapable trap.
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Masterpiece
- By Andrei on 09-04-20
By: Gustave Flaubert, and others
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Elaine Wise
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
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
- By Arlene Olsen on 12-11-16
By: Gustave Flaubert
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The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman
- By: Laurence Sterne
- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 21 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Laurence Sterne's beloved comic novel, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, is the "biography" of Tristram Shandy - a wonderfully humorous and eccentric narrator who guides the listener from his conception to his birth and on to his life as an adult. The twists and turns of Tristram's life expose him to such memorable characters as Uncle Toby, Corporal Trim, Parson Yorick, Dr. Slop, and the Widow Wadman - whose own stories enrich the central narrative of Tristram's life.
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Thick but rewarding
- By DRew on 07-06-17
By: Laurence Sterne
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The Sound and the Fury
- By: William Faulkner
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Sound and the Fury is the tragedy of the Compson family, featuring some of the most memorable characters in literature: beautiful, rebellious Caddy; the manchild Benjy; haunted, neurotic Quentin; Jason, the brutal cynic; and Dilsey, their black servant. Their lives fragmented and harrowed by history and legacy, the character’s voices and actions mesh to create what is arguably Faulkner’s masterpiece and one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century.
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Hang in
- By W.Denis on 07-11-05
By: William Faulkner
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Emma
- By: Jane Austen
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 16 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Emma, a comic novel by Jane Austen, was published in December 1815. The main character, Emma Woodhouse, is described in the opening paragraph as "handsome, clever, and rich" but is also rather spoiled. Emma schemes to find a suitable husband for her pliant friend Harriet, only to discover that she understands the feelings of others as little as she does her own heart.
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great classic
- By bebe on 04-17-10
By: Jane Austen
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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Frankie Porter, Tim Campbell, Sebastian Brown, and others
- Length: 39 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Sound interesting? The author thinks so too! Listen to Anna Karenina, a literary masterpiece by Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy.
By: Leo Tolstoy
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Elisabet Egea
- Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Este audiolibro está narrado en castellano. Madame Bovary narra la oscura tragedia de Emma Bovary, mujer infelizmente casada, cuyos sueños choca cruelmente con la realidad. Al hechizo que ejerce la figura de la protagonista hay que añadir la sabia combinación argumental de rebeldía, violencia, melodrama y sexo, «los cuatro grandes ríos», como afirmó en su día Mario Vargas Llosa, que alimentan esta historia inigualable. La publicación de esta obra en 1857 fue recibida con gran polémica y se procesó a Flaubert por atentar contra la moral.
By: Gustave Flaubert
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The Belly of Paris
- By: Émile Zola, Ernest Alfred Vizetelly - translator
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 13 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Although it is little known in this country, The Belly of Paris is considered one of Émile Zola’s best novels. Set in the newly built food markets of Paris, it is a story of wealth and poverty set against a sumptuous banquet of food and commerce. Having just escaped from prison after being wrongfully accused, young Florent arrives at Paris’ food market, Les Halles, half starved, surrounded by all he can’t have, and indignant at his world, which he now knows to be unjust. He finds that the city’s working classes have been displaced to make way for bigger streets and bourgeois living quarters, so he settles in with his brother’s family.
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Not keen on Davidson’s voice
- By Jeff Lacy on 05-08-21
By: Émile Zola, and others
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Macarena García
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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La soñadora Emma, una joven de provincias casada con Charles Bovary, quien la ama pero es incapaz de comprenderla y satisfacerla, buscará la realización de sus sueños en otros amores, pasionales y platónicos..., pero ninguno de ellos logrará calmar su desesperada ansiedad y sus románticas inquietudes. La publicación de "Madame Bovary" (1856) provocó el escándalo de la burguesía francesa, esclava de mil prejuicios, y el proceso judicial que siguió contribuyó a un éxito editorial sin precedentes.
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Que protagonista tan odiosa
- By Gaby Mtz on 11-03-24
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: Mary Ann Spiegel
- Length: 36 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Widely considered to be one of the greatest works of literature ever written, Tolstoy himself called it his first true novel. A complex novel in eight parts, with more than a dozen major characters, Anna Karenina is often published in more than 800 pages.
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Couldn’t get past the narrator
- By Marjorie Randall on 05-11-23
By: Leo Tolstoy
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Imogen Stubbs
- Length: 4 hrs and 39 mins
- Abridged
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One of the great novels of 19th-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply-felt but sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having warned a country doctor and found herself unhappy with a rural, genteel existence, longs for love and excitement. Her aspirations and her desires lead her into a tragic spiral downwards.
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Excellent abridged version
- By Maynard on 05-04-20
By: Gustave Flaubert
What listeners say about Madame Bovary
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- W Perry Hall
- 06-18-13
Prose exquisitely mines a range of emotions
Some may not like the nature of the story (and/or its ending). This is no feel-good story, not a "David Copperfield" (which I love). Perhaps, by now, many people realize the basic substance of the story but do not expect its ending. Lydia Davis' prose is exquisite though there are times the audible version differs from the written book.
The novel was ground-breaking in any number of ways, not the least of which is the well of human emotions that surge through one while reading it. The clunky translations of the past took away from the novel and the experience of all of the sadness, anger, disgust, contempt, pity and shame accentuated in this edition.
The narrator does an excellent job both in portraying the pathos of Emma Bovary and in stoking the listener's contempt for her.
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5 people found this helpful
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- Anne
- 10-29-23
Excellent reading of the newest and best translation
I loved this novel even with the earlier imperfect translation, but this Audible version has the recent improved translation by Lydia Davis, and it sings. The narrator does an excellent job, and the whole effect is as if it was written in English. The one caveat: this Audible version unfortunately does not seem to offer Ms. Davis’s introduction. I will probably buy the Kindle edition to be able to read that. I will want to read it again in a few years anyway.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Candida
- 10-05-15
Superlative
Madame Bovary lives up to her reputation as a book for the ages. Shocking still and exquisitely written with the detail worthy of a pointillist painting.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Patrice M Pennington
- 01-30-20
My, my what a tragic story!
This book is truly a literary piece of art. The word structure and expressions are beautiful and create pictures in the reader's mind weaving an intricate story of the characters thoughts and actions.
Though the book is excellent in execution and substance, I wouldn't want to reread it because of the sad tragic content.
I realize that much of the story is realistic, however I prefer to think and hope that humans will recognize the value of making better decisions resulting in happier outcomes.
Lessons learned: Selfishness, greed, lack of contentment and haughtiness are poison to our existence and overall health.
Ms Reading's narration was exceptional!
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2 people found this helpful
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- Sandra
- 02-13-13
Beautifully Narrated Classic
Well, revisiting this novel was more enjoyable than I expected. I remembered it being very depressing and difficult to get through when I was a good deal younger and less tolerant. I am so glad that I was encouraged to get the audible. It really brought the characters alive for me and elicited greater understanding of Flaubert's masterpiece. Although Emma is a very frustrating character, I found her character to be extremely well crafted. Never dull, always held my attention. An audible that I believe would engage many listeners, as a new experience or as a reawakening to this classic. Thanks for this winner!
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7 people found this helpful
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- M. Mohan
- 03-07-15
Oh what a tangled web we weave
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practiced to deceive. Amazing on how totally oblivious some people can be and how others totally detached from reality. A truly good book for psychoanalysis review. Kate Reading (narrator) was excellent as always. I wished that one of the main characters would have awaken up from their delusions. Yet they only saw what they wanted to see; rather letting their mind avoid deeper issues which lead them to their Fate. This reads more like a Greek tragedy. Interesting though. You want to feel sorry for the main characters, but after sitting back and looking at it again from a distance, you begin to realize they caused all of it on themselves. Life & Love can be bitter teachers with the choice you make. Choose wisely
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1 person found this helpful
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- Kristin
- 05-18-14
Nothing good or bad
This was just ok, the story is vapid and I did not bond or like any of the characters. I am trying to listen to all the classics, but not sure i would recommend this story.
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- Linda
- 04-14-24
Amazing Narrator
Madame Bovary gets better every time I read or listen to it. Flaubert’s matter of fact approach to Emma’s weaknesses and insatiable passions are, at times, funny, but also tragic. Flaubert does not judge her, instead allows the reader to study her. The narrator is so good that she made me appreciate the book in new ways. I am going to listen to any other classics she has done.
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
- Esther
- 05-13-13
Ironic, humorous, and restrained
This is one of Kate Reading's better narrations, and the material could not be more compelling. Translated by Lydia Davis (master short story writer!), the book is both light and tragic, humorous and disturbing, emotional and cerebral. Flaubert is one of the few who can do that. The tragedy of Emma and the triumphs of Homais are delicately rendered in this smart translation.
Reading reads with perfect inflections, making Emma sound airy and "arty," Charles slow and pitiful, Leon slippery, etc. No silly attempts at trying to sound male; just excellent infusions of the character's personality into his/her voice to make him/her sound believable. The speed is just right. I've heard other narrations by Kate Reading and some don't match up in quality or direction.
The writing style seems so effortless and light that you almost think Flaubert knocked it out with the wave of a hand, but as you keep listening, you realize what a brilliantly composed, tightly plotted piece this is. Also superb is Davis's introduction in the print version. It's not in the audio version, but if you can get your hands on a print (or digi) copy, by all means, read!
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Overall
- James Funk
- 11-06-10
Just too long winded
The story is not bad, but Flaubert goes into sometimes excruciating detail over some pretty inconsequential aspects of the story. I was really aching for it to be over about 4 hours before it ended. If I had been reading this, I would certainly have skipped though a lot of the detail.
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1 person found this helpful