Madame Bovary Audiobook By Gustave Flaubert cover art

Madame Bovary

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Madame Bovary

By: Gustave Flaubert
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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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.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2014 Naxos AudioBooks Classics

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Beautiful Prose • Rich Character Development • Timeless Themes • Vivid Descriptions • Perfect Pacing
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Would you listen to Madame Bovary again? Why?

Yes, parts.

Which character – as performed by Juliet Stevenson – was your favorite?

Juliet Stevenson is such an excellent narrator. Her readings are at a perfect pace and her character interpretations are always wonderful. Ms. Stevenson's understanding of the text and intelligence make listening a joy. I become so lost in the characters she portrays that I forget it is one person reading! Can't say Emma Bovary is a favorite character, but her self-centeredness and vacuousness come through in the dialogue as read by the narrator.

Any additional comments?

I can understand why this novel is so well known. The writing (and this translation) draw you in. But the characters are not sympathetic and I don't understand why Emma Bovary is so empty and why she expresses no remorse at the end of the novel. I feel for her clueless husband and especially for her daughter Berthe.

Excellent narrator, beautiful writing

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I read Madam Bovary in college. Reading it decades later, I realized how little I remembered and why this is a classic book to read and re-read. Mahler was ahead of his tine . He paid dearly for writing what was a scandalous novel at the time.

Glad I read it again.

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Flaubert has that gift of writing that takes you into the novel. He and Tolstoy are the best at it. This is one of the best books I've ever listened to. The narrator is excellent and is a perfect fit for the book. I may listen to it again.

Flaubert Brings You Into the Novel

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Rating this one is hard -- I was leaning toward 5 stars for several days, but when I think of some of my other 5 star reads this one comes in slightly lower. So there you go: 4+ stars.

This book really made me think about some things that I didn't expect to think about. Flaubert's Emma is unique. She is not often likable. She is flighty, selfish, proud and even arrogant. But in my interpretation of the story she seems to have issues with Depression and maybe Postpartum Depression. And, I feel like Emma was in a tight little box due to societal constraints. She struggles so violently that she injures herself. Emma's extramarital affairs must have made this book a sensational and shocking story.

unlikable characters who still inspire sympathy

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Ms. Stevenson did a fantastic job of narration, with consistent voice changes for the characters, and absolutely believable inflections for Mdm. Bovary. Regarding the content, my interest became loathing of the main character, to the point I pushed myself to finish just for the satisfaction of hearing/reading of her demise. I understand now why Flaubert wrote to friends of his hate for the topic and of Mdm. Bovary herself.

Great narration, great writer, awful character!

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I loved this book. One of the classics. Juliet Stevenson does a phenomenal job with the reading and narration. The book's main theme is a Meditation on the fleeting happiness that come from the world and positions therein. It takes awhile to finish,but stick with it. Its got great payoff.

A profoundly moving book on the nature of Happines

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Of course Juliet could read the dictionary & make it interesting. The symbolism and overindulgent wasteland of the characters is more depressing than I remembered. What an in your face cautionary tale. Sort of have a love/hate relationship w the story.

A little Dickens-ish

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For those who left a negative review of this literary masterpiece it may be that the content of this story has gone over your heads. This is a realistic “romantic” novel, or one that intentionally shatters the romantic and idealistic traditions, characters, settings, and all manner of plot of the romantic movement in order to expose their essential unreality. For those who cry how this book is mundane, yes. It is mundane. And therein lies its excellence. (Pay attention to these juxtapositions.) It also exposes bare the arrogance and snobbery of a thoroughly conceited, ungrateful, self-absorbed, although brainwashed and misguided, woman who is infatuated with her literary fantasies.

What makes this tale so tragic? It probably is an accurate reflection of the hubris and vanity of the age in which Flaubert lived, honest enough to call the law down on his head.

Stevenson is a superb narrator. Absolutely stellar.

Several parts of this novel are very amusing, especially the interactions between the chemist and the priest.

Flaubert is an iconoclast

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firstly, it's one of those books that you simply must read in your life.
why? because if you are a true literary buff - you need to know your basics - and this novel (along with: crime and punishment, portrait of a lady, father guiro and such) is what it is....

Secondly, the novel has all the traits a classic novel has: too many characters, too detailed of a story, long period of time, you can really picture and vividly imagine the surroundings down to the petal color of the daisies.
....so it's a bit tedious at points, not to mention a tiny bit boring, long and over-bearing, but again, it's basics, so you must go thru it, and it's not that bad once you see the beauty in it.

thirdly, the narrator, is fabulous!
the story came alive, and i found myself liking or disliking the characters as Mrs. Stevenson went on.

so to summarize: it's good to have this book in your repertoire, but if you are looking for an easy-read (easy-listening in this case) you might not find what you are looking for.

It's such a 19th century classic.

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It was interesting to hear a story about the many forms of love and its consequences. The topics in the story are so relevant today, so it's fascinating to see how love & lust have been around since the beginning of time & this version written in 1857 shows that. The book does not wrap things up with a nice ending, so it can be a little melancholy, but it is very well written & performed. It makes listening to this classic a joy.

Love is but a fickle thing

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