Old Goriot
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Narrated by:
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Frederick Davidson
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By:
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Honoré de Balzac
About this listen
Balzac’s universally loved novel explores the great theme of money and its effect on the human character. Old Goriot is a lodger at Madame Vauquer’s Parisian boarding house. At first, his wealth inspires respect, but as his circumstances are reduced, he is gradually shunned. He moves into smaller and less desirable rooms in the house, and soon his only remaining visitors are two beautiful young women. The mystery as to who they are and what is happening to Goriot’s fortune involves several other boarders, including Rastignac, an ambitious youth who hopes to rise in society.
With its complicities and alliances, mysteries and betrayals, passions and ambitions, the house becomes a microcosm of the grasping Parisian society of the 1820s - a perfect setting for Balzac’s masterful portrayal of La Comédie humaine, the whole comedic parade of human life.
HONORÉ DE BALZAC (1799–1850), was born in Tours, France, educated at the Collège de Vendôme, and studied law at the Sorbonne. His father wished him to become a lawyer, but he left Tours in 1819 to seek his fortune as an author in Paris. He wrote eighty-five novels in twenty years, but his life was one of frequent privation. In 1850, he married Madame Hanska, a rich Polish lady with whom he had corresponded for more than fifteen years but had only just met in person. Five months later, Balzac died in Paris.
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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
- By Philip on 03-25-08
By: Charles Dickens
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The Brothers Karamazov [Naxos AudioBooks Edition]
- By: Constance Garnett - translator, Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Narrated by: Constantine Gregory
- Length: 37 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a titanic figure among the world's great authors, and The Brothers Karamazov is often hailed as his finest novel. A masterpiece on many levels, it transcends the boundaries of a gripping murder mystery to become a moving account of the battle between love and hate, faith and despair, compassion and cruelty, good and evil.
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A Spiritual and Philosophical Tour-de-Force
- By Rich on 02-27-16
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The Count of Monte Cristo
- By: Alexandre Dumas
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 52 hrs and 41 mins
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On the eve of his marriage to the beautiful Mercedes, having that very day been made captain of his ship, the young sailor Edmond Dantès is arrested on a charge of treason, trumped up by jealous rivals. Incarcerated for many lonely years in the isolated and terrifying Chateau d'If near Marseille, he meticulously plans his brilliant escape and extraordinary revenge.
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This is the one to spend 50 hours listening to!
- By james on 03-05-13
By: Alexandre Dumas
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The Good Soldier
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- Length: 6 hrs and 56 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On the face of it Captain Edward Ashburnham's life was unimpeachable. But behind the mask where passion seethes, the captain's "good" life was rotting away.
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Treachery in the Troops
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Oblomov
- By: Ivan Goncharov
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 20 hrs and 7 mins
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Story
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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Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 38 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Story
Anna Karenina seems to have everything - beauty, wealth, popularity and an adored son. But she feels that her life is empty until the moment she encounters the impetuous officer Count Vronsky.
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Beautiful story, amazing narration
- By Marcus Vorwaller on 08-02-08
By: Leo Tolstoy
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The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas
- By: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
- Narrated by: Edoardo Camponeschi
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908) was the greatest writer ever to come from Brazil and one of the masters of nineteenth-century fiction. Susan Sontag calls him "the greatest writer ever produced in Latin America", surpassing even Borges. Harold Bloom says that Machado is "the supreme black literary artist to date". And Allen Ginsburg calls him "another Kafka". And The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas is his masterpiece, a dazzling, tragic, and profound novel that belongs next to the greatest works of his contemporaries Melville and Dostoevsky.
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A hidden masterpiece
- By C. Park on 08-09-18
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Mary Barton
- A Tale of Manchester Life
- By: Elizabeth Gaskell
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 16 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
When her father assassinates Henry Carson, his employer's son and Mary's admirer, suspicion falls on Mary's second admirer, Jem, a fellow worker. Mary has to prove her lover's innocence without incriminating her own father.
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Mrs. Gaskell was so far ahead of her time
- By Pat on 08-20-13
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Jude The Obscure
- By: Thomas Hardy
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Overall
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This is the story of a young country workman obsessed by his ambition to become an Oxford student, interwoven with his fraught relationships with two women.
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Staggering
- By Tad Davis on 02-16-10
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Anna Karenina
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Overall
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Vladimir Nabokov called Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina "one of the greatest love stories in world literature." Set in imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a rich and complex meditation on passionate love and disastrous infidelity. Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky.
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Not good dramatization but an ok reading
- By Bookoholics Anon on 05-07-11
By: Leo Tolstoy
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What listeners say about Old Goriot
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Michael H. Walker
- 09-01-18
Some of the book is missing
Recording skips several passages - some of which are important to the books flow. I’d suggest listening to another version.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jay Rice
- 07-28-21
This recording has many skips
this audio file was apparently digitized from an old tape cassette and when it gets to the end of a reel there is distortion and skips. it happens several times and is disturbing.
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- M. Brett Pitts
- 03-19-22
Frederick is velvet
Decent tale told by Mr. Davidson. A bit dense at beginning and introduction of characters, but those who can make it through may enjoy a grand reward.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-01-22
the sound skips frequently. It's annoying.
the sound skips frequently. it's distracting. the story is excellent. I love this author. overall it is a good experience
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- Eileen
- 06-13-12
Classic novel, classically done
Where does Old Goriot rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
One of top classics
What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)
Plot predictable but nuanced philosophical conclusions implied
Which character – as performed by Frederick Davidson – was your favorite?
Goriot of course
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
no, too dense for that
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3 people found this helpful
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- Hurricane
- 05-18-22
Abominable narration
The narrator affects an insufferable archness in his diction. He pounds te first syllable of every word, but all following sullables drift off into faint inaudible obscurity. I should get a refund for this execrable production.
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- KAREN T. GIGLIOTTI
- 01-01-22
Translator
Can anyone tell me who translated this particular version? With the narration the quality that it is, it would help to be able to read along
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- John
- 05-23-16
Recording seems to skip
Great story and the narrator performed well, but the recording itself skipped very often even though the progress bar and timer didn't show any abnormalities
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Overall
- Diana
- 03-30-11
Horrible narrator
I can't tell you anything about this story, because about five minutes in, I refused to listen any further. This narrator sounds like the biggest pr-ck in the world: super smarmy, full of himself, with an irritating inflection pattern. I didn't want my introduction to Balzac to be colored by so terrible a narrator. If I could return this, I would since I know with certainty that I won't be listening to it any more than the very little I have already. Don't waste your money.
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7 people found this helpful