Thérèse Raquin

By: Emile Zola

Narrated by: Kate Winslet

Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

Once upon a time, a teenaged Kate Winslet (The Reader, Titanic, Revolutionary Road) received a gift that would leave a lasting impression: a copy of Emile Zola’s classic Thérèse Raquin. Six Academy Award nominations and one Best Actress award later, she steps behind the microphone to perform this haunting classic of passion and disaster.

Thérèse Raquin is the story of a young woman forced into an unhappy marriage to her dull, sickly cousin and smothered by her overbearing aunt. When her husband’s childhood friend enters her life, it leads to a torrid affair that sets her spirit free for the first time, but with shattering consequences. Steeped in the atmosphere of 19th-century France and with a darkly rich foreboding, it is a story that brings out the best of its narrator’s incomparable talents.

“It is challenging, and it’s a heck of a lot of fun as well”, said Ms. Winslet of the recording experience. "As a listener, being able to tune out and be taken into another world, an atmosphere, an environment that is being created entirely for you by somebody else’s voice is really a wonderful, magical thing.”

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Public Domain (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Kate Winslet reads as though she is relishing every morsel of the drama…She clearly loves the book, and her pleasure in the text is infectious…she grabs listeners and doesn’t let go.” (AudioFile)

Smart but bit long

What did you like best about Thérèse Raquin? What did you like least?

That it was read by Kate Winslet

Would you recommend Thérèse Raquin to your friends? Why or why not?

not really, don't feel enriched or touched by the story

Have you listened to any of Kate Winslet’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not yet

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No, I would be afraid I would get bored

Any additional comments?

Good story, could only have been told in half of the time, pages and words

Star Performance

Would you consider the audio edition of Th??r??se Raquin to be better than the print version?

In this case, no doubt about it, the audio edition truly enhanced the print version. Would that I could hear more Zola read by high quality readers.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Well, Therese Raquin is my favourite character. She's, I think, a complex liberated woman and not, as she is seen by many, a libertine. The things that she is led to do in order to sustain an affair with a man she sees as exciting, are without doubt terrifyingly immoral but given other circumstances would she behave so callously - I don't think so. To Therese, monetary gain is a far second place to the excitement of her relationship with a man who facilitates her feeling fulfilled.

What about Kate Winslet???s performance did you like?

I'm ashamed to say that I like many am hopelessly in love with this celeb so, I was surprised that when I stopped listening for The Winslett in the performance, I found that she was an incredibly good reader. It may also be the case that she settled into the performance after about 20 minutes or so.

Any additional comments?

I absolutely love Zola and, I mean, who does not love Kate Winslett? It took me about 20 minutes to settle into hearing the Zola because I was trying to hear the Winslett in the production. Anyway, Therese Raquin was a favourite when I read it years ago and this production really cemented my relationship with the writer and the novel. I don't understand why there is not a lot more Zola in Audible. Perhaps the popularity of this production will give impetus to further releases.

A Chilling Psychological Novel, Beautifully Read

Where does Thérèse Raquin rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

A truly harrowing listen...

...one of the finest I've read/heard, and I've made a point of running through classics.

I'm not normally a fan of overly descriptive novels, but this one really won me over. The psychological exploration of the lead characters is tremendous, and so much of the detail used early in the novel is recalled and demented warped further down the road. So this modernist novel is far more rewarding than say a Gothic novel where the description is over-ellaborate and occasionally unnecessary.

Warning: if you prefer pace, dialogue, action and warm characters this might not be for you.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Therese Raquin: Not exactly likeable, but I loved the premise of her character, her growth, and how aspects of the early life recur/expand later in the novel (hard to explain without spoilers).

Any additional comments?

Kate Winslet is tremendous. Clear and quite haunting. When's she's tired of winning Oscars she'd make an excellent narrator.

I hope that if the A-list series continues you get her back to read another of her favourites.

A classic psychological potboiler

I had never read any Zola before I stumbled upon this Kate Winslet audiobook performance. What an amazing discovery! It turned out to be a story about how ordinary people can be profoundly selfish and morally bankrupt to the point of murdering each other -- but then there is a price to pay, even if the authorities are not the ones to make them pay it. Kate Winslet's performance is peerless. I don't know whether she is fluent in French, but she sounds like she is. Her pronunciations of the French names and locations are beautiful. Her pacing and emotion are perfect. What a treat. I was riveted from beginning to end.

there's nothing like being read to by Kate Winslet

The story isn't quite my type of book, but I ended up finding it more engaging than I expected. But, I love Kate Winslet and would be happy to listen to anything she wants to read for as long as she will continue reading! She is an amazing actress so it's no surprise that she is also an excellent narrator.

Story is Interesting, Performance is Extraordinary

As far as the story goes, it's an interesting one, though rather dark. Ghostly undertones and references to "tombs" and "deaths" echo throughout the dialogue. If you're looking for a light read with a happy ending, I'd definitely pass on this one. I enjoyed the story very much and I found the character development of the major players to be very in-depth. I can't say I "liked" the two main characters at all, but I definitely wanted to keep listening to see what would happen to them. My sympathy for Madame Raquin (Camille's mother, not Therese) runs deep!!! What a terrible ordeal she had to endure...

Although I very much enjoyed the story, I have to say it was the performance that shone in this audio adventure. I love Kate Winslet as an actress, and I found her narration to be one of the best I have heard. Her voice is soothing and melodic. I would recommend this audio book based on her narration alone. I hope she contributes her voice talents to more stories in the future!!

Depressing Horrible Characters, Not Much Redeeming

i'm glad that i knew this book was a "study of temperaments not characters" before i read it. keeping that in mind while i listening to this novel was helpful...because the characters were all horrible. not one had any redeeming qualities. and their "temperaments" were all awful, too.

what is it with early 19th century french authors and their creating awful characters?

I think Kate Winslet did a great job at performing this novel...she brought all the strength of her acting into just narration...and I felt like the show was unfolding before my eyes.

Compelling and sad

What did you love best about Th??r??se Raquin?

The interplay between characters. The psychological build up between the 3 main characters

What did you like best about this story?

It was an unusual dramatic story.

Which character ??? as performed by Kate Winslet ??? was your favorite?

Therese

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The murder scene and the moment when the mother hears what Therese and her lover did to her son.

Old French Irony that Depressed Me

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No, I would not recommend this story because it depressed me. It is so sad that it is actually annoying. If you like a kind of depressing soap drama story, then this book is for you. For me though, it was just depressing and did not interest me. That said, it is a good portrait of human nature, but again, a depressing one.

not sure

first of all, let me say that i've read this book and found it a good read, an interesting story, even if it's not always easy to get excited or keep a straight face about a story set in a previous century.

i have no problem understanding british voices, since i've lived in new zealand for several decades, and new zealand is an english speaking country, if you didn't know. part of the british commonwealth, etc.

but kate winslet strikes me, nevertheless, as probably a famous movie actress, but not actually as an exciting voice performer. she manages to swallow entire chunks of words or sentences, usually the tail ends, so that i have to get out the headphones and listen to her under headphones, and still i ask: what? what was that? what did you say?

whether she ever had more than a tiny bit of high school french, i also can't tell, since all the french names and words appear to sound like some indefinite or undefinable nasal sound like "raw can" or "bomb bang" where you lose track of whether she is talking about a person, a place, or some other thing.

this whole thing could have been read by anybody else, just as well, i mean, it didn't call for a british sounding young female reader, an american sounding middle-aged male reader could have served just as well. or possibly better.

so i don't feel that winslet does anything for this classic. if you can read, read the book, yourself.