The Red and the Black

By: Stendhal

Narrated by: Davina Porter

Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Madame de Renal, a wealthy heiress who married the mayor of Verrieres, suddenly finds herself in love with handsome young Julien Sorel, her children's penniless but ambitious new tutor. After a lifetime of complying with all the social rules of French high society, the unassuming Madame de Renal has always regarded true love as the height of immorality, or the subject of fanciful novels. But after meeting the mysteriously charming Julien, both of their lives are transformed in unimaginable ways. Praised for its unflinching look at the hypocrisy of romantic conquests, Stendhal's The Red and the Black remains one of the 19th century's most affecting and passionate novels, and a major influence on modern fiction.

Public Domain (P)2011 Recorded Books

Critic reviews

"Of all the instruments that have ever been used for sketching or writing, Stendhal's traces the most delicate line." (Andre Gide)

Thanks, Audible.com!

When I first purchased this book, I did not realize how poor I would find the sound quality...see my previous review.

However, now Audible.com has found a recording with the highest possible sound rating...a "4".
This is a vast improvement!

The Red and the Black is a true 19th. Century classic. I think you will find your time rewarded.

Strange story, wonderfully performed

I definitely expected this novel to go in a different direction. But, like its protagonist, it seemed driven to drive off the rails. Fantastic reading by Porter—really subtle characterizations, great pace.

Such a tragedy for a young talented man

I liked the deep look into the feelings of love. Were the characters in love with the person or in love with love itself. And I liked the pull between rich and poor and careers of young Julian

Raw Emotions

What did you love best about The Red and the Black?

The best part of this story for me was how powerful and realistically the characters expressed there emotions.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Julian was my favorite character.

What about Davina Porter’s performance did you like?

Very well done!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I had outburst of laughter while listening to this book.

Well done

Interesting read the emotions of the characters swing wildly throughout the story. The story is well written and the narration is excellent .

a great classic, well read

Strange, brilliant, and psychologically acute, Red and the Black is a masterpiece. Well read by Porter.

Davina Porter always delivers

Davina Porter always delivers a stellar performance. Stendhal's portrayal of the dramatics of youth struck me (no longer so youthful) as spot on.

Almost perfect

In one sense, there's no denying this book is a masterpiece. It seems as though Stendhal set out to dazzle the reader with his incredible understanding of human nature, and that he did. However, looking back at the audiobook after a few weeks have passed, I find it difficult to remember the actual plot. So in that sense, I feel as though the novel could have been a better novel. Nevertheless, I would certainly recommend it for the sheer psychological depth. And, as audiobooks go, the narration on this one is top-notch.

As for the complaints about audio quality in some of the earlier comments: this has apparently been fixed, and the quality is perfectly acceptable.

Ending spoiled by SparkNotes

I love when I find a book I'm reading on Spark Notes. They have analysis of each chapter and character and a quiz so you can see how well you understood it. I find that I get so much more out of the book this way. Not so with this book. I was about 2/3 of the way through the book when I thought to look it up on SparkNotes. As I was reading the summary and analysis, I realized 2 things. One, I understood the book more than I realized. Second, I was so caught up in reading that, BLURGGGG!!!!!, I read too far and found out what happens in the end.

Finding out how something ends normally doesn't spoil it for me. But with 2 hours to go, I just couldn't see any point in continuing.

The book's ruination by SparkNotes notwithstanding, here's what I thought:

This book was kind of a mix between Pride and Prejudice, and Les Miserables. A love story with some intrigue. The main character, Julien Sorel, is poor but has been taught Latin, so gets the chance to improve his station in life by becoming a tutor for the Mayor's children. But then he falls in love with the Mayor's wife, Mme. de Renal. When rumors start to spread throughout the small town, Julien is sent to seminary school, where he succeeds academically but fails socially. After completing his testing, but before becoming a priest, he is taken on as the secretary for the Marquis de la Mole. And of course he falls in love with the Marquis' daughter. This is where I stopped listening. Besides the fact that I already knew what was going to happen, I could most certainly have figured it out myself. Let's see. Jealous woman, cuckolded husband, fancy pants Marquis and sniveling upstart. You can start to see where this is going to lead. No where good.

Julien is a clueless womanizer. Mme. de Renal is just plain psycho. One minute she's loving, the next she's convinced that Julien doesn't really love her and it was all for nothing, then she thinks God is going to kill her children to punish her for being adulteress. M. de Renal is only worried about making money and keeping and improving his success, making him blind to what's going on in his own family.

This book is a statement on class and society in 19th century France. I found it to be quite disagreeable. None of the characters are likable, and the ending is less than pleasant.

A Masterpiece

Very attractive in the first and in the last chapters. The narration, female voice fits perfectly to the story.