-
Madame Bovary
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Categories: Literature & Fiction, Classics
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Audible Premium Plus
$14.95 a month
Buy for $31.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
In Search of Lost Time (Dramatized)
- By: Marcel Proust
- Narrated by: James Wilby, Jonathan Firth, Harriet Walter, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Featuring a fictional version of himself - 'Marcel' - and a host of friends, acquaintances, and lovers, In Search of Lost Time is Proust's search for the key to the mysteries of memory, time, and consciousness. As he recalls his childhood days, the sad affair of Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, his transition to manhood, the tortures of love and the ravages of war, he realises that the simplest of discoveries can lead to astonishing possibilities.
-
-
Proust Snapshot
- By Wendy on 05-06-14
By: Marcel Proust
-
Sentimental Education
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Upon arriving home in Normandy, Frederick catches his first glimpse of Marie Arnoux, a mysterious and beautiful woman who leaves a lasting impression on him. Eventually they make each other's acquaintance and Marie becomes a symbol of unattainable perfection for Frederick, whose unrequited infatuation leaves him bouncing from one passion to another, falling in and out of love, money and society.
By: Gustave Flaubert
-
Lolita
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Among the great literary achievements of the 20th century, Lolita soars in audio thanks to the incomparable Jeremy Irons, bringing to life Nabokov’s ability to shock and enthrall more than 50 years after publication. Lolita became a cause celebre because of the erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Nabokov's masterpiece owes its stature not to the controversy its material aroused but to its author's use of that material to tell a love story that is shocking in its beauty and tenderness.
-
-
Surprising good reading
- By Yvette D Skinner on 05-28-09
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
Middlemarch
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 35 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.
-
-
Best Audible book ever
- By Molly-o on 12-25-11
By: George Eliot
-
Lady Chatterley's Lover
- By: D H Lawrence
- Narrated by: Samantha Bond
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Lady Chatterley and her love for her husband's gamekeeper outraged the sensibilities of Edwardian England. Lawrence had already been dismissed as a purveyor of the obscene for the attitudes to sex that he had shown in The Rainbow, which had been fiercely suppressed on its publication in 1915. Chatterley, written in several versions around 1928 in Italy in the final part of Lawrence's life, was a deliberate choice on the author's part to address sex head on.
-
-
Amazing reader of classic great novel
- By Programmer on 05-02-16
By: D H Lawrence
-
Madame Bovary [French Version]
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Alain Lawrence
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Issue de la bourgeoisie, Emma Bovary est élevée dans un couvent, où elle fera son "éducation sentimentale" en lisant les œuvres romantiques à la mode. Son mari, Charles Bovary, ne ressemble en rien aux amants mystérieux et délicats de ses lectures : c'est un officier de santé qui exerce dans un village normand où Emma, confrontée à la réalité de la vie quotidienne, va peu à peu perdre pied.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Matt H. on 02-17-17
By: Gustave Flaubert
-
In Search of Lost Time (Dramatized)
- By: Marcel Proust
- Narrated by: James Wilby, Jonathan Firth, Harriet Walter, and others
- Length: 5 hrs and 39 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Featuring a fictional version of himself - 'Marcel' - and a host of friends, acquaintances, and lovers, In Search of Lost Time is Proust's search for the key to the mysteries of memory, time, and consciousness. As he recalls his childhood days, the sad affair of Charles Swann and Odette de Crecy, his transition to manhood, the tortures of love and the ravages of war, he realises that the simplest of discoveries can lead to astonishing possibilities.
-
-
Proust Snapshot
- By Wendy on 05-06-14
By: Marcel Proust
-
Sentimental Education
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Upon arriving home in Normandy, Frederick catches his first glimpse of Marie Arnoux, a mysterious and beautiful woman who leaves a lasting impression on him. Eventually they make each other's acquaintance and Marie becomes a symbol of unattainable perfection for Frederick, whose unrequited infatuation leaves him bouncing from one passion to another, falling in and out of love, money and society.
By: Gustave Flaubert
-
Lolita
- By: Vladimir Nabokov
- Narrated by: Jeremy Irons
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Among the great literary achievements of the 20th century, Lolita soars in audio thanks to the incomparable Jeremy Irons, bringing to life Nabokov’s ability to shock and enthrall more than 50 years after publication. Lolita became a cause celebre because of the erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Nabokov's masterpiece owes its stature not to the controversy its material aroused but to its author's use of that material to tell a love story that is shocking in its beauty and tenderness.
-
-
Surprising good reading
- By Yvette D Skinner on 05-28-09
By: Vladimir Nabokov
-
Middlemarch
- By: George Eliot
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 35 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Dorothea Brooke is an ardent idealist who represses her vivacity and intelligence for the cold, theological pedant Casaubon. One man understands her true nature: the artist Will Ladislaw. But how can love triumph against her sense of duty and Casaubon’s mean spirit? Meanwhile, in the little world of Middlemarch, the broader world is mirrored: the world of politics, social change, and reforms, as well as betrayal, greed, blackmail, ambition, and disappointment.
-
-
Best Audible book ever
- By Molly-o on 12-25-11
By: George Eliot
-
Lady Chatterley's Lover
- By: D H Lawrence
- Narrated by: Samantha Bond
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Lady Chatterley and her love for her husband's gamekeeper outraged the sensibilities of Edwardian England. Lawrence had already been dismissed as a purveyor of the obscene for the attitudes to sex that he had shown in The Rainbow, which had been fiercely suppressed on its publication in 1915. Chatterley, written in several versions around 1928 in Italy in the final part of Lawrence's life, was a deliberate choice on the author's part to address sex head on.
-
-
Amazing reader of classic great novel
- By Programmer on 05-02-16
By: D H Lawrence
-
Madame Bovary [French Version]
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Alain Lawrence
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Issue de la bourgeoisie, Emma Bovary est élevée dans un couvent, où elle fera son "éducation sentimentale" en lisant les œuvres romantiques à la mode. Son mari, Charles Bovary, ne ressemble en rien aux amants mystérieux et délicats de ses lectures : c'est un officier de santé qui exerce dans un village normand où Emma, confrontée à la réalité de la vie quotidienne, va peu à peu perdre pied.
-
-
Excellent book
- By Matt H. on 02-17-17
By: Gustave Flaubert
-
Anna Karenina
- By: Leo Tolstoy
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 38 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
Beautiful story, amazing narration
- By Marcus Vorwaller on 08-02-08
By: Leo Tolstoy
-
The Portrait of a Lady
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: John Wood
- Length: 23 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Isabel Archer, a beautiful, spirited American, is brought to Europe by her wealthy aunt Touchett, it is expected that she will soon marry. But Isabel, resolved to enjoy the freedom that her fortune has opened up and to determine her own fate, does not hesitate to turn down two eligible suitors, declaring that she will never marry. It is only when she finds herself irresistibly drawn to the cultivated but worthless Gilbert Osmond that she discovers that wealth is a two-edged sword.
-
-
Highly recommended
- By David on 06-26-10
By: Henry James
-
Ulysses
- By: James Joyce
- Narrated by: Jim Norton
- Length: 27 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ulysses is regarded by many as the single most important novel of the 20th century. It tells the story of one day in Dublin, June 16th 1904, largely through the eyes of Stephen Dedalus (Joyce's alter ego from Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man) and Leopold Bloom, an advertising salesman. Both begin a normal day, and both set off on a journey around the streets of Dublin, which eventually brings them into contact with one another.
-
-
Ulysses (Unabridged)
- By Peter Deane on 01-22-09
By: James Joyce
-
The Age of Innocence
- By: Edith Wharton
- Narrated by: David Horovitch
- Length: 12 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Countess Ellen Olenska, separated from her European husband, returns to old New York society. She bears with her an independence and an awareness of life which stirs the educated sensitivity of the charming Newland Archer, engaged to be married to her cousin, May Welland. Though he accepts the society's standards and rules he is acutely aware of their limitations. He knows May will assure him a conventional future but Ellen, scandalously separated from her husband, forces Archer to question his values and beliefs.
-
-
Narrated to Perfection
- By Ilana on 09-18-12
By: Edith Wharton
-
Wuthering Heights
- An Audible Exclusive Performance
- By: Emily Brontë, Ann Dinsdale - introduction
- Narrated by: Joanne Froggatt, Rachel Atkins - introduction
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unapologetic intensity with which Emily Brontë wrote this story ensures that it will forever be considered one of the greatest works of English literature. A passionate tale of a chaotic and often violent love, Wuthering Heights transcends your average romance and, with its Gothic undertones, takes the listener on a journey through one man's lustful hunt for revenge.
-
-
Almost Peerless
- By Brad Simkulet on 02-04-18
By: Emily Brontë, and others
-
Great Expectations
- By: Charles Dickens
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
One of the most revered works in English literature, Great Expectations traces the coming of age of a young orphan, Pip, from a boy of shallow aspirations into a man of maturity. From the chilling opening confrontation with an escaped convict to the grand but eerily disheveled estate of bitter old Miss Havisham, all is not what it seems in Dickens’ dark tale of false illusions and thwarted desire.
-
-
Great Performance of a classic!
- By Steven on 08-18-13
By: Charles Dickens
-
Tess of the d'Urbervilles
- By: Thomas Hardy
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Tess Durbeyfield has become one of the most famous female protagonists in 19th-century British literature. Betrayed by the two men in her life - Alec D’Urberville, her seducer/rapist and father of her fated child; and Angel, her intellectual and pious husband - Tess takes justice, and her own destiny, into her delicate hands. In telling her desperate and passionate story, Hardy brings Tess to life with an extraordinary vividness that makes her live in the heart of the reader long after the novel is concluded.
-
-
Davina Porter Does It Again!
- By misaki on 06-15-15
By: Thomas Hardy
-
The Golden Bowl
- By: Henry James
- Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
- Length: 25 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wealthy Maggie Verver has everything she could ever ask for - except a husband and a title. While in Italy, acquiring art for his museum back in the States, Maggie’s millionaire father, Adam, decides to remedy this and acquire a husband for Maggie. Enter Prince Amerigo, of a titled but now poor aristocratic Florentine family. Amerigo is the perfect candidate.
-
-
The best!
- By susan von schlegell on 07-29-18
By: Henry James
-
The Brothers Karamazov [Naxos AudioBooks Edition]
- By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Constance Garnett - translator
- Narrated by: Constantine Gregory
- Length: 37 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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.
-
-
A Spiritual and Philosophical Tour-de-Force
- By Rich on 02-27-16
By: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and others
-
Jane Eyre
- By: Charlotte Bronte
- Narrated by: Thandie Newton
- Length: 19 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Following Jane from her childhood as an orphan in Northern England through her experience as a governess at Thornfield Hall, Charlotte Brontë's Gothic classic is an early exploration of women's independence in the mid-19th century and the pervasive societal challenges women had to endure. At Thornfield, Jane meets the complex and mysterious Mr. Rochester, with whom she shares a complicated relationship that ultimately forces her to reconcile the conflicting passions of romantic love and religious piety.
-
-
Thandie Newton is INCREDIBLE!
- By Andrea Frazee on 10-31-16
By: Charlotte Bronte
-
Don Quixote
- Translated by Edith Grossman
- By: Miguel de Cervantes, Edith Grossman (translator)
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 39 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sixteenth-century Spanish gentleman Don Quixote, fed by his own delusional fantasies, takes to the road in search of chivalrous adventures. But his quest leads to more trouble than triumph. At once humorous, romantic, and sad, Don Quixote is a literary landmark. This fresh edition, by award-winning translator Edith Grossman, brings the tale to life as never before.
-
-
Masterpiece - in literature and narration!
- By Peter Y C. on 06-13-14
By: Miguel de Cervantes, and others
-
Herzog
- By: Saul Bellow
- Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Winner of the National Book Award when it was first published in 1964, Herzog traces five days in the life of a failed academic whose wife has recently left him for his best friend. Through the device of letter writing, Herzog movingly portrays both the internal life of its eponymous hero and the complexity of modern consciousness.
-
-
Grows Within You
- By Chris Reich on 08-06-11
By: Saul Bellow
Publisher's Summary
Set amid the stifling atmosphere of 19th-century bourgeois France, Madame Bovary is at once an unsparing depiction of a woman’s gradual corruption and a savagely ironic study of human shallowness and stupidity. Neither Emma, nor her lovers, nor Homais, the man of science, escapes the author’s searing castigation, and it is the book’s final profound irony that only Charles, Emma’s oxlike, eternally deceived husband, emerges with a measure of human grace through his stubborn and selfless love.
With its rare formal perfection, Madame Bovary represents, as Frank O’Connor has declared, “possibly the most beautifully written book ever composed; undoubtedly the most beautifully written novel…a book that invites superlatives…the most important novel of the century.”
More from the same
What listeners say about Madame Bovary
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
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!
11 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Bianca
- 02-14-13
Wonderful story... flawlessly written and read!
What made the experience of listening to Madame Bovary the most enjoyable?
Flaubert's writing is absolutely beautiful. His work is almost poetic, and his storytelling, especially from Madame Bovary's point-of-view is so intricately woven that I feel I can reach out and touch her. Kate Reading does a fabulous job with this work, and does it great justice.
Who was your favorite character and why?
Madame Bovary is the character I both love and dislike at the same time. She is so real and tangible to the listener, that one cannot help but connect with her, despite her flaws.
Have you listened to any of Kate Reading’s other performances before? How does this one compare?
I believe I have listened to her reading of Pride and Prejudice. I think she does a magnificent job. Her voice changes really make you forget you are listening to just one person, yet she is not overly dramatic, which might detract from the experience.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes. Unfortunately, I always listen on my way to and from work, so I can only listen to 15-30 minutes at a time!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Jeb
- 06-18-13
Music to My Ears
For those that prefer a tame, civilized bucket list, having Madame Bovary read to you might be worth including. There is nothing to lose and much to gain by listening to a great voice talent read (Kate Reading* narrates the Penguin Classics version). Flaubert’s vision is conveyed so naturally and in such an accessible, believable tone that the translated writing – the choice of words, the construction of the sentences, the grammar – all of it - is hardly noticed at all. This, of course, is the genius of Flaubert, and testimony to the achievement of his goal: “… to write the novel ‘objectively,’ leaving the author out of it.”
In the case of Madame Bovary, Flaubert himself wondered what it would be like to “give psychological analysis the rapidity, clarity, passion of a purely dramatic narration.” And if we agree with translator Lydia Davis about Flaubert’s intentions, we get a better feeling for the importance of the sound of the work: “What he is trying to achieve in this book, instead, is a style that is clear and direct, economical and precise, and at the same time rhythmic, sonorous, musical, and ‘as smooth as marble’ on the surface, with varied sentence structures and with imperceptible transitions from scene to scene and from psychological analysis to action.” (K.L. 133 Introduction by Lydia Davis)
These rhythmic, sonorous, musical qualities can only be heard, and, once heard, perhaps felt in someplace else in mind or body. That doesn’t necessarily mean that in order to hear these qualities we must be listening to someone else. We could conceivably experience these characteristics by listening to the voice in our own head, presupposing that reading does in fact produce the mental equivalent of voice.**
Kate Reading* has narrated 234 audiobooks now available on Amazon. She has received three “Earphones Awards” and has been named by AudioFile magazine as a "Voice of the Century". And so it was no surprise when I found myself completely entranced by her reading. In Madame Bovary, she assumes different dialog voices for each of Flaubert’s many characters (not all narrators do this) and in so doing creates an image in the listener’s mind. Homais is proud and bellicose, Emma is generally soft and earnest. Charles sounds like more of a dullard than he probably is, being a doctor. Rodolphe’s voice is dark and scheming while Monsieur Leon sounds like he just smoked some wickedly strong dope.
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anthony
- 02-12-18
Flawless reading
Flawless reading of what is now the new standard translation. Completely worth the extra money or a credit for Lydia Davis's translation and Kate Reading's reading.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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.
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- 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!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- H. Easom
- 01-23-19
Tedious
The reading was done beautifully, but the book...ugh. A teacup is read that I’m glad I never had to read back in school. I wanted to like it so much, but not a single character was sympathetic. Emma I found sniveling and weak, even in moments where she seemed to be asserting herself. (SPOILER ALERT: In choosing to engage in extramarital affairs, and eventually in taking her own life, the inherent power of her choice didn’t even give her character strength; rather, it made her seem even more pathetic to me as the world around her unfolded.) And Charles — really, could not a single character in this story warrant a little sympathy? I just couldn’t muster it up.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jennifer gonzaes
- 02-01-18
a real tragedy and a very good read. I highly reco
love it , a very sad tragic story of love and betrayal. so very heartbreaking