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Sentimental Education
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
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Sentimental Education
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Publisher's Summary
Set against the chaotic backdrop of the 1848 Revolution, Sentimental Education follows the romantic adventures of Frederick Moreau, a young law student, and his education in the affairs of the heart.
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.
An elegant portrait of lust and illusion, Sentimental Education realistically captures 19th century French society and the obsessive occupations of the time. It stands up with the best work by Honoré de Balzac and Émile Zola, the latter of whom praised it for its authenticity and satire.
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-
Story2.5 out of 5 stars 2
The Charterhouse of Parma is a twisting tale of passion and intrigue following the adventures of Fabrizio del Dongo, a young Italian nobleman who dreams of glory on the battlefields of Europe and finds himself fighting alongside Napoleon at Waterloo. After returning home, Fabrizio becomes entangled in Machiavellian scheming, an ill-advised romance, and a fatal duel that lands him in prison, where he begins a star-crossed love affair with the ethereal Clelia, the commandant’s daughter.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Censored.
- By Amazon Customer on 04-28-23
By: Stendhal
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Dangerous Liaisons
- By: Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos
- Narrated by: Gabriel Woolf
- Length: 15 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 154
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 113
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 114
The story, composed entirely of letters written by the various characters to each other, tells of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two rivals who use sex as a weapon to humiliate and degrade others, uncaring of those who face social ruin or whose hearts are broken. It depicts a decadent and corrupt aristocracy exposing the perversions of the so-called Ancien Regime. The relevance of this grew due to the ensuing the French Revolution.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Amazing story.
- By Steve Inman on 11-10-09
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The Red and the Black
- By: Stendhal
- Narrated by: Davina Porter
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 342
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 259
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 255
So what would Al Gore choose if he had a book club? Gore named Stendhal's The Red and the Black, a 19th century classic chock full of adultery, betrayal, and moral vacuity, as his favorite book on a recent broadcast of Oprah. It's a bit shocking of a choice, given his wife and running mate's position on clean, wholesome literature. Listen and decide for yourself the merit of this presidential pick.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Almost perfect
- By Erez on 05-29-08
By: Stendhal
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The Charterhouse of Parma
- By: Henri Beyle Stendhal
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 19 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 173
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 159
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Story4 out of 5 stars 155
In the coming-of-age story, we follow a young Italian nobleman, Fabrizio Valserra, Marchesino del Dongo, on many adventures, including his experiences at the Battle of Waterloo, and romantic intrigues.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Amazing novel finally available on audio!
- By Grant on 03-23-14
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Father Goriot
- By: Honoré de Balzac
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 63
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 55
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 53
Impoverished young aristocrat Eugene de Rastignac is determined to climb the social ladder and impress himself on Parisian high society. While staying at the Maison Vauquer, a boarding house in Paris's rue Neuve-Sainte-Genevieve, he encounters Jean-Joachim Goriot, a retired vermicelli maker who has spent his entire fortune supporting his two daughters. The boarders strike up a friendship and Goriot learns of Rastignac's feelings for his daughter Delphine. He begins to see Rastignac as the ideal son-in-law, and the perfect substitute for Delphine's domineering husband. But Rastignac has other opportunities too....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Astounding performance
- By Laurence Grey on 04-05-21
By: Honoré de Balzac
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Three Tales
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Andrew Wincott
- Length: 4 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 5
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 5
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 5
Published at the end of Flaubert’s career, Three Tales is a collection of three compelling short stories about faith, loneliness and love. In "A Simple Heart", a saint-like servant girl begins to experience religious visions of her pet parrot after enduring the loss of loved ones. "The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller" presents the origin story of Julian the Hospitaller, who renounces the violence of his past and cares for the indigent. "Herodias", the final story, retells the beheading of St. John the Baptist, and the seduction of Herod by Salome.
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2 out of 5 stars
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disappointing
- By SB on 08-13-22
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary: A Signature Performance by Leelee Sobieski
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Leelee Sobieski
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3.5 out of 5 stars 236
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 162
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Story4 out of 5 stars 157
A Signature Performance: Leelee Sobieski’s Emma is sultry but vulnerable, offering a sympathetic rendering of the heroine and her plight, allowing the listener to draw his own conclusions about Madame Bovary in this cautionary tale of love, passion, and desperation.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Never touch your idols: the gilding will stick
- By Darwin8u on 07-25-15
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Salambo
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Fred Williams
- Length: 12 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 18
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Story4 out of 5 stars 18
When Salambo, the exquisite daughter of Hamilcar, rode into the Roman camp, into Matho's tent, to exchange her beauty for the veil of Carthage - he would throw away victory and forsake his army, his nation, and his soul for the price of her body. Set during the historical struggle between Rome and Carthage, Flaubert's novel offers a richly detailed portrait of the lives and rites of two ancient kingdoms moved by their allegiances to very different gods.
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4 out of 5 stars
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An Exotic Melodrama
- By Joshua on 07-11-15
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Tristram Shandy
- By: Laurence Sterne
- Narrated by: Anton Lesser
- Length: 19 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 212
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 193
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Story4 out of 5 stars 188
Laurence Sterne’s most famous novel is a biting satire of literary conventions and contemporary 18th-century values. Renowned for its parody of established narrative techniques, Tristram Shandyis commonly regarded as the forerunner of avant-garde fiction. Tristram’s characteristic digressions on a whole range of unlikely subjects (including battle strategy and noses!) are endlessly surprising and make this one of Britain’s greatest comic achievements.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Like discovering Frank Zappa in 250 years
- By Darwin8u on 01-02-14
By: Laurence Sterne
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Madame Bovary
- Classic Collection
- By: Eleanor Marx-Aveling - translator, Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 178
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 118
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Story4 out of 5 stars 116
A brilliant psychological portrait, Madame Bovary searingly depicts the human mind in search of transcendence. Acclaimed as a masterpiece upon its publication in 1857, it catapulted Flaubert to the ranks of the world's greatest novelists and ushered in a new age of realism in literature.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Bored French women are trouble
- By Darwin8u on 04-18-13
By: Eleanor Marx-Aveling - translator, and others
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La Rabouilleuse
- The Black Sheep; The Two Brothers
- By: Honoré de Balzac
- Narrated by: Bill Homewood
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 20
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 19
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Story5 out of 5 stars 19
Brothers Philippe and Joseph Bridau are completely unalike: Philippe, braggart and soldier, formerly aide-de-camp to Napoleon, is their mother Agathe's favorite; Joseph, a poor and aspiring artist, is raised in his brother's shadow. When Agathe is reduced to poverty and Philippe accrues gambling debts, the family join forces to focus their attentions on Agathe's brother, Jean-Jacques Rouget, heir to the family fortune. The struggle for his inheritance pits the family against Rouget's beautiful maid Flore ("La Rabouilleuse"), the apple of her master's eye, and her crafty lover.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Brutal poetic justice
- By Tad Davis on 06-23-20
By: Honoré de Balzac
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Nana
- By: Émile Zola
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Story4 out of 5 stars 43
Nana Coupeau is a beautiful woman, able to attract men of enormous wealth with the crook of her finger. Part-time prostitute, part-time actress, she makes her debut in a mediocre operetta The Blonde Venus at the bustling Paris World’s Fair of 1867. She can’t sing, act, or dance, yet she is stunning. Nana soon rockets through elite Parisian society, and, blinded by desire, men crawl to her feet, yielding to her every demand. Affections are manipulated, hearts are broken; fortunes are gutted and inheritances squandered.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Beautiful and devastating
- By Tad Davis on 07-23-18
By: Émile Zola
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A Sentimental Education
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Jonathan Fried
- Length: 17 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 24
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 20
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Story4 out of 5 stars 20
Frederic Moreau is a law student returning home to Normandy from Paris when he first notices Mme. Arnoux, a slender, dark woman several years older than himself. It is the beginning of an infatuation that will last a lifetime. He befriends her husband, an influential businessman, and their paths cross and re-cross over the years. Through financial upheaval, political turmoil, and countless affairs, Mme. Arnoux remains the constant, unattainable love of Moreau's life.
By: Gustave Flaubert
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert, Lydia Davis - translator
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 13 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 357
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 291
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Story4 out of 5 stars 286
Emma Bovary is the original desperate housewife. Beautiful but bored, she is married to the provincial doctor Charles Bovary yet harbors dreams of an elegant and passionate life. Escaping into sentimental novels, she finds her fantasies dashed by the tedium of her days. Motherhood proves to be a burden; religion is only a brief distraction. In an effort to make her life everything she believes it should be, she spends lavishly on clothes and on her home and embarks on two disappointing affairs.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Ironic, humorous, and restrained
- By Esther on 05-13-13
By: Gustave Flaubert, and others
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Cousin Bette
- By: Honoré de Balzac
- Narrated by: Johanna Ward
- Length: 16 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 409
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 303
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 305
The Bette referred to in this magnificent novel's title is Lisbeth Fischer, an excruciatingly cunning poor relation who both depends upon and nurses a terrible grudge against the family of her beautiful cousin, Adeline. That family is slowly being ruined by the uncontrollable sexual appetites of Adeline's husband, Baron Hulot - appetites that will, in time, give Cousin Bette opportunity to exact her vengeance.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Narrator!
- By Murasaki on 12-03-06
By: Honoré de Balzac
Related to this topic
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Nana
- By: Émile Zola
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 17 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 49
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 43
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 43
Nana Coupeau is a beautiful woman, able to attract men of enormous wealth with the crook of her finger. Part-time prostitute, part-time actress, she makes her debut in a mediocre operetta The Blonde Venus at the bustling Paris World’s Fair of 1867. She can’t sing, act, or dance, yet she is stunning. Nana soon rockets through elite Parisian society, and, blinded by desire, men crawl to her feet, yielding to her every demand. Affections are manipulated, hearts are broken; fortunes are gutted and inheritances squandered.
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5 out of 5 stars
-
Beautiful and devastating
- By Tad Davis on 07-23-18
By: Émile Zola
-
Death in Venice
- By: Thomas Mann
- Narrated by: Peter Batchelor
- Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 205
-
Performance3.5 out of 5 stars 177
-
Story4 out of 5 stars 179
A stunningly beautiful youth and the city of Venice set the stage for Thomas Mann’s introspective examination of erotic love and philosophical wisdom.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A problem with the narration
- By Erez on 03-19-12
By: Thomas Mann
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Madame Bovary
- By: Gustave Flaubert
- Narrated by: Elaine Wise
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 77
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 69
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 69
Though he embodies neither wealth nor a lavish persona, Charles Bovary - a somewhat established doctor - takes a chance in marrying the young, vibrant, and ambitious farm girl Emma Rouault. At first, Emma is delighted to be married and away from her father's farm, but her thirst for the rich and ornate lifestyle that she witnesses other people living soon drives her away from her husband and into the arms of various suitors.