The Charterhouse of Parma

By: Henri Beyle Stendhal

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

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.

©1997 Margaret Mauldon (P)2013 Recorded Books

To the happy few

The beginning is slightly clustered with characters who hold no special significance later in the book, thus it was a bit difficult to follow. However, after Parma is introduced, the story carries on at a steady pace with at the centre being the love life of Fabrice and the affections showered upon him. Another thing which doesn’t lend itself being easy to imagine is the Fortress prison in Parma, although offering details, I have never seen anything like it so my imagination doesn’t do justice to the painted picture.

I enjoyed the pronouncing of names and titles, the Italian puns, fights, court intrigue, and so much more. Charterhouse of Parma is a remarkable book and what’s more, being offered free of cost. I would also recommend Red and Black which has a hero at the centre who also finds himself engaging in adultery and revering Napoleon, and much like in the pertinent story, the character has an unhappy ending.

A classic you don't want to miss

This is another classic I never got around to reading and finally Audiobooks made it possible for me to finally get to it. I thought it started a little slow but oh how it developed. It was hard to stop my walks and turn off my iPod. I walked extra just to keep listening. It is a French author writing about an Italian hero and I enjoyed the comments about the two different cultures. The beautiful Italian names will ring in my head forever. Don't miss it.

Another version of Candide

Any additional comments?

This is a remarkable enjoyable epic of a young man in search of love encountering the ways of the world which have not changed since this book was written. It reminded me of Voltaire's Candide but far more sophisticated in nuance and breadth and soul. It's comparison of the French and Italian personas is very interesting.

Started out great, but disappointed

I thoroughly enjoyed the first part of the book, when the young and naive Fabrice sets out to join Napoleon. There is humor, satire, and adventure in this portion, in some ways reminding me of the adventures of The Three Musketeers (in the many volumes of Dumas’ books), and I was hoping it would continue in that vein. But following that, the endless intrigues with far too many characters and fickle romances and love affairs, frequently obsessive, become tedious and drawn out. Perhaps a good editor could have done something to improve the book, because it certainly started out great. I listened to Ballerini read a different book and enjoyed his reading much more. Here, it was fine, but did not make the book any less tedious as it dragged on to the end. Sometimes “quit while you are ahead” can be excellent advice!

Beautiful in every way

Beautiful writing along with perfect narrating make this version a must listen. Fabrice is truly our hero! 👏👏