The Mysteries of Udolpho

By: Ann Radcliffe

Narrated by: Jason Smith

The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe is a quintessential Gothic novel that combines romance, mystery, and horror, set against the backdrop of the picturesque but menacing landscapes of the Apennines. The story follows the fortunes of Emily St. Aubert, who suffers misadventures that include the death of her father, supernatural terrors in a gloomy castle, and machinations of an Italian brigand. This novel is celebrated for its elaborate descriptions of nature, its exploration of the sublime and the terrifying, and its influence on later Gothic literature.

©Public domain (P)2024 Stream Readers

Audio format is embarrassingly poorly done

The story, I think, is actually captivating for the period in which it was written. I listened to this book but the narration was so poorly done that it was distracting. In fact, it was so disappointing an distracting that it substantially decreased my ability to appreciate the literature. I wondered if it had been read by an AI but the reader is named. The reading lacks any realistic cadence with pauses between every phrase that suggests very poor editing and a very un- lifelike reading. This could have been corrected by a decent audio editor but was not. Additionally, the pronunciations of French words was also distracting. There seemed to be no attempt to get them correct, even the ones that any normal English speaking person would recognize. And even English words like a laceration on the hand (wound) was pronounced as though it was a loaded spring (wound). It was grating. I think the writing was good but the reading was so atrocious that it was difficult to appreciate. I for one will be reading or listening to this book but by a different editor/creator

Worst Narration I Have Ever Heard

The story itself is fine albeit long winded and contrived. The book could be half the length and much better. However, it is really the narration that makes this version so terrible. The narrators delivery is so stilted as to almost sound artificial. Moreover, he manages to badly mispronounce main character names so badly that anyone with even a passing knowledge of French will be as offended as I was. It is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard and it is nearly every other sentence in the first few chapters. It became quite clear that he had no knowledge of French at all as he mistook “Mons.,” the abbreviation of “Monsieur” as the end of sentences, resulting in strange pauses before saying the name as if it were the start of a new sentence. At first I thought this lack of knowledge was a function of the French names and words, but he proceeded then to mispronounce not only Italian names and words but English as well! If a word had two pronunciations and two meanings as in “Con-TEST” vs “CON-test” he would invariably choose the wrong version for the context. His delivery was flatter than a pancake and made all the more ridiculous when the interject, “O!,” was presented. Each time it was his monotonous delivery was then punctuated by his yelling “O!” I will avoid anything read by this person. However, I don’t just fault him. Who ever produced this version demonstrated malpractice for not having nipped this in the bud. If there are other audiobook versions, find them. I cannot imagine that any of them could worse than this.