Madame Bovary

By: Gustave Flaubert

Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson

Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

In Madame Bovary, one of the great novels of 19th-century France, Flaubert draws a deeply felt and sympathetic portrait of a woman who, having married a country doctor and found herself unhappy with a rural, genteel existence, longs for love and excitement. However, her aspirations and her desires to escape only bring her further disappointment and eventually lead to unexpected, painful consequences. Flaubert’s critical portrait of bourgeois provincial life remains as powerful as ever.

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Public Domain (P)2014 Naxos AudioBooks

EXCELLENT!

This was a wonderful read. I will seek more books by Gustave Flaubert! It is a vacation into another world and another time.

Wonderful classic story, well told

The story takes a long time to set up. I almost gave up at the halfway point. However, when the action begins it is a roller coaster to the end. Juliette Stevenson is excellent, as usual.

A profoundly moving book on the nature of Happines

I loved this book. One of the classics. Juliet Stevenson does a phenomenal job with the reading and narration. The book's main theme is a Meditation on the fleeting happiness that come from the world and positions therein. It takes awhile to finish,but stick with it. Its got great payoff.

A little Dickens-ish

Of course Juliet could read the dictionary & make it interesting. The symbolism and overindulgent wasteland of the characters is more depressing than I remembered. What an in your face cautionary tale. Sort of have a love/hate relationship w the story.

Flaubert is an iconoclast

For those who left a negative review of this literary masterpiece it may be that the content of this story has gone over your heads. This is a realistic “romantic” novel, or one that intentionally shatters the romantic and idealistic traditions, characters, settings, and all manner of plot of the romantic movement in order to expose their essential unreality. For those who cry how this book is mundane, yes. It is mundane. And therein lies its excellence. (Pay attention to these juxtapositions.) It also exposes bare the arrogance and snobbery of a thoroughly conceited, ungrateful, self-absorbed, although brainwashed and misguided, woman who is infatuated with her literary fantasies.

What makes this tale so tragic? It probably is an accurate reflection of the hubris and vanity of the age in which Flaubert lived, honest enough to call the law down on his head.

Stevenson is a superb narrator. Absolutely stellar.

Several parts of this novel are very amusing, especially the interactions between the chemist and the priest.

Flaubert Brings You Into the Novel

Flaubert has that gift of writing that takes you into the novel. He and Tolstoy are the best at it. This is one of the best books I've ever listened to. The narrator is excellent and is a perfect fit for the book. I may listen to it again.

unlikable characters who still inspire sympathy

Rating this one is hard -- I was leaning toward 5 stars for several days, but when I think of some of my other 5 star reads this one comes in slightly lower. So there you go: 4+ stars.

This book really made me think about some things that I didn't expect to think about. Flaubert's Emma is unique. She is not often likable. She is flighty, selfish, proud and even arrogant. But in my interpretation of the story she seems to have issues with Depression and maybe Postpartum Depression. And, I feel like Emma was in a tight little box due to societal constraints. She struggles so violently that she injures herself. Emma's extramarital affairs must have made this book a sensational and shocking story.

Excellent narrator, beautiful writing

Would you listen to Madame Bovary again? Why?

Yes, parts.

Which character – as performed by Juliet Stevenson – was your favorite?

Juliet Stevenson is such an excellent narrator. Her readings are at a perfect pace and her character interpretations are always wonderful. Ms. Stevenson's understanding of the text and intelligence make listening a joy. I become so lost in the characters she portrays that I forget it is one person reading! Can't say Emma Bovary is a favorite character, but her self-centeredness and vacuousness come through in the dialogue as read by the narrator.

Any additional comments?

I can understand why this novel is so well known. The writing (and this translation) draw you in. But the characters are not sympathetic and I don't understand why Emma Bovary is so empty and why she expresses no remorse at the end of the novel. I feel for her clueless husband and especially for her daughter Berthe.

Glad I read it again.

I read Madam Bovary in college. Reading it decades later, I realized how little I remembered and why this is a classic book to read and re-read. Mahler was ahead of his tine . He paid dearly for writing what was a scandalous novel at the time.

An interesting take on morality

Where does Madame Bovary rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Fairly high. I liked the performance, and while I hated the heroine, the story was good.

What did you like best about this story?

When Emma suffers for what she has done. I didn't like her much.

What does Juliet Stevenson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I liked her inflections for the various characters. It brought things to life. Also, I am terrible at imagining French pronunciations!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I may or may not have hissed "YESSSS!" when she was indicted.

Any additional comments?

Does disliking Emma make me a bad feminist?