The Red and the Black

By: Stendhal

Narrated by: Bill Homewood

Young Julien Sorel, the son of a country timber merchant, carries a portrait of his hero, Napoleon Bonaparte, and dreams of military glory. A brilliant career in the Church leads him into Parisian high society, where, "mounted upon the finest horse in Alsace", he gains high military office and wins the heart of the aristocratic Mlle Mathilde de la Mole. Julien's cunning and ambition lead him into all sorts of scrapes, but it is the struggle between his passion for two beautiful women - the quixotic Mathilde and the loyal Mme de Rênal - which ultimately decides his destiny.

Download the accompanying reference guide.Public Domain (P)2010 Naxos Audiobooks

A Very Interesting, Albeit, At Times Slow Moving Story

The narration is excellent. I found the story somewhat slow moving and confusing. I needed to often read it and listen to passages a second time. This was not a fault of the narrator, who was very professional. I also used study aids. I am very glad that I have now read this novel. I liked it more than not. But I probably won’t read it again.

Best ending ever!

A forever entreating classic with respect to the complexity of human relations. The ending is Inevitable, even in contemporary matters, as the result of uncompromising ideology.

Tedious! Listened for the narrator.

What a tedious listen. I enjoyed the history lesson on French Bourgeoisie of the 19th century, but the short life and death of Julian is pretty uninteresting through the modern lens. This style of writing favors the portrayal of ladies fainting away with the power of emotion, and overuse of tropes like turning red, then white, then purple (changing color) and the word “astonished!” Kind of funny if you can get through the boredom of the story. I listened because I fell in love with Bill Homewood’s gorgeous narration of The Count of Monte Cristo, but alas this story was kind of a stinker.

Bill Homewood is incredible

all fans of French literature will enjoy this, a story which is a little bit longer than it needed to be, but with Homewood's performance it is lifted to splendor

Why?

I read this book as assigned reading for a literature class. I finished reading it. I do not know why. Until the teacher explains that to me, my conjecture is that this helps understand the development of novel writing. I cannot think of any other possible reason to read it in 2018. Perhaps my evaluation says more about me than it does about the book.