Shirley

fantabulous, lovely collaborative read

(5 stars)

dahszil

chapter 31 - "Which the Genteel Reader is Recommended to Skip, Low Persons Being Here Introduced". Well excuse me! Mrs Charlotte Bell Nicholls nee Bronte. Perish the thought! not :) I have heard far too many people complain about readers, this , that and the other thing. This is a free service and a precious one for those of us who can not afford to buy online or cd audio books. Thank you volunteers, researchers, those who give financial and equipment donations, etc, and staff at Librivox and Internet Archive

complex story, push through it for great reward

(4.5 stars)

Mac

While this story didn't seem as easy to get into as some of the author's other books, I stuck with it and really enjoy it. There was great reward in having experienced this tale. Some of the readers were very hard to hear, in general it was well recorded and I can't complain because I was thankful to get to hear it.

Maybe Charlotte's best work

(5 stars)

Barbie Chyqa

The book is funny, but so subtly, you might miss it. I chuckled my way through it and most readers do a great job at the line delivery. All readers are audible and understandable. I think it's a feminist text in some ways. My only gripe was it wasn't titled Caroline or even Shirley and Caroline

Purest, Suspended Romance

(5 stars)

Jennifer A

I imagine reading this story to be a bit laborious. However, listening was a patient pleasure; tiny doses mixed with historical background, which I enjoyed. Love suspended. Most of the volunteer readers were easy to listen to, some were not as easy. They did volunteer and I am thankful nonetheless.

Good novel, inconsistent reading

(3 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

A good novel that nevertheless dragged in parts and could have been a couple hundred pages shorter.. The readers were inconsistent: some better, others nearly unbearable. This made the reading feel fragmented and frustrating in parts.

(5 stars)

Vicki

Thank for the reading . I chose this book for my book club when we were directed to choose a book with a single word as a title . The text was dense and after plowing through the first hundred pages I decided LibriVox would help me with the text . It was a pleasure to listen as I read along . The text had numerous footnotes and helpful with Brontë’s numerous Biblical and classical references . The novel surprised me with its early feminist tones . Women have made progress since Brontë and it is such a shame the sisters died so young .

Quality of recording

(0.5 stars)

Sjœrd Riemstra

This recording \ reading of a book must be one of the worst I have listened to. I had had enough after five chapters of extremely indistinct recordings by various readers, of poor pronunciation, etc. The worst, however, is the thoroughly shameful quality of recording. The entire audio volume would be best discarded in its entirety, as there is no pleasure to be gained from this reading.

Excellent

(4 stars)

A LibriVox Listener

As stated by others, the text is complex—but only at first. Beyond that is an superbly crafted and bravely structured story of two lovers, and an astute depiction of rural England during the Napoleonic wars. The readings are for the most part excellent; however, several of the earlier sections are very difficult to follow and border on becoming offputting. But, I encourage the listener to persist.