Romola


Lu par LibriVox Volunteers

(4.1 stars; 33 reviews)

George Eliot's own favorite among her novels, this novel tells the story of Romola, the intelligent daughter of a blind scholar, who is falling in love with a man who is going to change her life and the politics of Florence in a way she doesn't like. Set in 15th century Florence, it is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view".
Summary by Stav Nisser and Wikipedia. (23 hr 11 min)

Chapitres

00 - Introduction 20:34 Lu par Sandra G
01 - The Shipwrecked Stranger 35:05 Lu par Sandra G
02 - Breakfast for Love 10:39 Lu par Sandra G
03 - The Barber's Shop 24:38 Lu par David Goldfarb
04 - First Impressions 7:26 Lu par David Goldfarb
05 - The Blind Scholar and his Daughter 39:36 Lu par Martina Hutchins
06 - Dawning Hopes 33:29 Lu par David Goldfarb
07 - A Learned Squabble 12:52 Lu par David Goldfarb
08 - A Face in the Crowd 30:50 Lu par Kalynda
09 - A Man's Ransom 17:44 Lu par Kalynda
10 - Under the Plane-Tree 32:37 Lu par musil
11 - Tito's Dilemma 10:50 Lu par musil
12 - The Prize is nearly grasped 33:59 Lu par Phil Chenevert
13 - The Shadow of Nemesis 16:48 Lu par Vsilverlining
14 - The Peasants' Fair 42:12 Lu par Sandra G
15 - The Dying Message 30:11 Lu par Sandra G
16 - A Florentine Joke 32:38 Lu par Lucinda Gainey
17 - Under the Loggia 13:30 Lu par David Goldfarb
18 - The Portrait 13:12 Lu par David Goldfarb
19 - The Old Man's Hope 9:05 Lu par David Goldfarb
20 - The Day of the Betrothal 20:15 Lu par Terry Goodyer
21 - Florence expects a Guest 21:42 Lu par SallyMc
22 - The Prisoners 15:53 Lu par Terry Goodyer
23 - After-Thoughts 6:58 Lu par David Goldfarb
24 - Inside the Duomo 15:14 Lu par David Goldfarb
25 - Outside the Duomo 10:04 Lu par Terry Goodyer
26 - The Garment of Fear 10:44 Lu par Terry Goodyer
27 - The Young Wife 21:07 Lu par Terry Goodyer
28 - The Painted Record 10:22 Lu par Amy Gramour
29 - A Moment of Triumph 15:34 Lu par kittyandcheese
30 - The Avenger's Secret 22:08 Lu par kittyandcheese
31 - Fruit is Seed 11:39 Lu par kittyandcheese
32 - A Revelation 26:22 Lu par Sandra G
33 - Baldassarre makes an Acquaintance 16:13 Lu par Terry Goodyer
34 - No Place for Repentance 23:17 Lu par Terry Goodyer
35 - What Florence was thinking of 9:08 Lu par Vsilverlining
36 - Ariadne discrowns herself 27:42 Lu par Phil Chenevert
37 - The Tabernacle Unlocked 13:42 Lu par Sergio Baldelli
38 - The Black Marks become Magical 20:50 Lu par Sergio Baldelli
39 - A Supper in the Rucellai Gardens 51:39 Lu par Elaine Webb
40 - An Arresting Voice 24:02 Lu par Sandra G
41 - Coming Back 8:56 Lu par Sandra G
42 - Romola in her Place 20:25 Lu par Felicity C
43 - The Unseen Madonna 18:01 Lu par LizMourant
44 - The Visible Madonna 15:54 Lu par LizMourant
45 - At the Barber's Shop 23:03 Lu par LizMourant
46 - By a Street Lamp 22:13 Lu par Sandra G
47 - Check 8:01 Lu par Sandra G
48 - Counter-Check 15:38 Lu par Sandra G
49 - The Pyramid of Vanities 16:51 Lu par Felicity C
50 - Tessa Abroad and at Home 26:04 Lu par Phil Chenevert
51 - Monna Brigida's Conversion 12:22 Lu par Sandra G
52 - A Prophetess 15:28 Lu par Amy Gramour
53 - On San Miniato 14:56 Lu par Sandra G
54 - The Evening and the Morning 9:37 Lu par Sandra G
55 - Waiting 9:30 Lu par Vsilverlining
56 - The Other Wife 30:43 Lu par Sandra G
57 - Why Tito was Safe 14:17 Lu par kittyandcheese
58 - A Final Understanding 15:18 Lu par Sandra G
59 - Pleading 21:35 Lu par Sandra G
60 - The Scaffold 14:58 Lu par kittyandcheese
61 - Drifting Away 12:35 Lu par Phil Chenevert
62 - The Benediction 11:36 Lu par kittyandcheese
63 - Ripening Schemes 30:47 Lu par Felicity C
64 - The Prophet in his Cell 22:30 Lu par Felicity C
65 - The Trial by Fire 18:16 Lu par David Goldfarb
66 - A Masque of the Furies 10:09 Lu par David Goldfarb
67 - Waiting by the River 15:45 Lu par David Goldfarb
68 - Romola's waking 21:43 Lu par David Goldfarb
69 - Homeward 7:29 Lu par David Goldfarb
70 - Meeting Again 11:18 Lu par David Goldfarb
71 - The Confession 15:40 Lu par David Goldfarb
72 - The Last Silence 7:46 Lu par David Goldfarb
73 - Epilogue 9:33 Lu par David Goldfarb

Critiques

Not my favorite


(4 stars)

On a positive notice, the readers of Romula are all quite good with no difficult accents or distracting mispronounciations. The negative for me is that Romula deals much more with Florentino politics and infighting than I found interesting. This is just my personal preference so don't let it deter you for giving it a try As usual, Eliot's writing is very insightful.

Really quite interesting


(5 stars)

This does start slow if you're expecting action. but when you embrace the richness in exposition, it becomes not only quite interesting, but entertaining as well. The LibriVox readers did a fine job. I should have read this ages ago (have owned a copy, unread, for decades), but listening to it now while painting my houses trim has been very good.

Meh


(2.5 stars)

Other reviewers are right in saying it takes a while to get going. There isn't enough story for the length of time it took to tell it. I skipped almost-entire chapters for their rambling, & there is a lot of content that really doesn't bear on the story. Overall, I don't know why Eliot thought this book so great, although I think it could have been had it been more consise.


(2 stars)

I tried… this might be a great book but I cannot overcome many of the readers. Too fast, not articulate, poor recording quality/sound,odd and unnatural inflection…Thank you for reading, for some maybe practicing. I get it. But I can’t listen to every single style, habit, quality reader. Just my pov.


(4 stars)

Some readers were very good. Sadly some reader's pronunciation was do bad that they couldn't pronounce the main characters properly.