The Golden Bowl


Read by Lee Ann Howlett

(3.8 stars; 34 reviews)

The Golden Bowl is a 1904 novel by Henry James. Set in England, this complex, intense study of marriage and adultery completes what some critics have called the "major phase" of James' career. The Golden Bowl explores the tangle of interrelationships between a father and daughter and their respective spouses. The novel focuses deeply and almost exclusively on the consciousness of the central characters, with sometimes obsessive detail but also with powerful insight. (Summary by Wikipedia) (22 hr 5 min)

Chapters

Part 1, Chapter 1 36:47 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 1, Chapter 2 31:34 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 1, Chapter 3 31:28 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 1, Chapter 4 43:15 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 1, Chapter 5 24:53 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 1, Chapter 6 29:26 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 2, Chapter 7 33:06 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 2, Chapter 8 19:23 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 2, Chapter 9 23:20 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 2, Chapter 10 38:56 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 2, Chapter 11 32:08 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 2, Chapter 12 30:40 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 2, Chapter 13 25:23 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 14 36:06 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 15 17:36 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 16 20:54 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 17 21:05 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 18 24:26 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 19 23:26 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 20 17:56 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 21 25:42 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 22 24:41 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 23 27:29 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 3, Chapter 24 42:22 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 25 32:18 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 26 43:31 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 27 38:43 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 28 28:59 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 29 29:25 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 30 37:19 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 31 28:54 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 32 29:05 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 33 48:00 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 4, Chapter 34 38:55 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 35 41:56 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 36 39:00 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 37 41:46 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 38 35:58 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 39 40:52 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 40 29:26 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 41 31:08 Read by Lee Ann Howlett
Part 5, Chapter 42 28:27 Read by Lee Ann Howlett

Reviews

Psychological triumph.


(4.5 stars)

If you are new to James you might want to start with A Portrait of a Lady. Here we have a slow moving but fascinating story of a young woman’s emotional and spiritual journey, as she gradually learns how to influence and steer the events and the people in her life. This is a tough book to understand if you can’t give it your full attention. Be prepared to listen to some passages, even some entire chapters over and over again. James’s beautiful writing with long involved sentences often makes you wonder just exactly what he is saying. If you are willing to take the plunge, you will be richly rewarded for your time and effort!

Very well read.


(5 stars)

Some of the sentences were so long and difficult to interpret, perhaps due to the language of the time, that I wondered if James was playing games while writing this. The whole idea is a clever way to analyze the psychology and emotions of an unusual situation. Quite entertaining and not to be taken too seriously.


(5 stars)

The reader’s clear voice control made it possible for me to (just)bear my exasperation at James‘s interminable sentences, descriptions, analyses, balancing them with my admiration for the brilliant writing, plot control and.the character development of the woman the book is about. Even though his anti-semitism is plain, it’s his best of the half dozen I know so far.

Perfect reafing. Brilliant novel.


(5 stars)

HJ nails the American ideology and the insidious creeping poison of patronage that is consuming the democratic idyll. The patronised evoke pity, despite their sins, yet the patrons are the true victims of their own complacent sense of entitlement. A fitting tale for contemporary USA.


(4 stars)

My first HJ book - which is, I’m sure, quite brilliant- but which I almost ended up ‘cross-eyed’ trying to understand!! I had to spend so much time concentrating on making sense of the complex sentencences I lost the understanding of the story.

Lee Ann Howlett Superb!


(5 stars)

Great story with an amazing reader. Sorry I've finished it. I think she's read more James - I'm off...


(5 stars)

A Subdued rendition, yet capturing the inner passions of the characters.


(3.5 stars)

Not my favorite Henry James. Good reading however.