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  • The Bleeding Heart

  • A Novel
  • By: Marilyn French
  • Narrated by: Reay Kaplan
  • Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (25 ratings)
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The Bleeding Heart cover art

The Bleeding Heart

By: Marilyn French
Narrated by: Reay Kaplan
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Summary

By the author of the groundbreaking feminist novel The Women's Room, this audiobook is a compelling novel about the devastating power of marriage - and the unexpected power of love. A love story for and about adults, it speaks to the hearts and minds of women and men everywhere.

Dolores and Victor are both successful, both Americans living alone in England. They meet and fall instantly in love, only to discover they agree on nothing. From the start they know they have only one year together. Their affair is sometimes bitter, always passionate, and, in the end, an extraordinary revelation for them both.

©1980 Marilyn French (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Bleeding Heart

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This has to be one of the greatest works of feminist literature of all time

I loved this as an audiobook, I loved it so much that I will have to also get the hard copy book because it is so full of gut-punching insights and I need the quotes! I really wish there were more Marilyn French audiobooks.

The audiobook is gripping because of its emotional honesty. The awful, unspoken values and expectations of women in relationships under patriarchy are exposed. At one point, Dolores is telling Victor about the end of her marriage to Anthony and she recounts that he said something to her like: “you never loved me like I love you” and without missing a beat, her response (which she doesn’t articulate) is “I never hated you like you hate me”.

This audiobook blew me away. One of my favourites ever. I will have to listen again and will recommend to every woman who I think will appreciate it. Such an extraordinary piece of work.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

What an emotional roller coaster

The narrator gets better - or perhaps I just got used to her. Bear with it if you have a similar experience. The honest frank portrayal of thoughts, feelings and motivations between two people had me riveted.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

The Bleeding Heart

Captivating novel. Bitter and biting. It drew me in and made me feel deeply.

I didn't really believe Victor as a character though. Mostly because he took all Dolores' hurt and anger and blame and came back for more every time.
While much of what Dolores said was absolutely right, I found her to be too single minded - She couldn't think of or talk about anything else other than the patriarchy. I mean I know it comes into everything but to literally talk about nothing else is just too much!

This didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book though as it was less about telling a story and more about examining their feelings, motivations and behaviours.

The narration was very good too. Really brought it to life.

I want to read more by this author so I was disappointed to find that Audible doesn't appear to have her book "The Women's Room" in their catalogue so I have bought it on Kindle. I would like to see Audible doing a reading of it though.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Gave up

I got half way through & gave up. I didn’t care about the characters or what happened to them. It was just tedious to listen to.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Involving and authentic read.

Excellent book, but jarring that narrator mispronounced numerous English place names. Also, ending seems sudden.

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