This is a beautiful new edition of Kate Chopin's classic novel, "The Awakening." Complete and unabridged.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Classic:
The Awakening is a novella about a young married woman in New Orleans during the late 1800s who suddenly develops a taste for freedom - to make her own decisions and live with the consequences. An exciting concept only because of the setting. The storyline is really very mild for today's readers. The only thing that makes this underdeveloped novella worth reading today is knowing what era the author was from and the impact it made with her peers when this story was released. Were it published today it... more info
A Statement on Non-Traditional Sensibilities:
An interesting portrayal of how non-traditional
women seem to have no options. Awaiting the
modern day version. Who's going to write it????
Lovely:
I don't know if I have such great memories of this book because my friends I made such fun of it--but most of the books we mock are things we truly enjoyed. Honestly, we all get a little sick of the depression and the whininess, but essentially this is a deep and thought-provoking novel of early feminism. It's symbolic and beautiful despite all its darkness.
not so simple, not so obvious:
The protagonist of this excellent novel is commonly seen as a victim of the repression and hopelessness of women's desires for autonomy in middle-class American society around the end of the 19th century. This view is easily justifiable, and Chopin does give the reader plenty of pointers toward this interpretation.
But a different and also arguable view is that Edna Pontellier is not so much a victim, but rather a failure. Just what is her problem? Her husband is well off and considerate. He married... more info
