The Awakening: (Chopin novel) Paperback – January 15, 2016

I first read The Awakening in high school or early college, many many years ago. I'm sure it was over my head and beyond my life experience at that time. I likely read it because I thought it may contain explicit steamy love scenes! It does not. Or maybe it is steamy for 1899. To me, the marvel of this book is that it was published in 1899. A feminist novella indeed!The Awakening is the story of wealthy and unhappy Edna Pontellier. She lives in New Orleans though the story opens when she is vacationing on the Louisiana coast with her husband and their two young sons. Her husband is portrayed as a stuffy bore and the children as always wanting something. At the summer resort she meets a variety of people. Her close friend is very conventional, pregnant again, and would sacrifice anything for her children. Another female vacationer is a pianist and an unconventional single woman. She offers an alternative view of life for a woman. Edna falls in love with the resort owner's flirtatious son Robert Lebrun. When she returns to her daily life in New Orleans, Edna is despondent. She misses Robert and she is unhappy being a wife and mother. She tries to carve out some independence with her painting. When her husband leaves on an extended business trip, she has an affair with a notorious womanizer. She ends the affair on her own terms. Still unhappy and unfulfilled, she rents a small house which she intends to live in on her own. Her husband is appalled, but he is mainly concerned about appearances. In a move worthy of today's best spin doctors, he makes arrangements to renovate their house in order to explain his wife living elsewhere. In the meantime, Robert returns, sparks fly, and he leaves again. Edna returns to the coast alone.That is a lot of story in a short book. The writing is descriptive and evocative without being too flowery. The real power is in the main character daring to defy a woman's prescribed role. She tries to assert herself in small ways, but becomes bolder when this does not work. There is a great scene when Edna decides to sleep outside in a hammock. Her husband orders her in the house. When she refuses, he sits on the porch with her all night. He drinks wine and smokes cigars while she tries to sleep. It is a great example of the passive-aggressive behavior that occurs in most marriages at some point. I noticed that some reviewers do not like the character of Edna. She is not particularly likable, but neither are any of the other characters in this book. She is an unhappy woman who does not like society's rules. She has very few options and makes a lot of blunders along the way. The book really resonated with me at this time in my life and also at this time in our social and political climate. I'm so glad I re-read this!

This is a controversial but worthwhile read, if you are interested in the history of American novels and/or the history of female American writers.I didn't like it. The writing is uneven, and Edna had a pretty good life compared to a lot of women today, let alone in Kate Chopin's time. However, it bears keeping in mind that Chopin was trying to do something different and somewhat revolutionary for the time. She was bending the formal rules of prose-writing and trying to break away somewhat from the realism that dominated the novels of her time. Both efforts work better in the dialogue than they do in the descriptive text, at least for me. The extended metaphor, however, is well-executed, if a bit on the nose.For my son, who read the book this year for AP Lit, Edna's character was insufferable, and the way the other characters existed to price her was unendurable. I agree that it's tiresome, but after speaking with a friend of mine who is smarter than I am by a lot, I think maybe that Chopin intended it to be so as a way to illustrate the cognitive dissonance involved in Victorian American bourgeoise society when a wife and mother was not good in either role.All that said, parts of it are gorgeous, and Chopin was way ahead of her time, which makes the book worth reading.

I am a 31 year old man, and while I don't think anyone would consider me a "manly man", I'm also far from the type of person people would think would enjoy this book. It's the metamorphosis of a reserved typical (for the time) caterpillar of a woman who grows or "awakens" into a free spirited, ambitious, outspoken, independent woman.The writing is awesome. In the beginning I really didn't care for the plot much but wanted to give it a try because it's considered a classic and was very controversial for the time. For about the first 30% I really wasn't excited to pick it up and read it, but every time I did, I really enjoyed reading it just because of how well it was written. Then the metamorphosis begins, and I really think there's no better word to describe the change that Kate Chopin masterfully (and I've never once used that word) portrayed. And I love reading that old-time English, but a lot of books it's so old that it's barely understandable to me. This was a perfect mix to me. It had me trying to speak like that since I've finished.All that said, I can easily see why someone would be turned off by the plot (though not angry at it as so many seem to be) since it's very plain and simple. But if you give it a chance, the writing and the beautiful way she makes the character grow and change is well worth whatever problems you have with it.

Pssst….Want to read a book that was so scandalous when it was published that critics vilified it as "morbid, vulgar and disagreeable"? But that's not the worst of it. Those same critics were most horrified by its amoral portrayal of adultery.Published in 1899, this classic feminist work by Kate Chopin is now considered one of the great American novels, focusing on a woman's sudden blossoming of sexual passion as it conflicts with all the things proper society expects of her. Edna, age 28, is married with two children and living an upper class life in New Orleans with summers spent on Grand Isle. Over the course of six months, she discovers not only the power of lust and love, but also the power within herself to be an independent woman. No wonder men were horrified by this book.

The Awakening was my first book for the Feminist February reading challenge. I chose The Awakening because it was first published in 1899, and apparently caused a scandal with its descriptions of female infidelity. (It's also free on Kindle!)Why is it that, although written in the 1800's, that The Awakening is still relevant today? The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, speaks of how a woman is expected to give herself up for her children, and rages against this notion. Today, we still speak of women in terms of their relationship to other people (mother, grandmother, wife, sister). Think of the headlines involving women: "Mother, 35, eats ice cream at the park!" "Wife of celebrated politician wears leopard print dress to charity ball!" It's quite ridiculous, isn't it? And yet we are still subjected to this form of sexism, sometimes without even noticing.Edna's lover, Robert, mentions dreaming that Edna's husband would free her, give her up, for Robert to have:"You have been a very, very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, 'here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,' I should laugh at you both."Many people, even in apparent forward-thinking cultures, still believe that women are property. If challenged, they may deny it, but you only have to speak to a group of people about a woman keeping her own surname upon marriage, or the husband taking his wife's surname, to discover just how backwards their views actually are. I kept my surname upon marriage, yet I have received negative comments from several places - not just online trolls, but members of my own and my husband's family. I have even broken ties with some family members because of their downright nasty response to my decision. How ridiculous that, in this day and age, some people feel so strongly about what is and isn't acceptable for a woman to do.The Awakening, with its incredibly apt title, is a great read. It's wonderfully written, and very enjoyable. If you're participating with Feminist February, this is an excellent book to pop on your list. Actually, even if you're not participating, you should read this book.

I've read this book as part of a literature appreciation course. I'd heard of neither the author or the book so it really was an unknown commodity.The book is 220 pages split into 39 chapters. Also worth noting that this version uses a fairly large font and has notes on the pages so no searching at the back of the book.There is a brief introduction to the author but no detailed analysis of the novel. This was very pleasing as I really love to read a classic novel without having been told how I should be enjoying it.The plot is great - it deals with society, class, feminism, expectations, marriage, motherhood and many other issues. All wrapped together with many small vignettes of moments in time. This author was primarily a short story writer and this becomes very clear when reading this book as you can see that many of the small chapters could almost stand alone as short stories.Edna is wonderful as a heroine, she is full of flaws but manages to hold herself above the other characters whilst not being afraid to display her weaknesses.It's a complex situation and there are some huge decisions to be made. Kate Chopin shows the reader what is happening without ever judging the characters or patronising the reader. The reader can judge Edna but such judgements would be foolish without taking time to try to understand her.This tale is still very relevant today although it not as shocking as it probably was in 1899.

The theme of this book is not so highly original, though the time of its execution was, and the sympathetic light it casts on its protagonist sets it apart from others in what we may as well call a genre. And what genre is that? It is the genre of books about women who realise they have married wrong, through no fault of their own; they have married without love; and they have come to regret that fact. Escaping from such bonds is often an insuperable task, and the reader's motivation to continue reading generally rests on the anxiety we feel as we witness the protagonist's striving for freedom and true love. The fact that Chopin was a masterful writer makes reading this book an even more rewarding experience.

Chopin’s early short stories found success, but this 150-page novella of a nineteenth-century Louisiana wife’s social and sexual liberation caused outrage on its publication in 1899.Wounded by the experience, Chopin (1850-1904) subsequently wrote little. Beautifully written and moving, for the author’s sake as much as her character’s. There are no villains in it, just the tragedy of society putting women (and writers about women) in cages of conformity that, back then, had no keys.

I feel rather mixed with this book, on the one hand I found Edna to be shallow, naive and selfish but on the other I admire her spirit and eventual determination to break free of the bonds she finds herself in. Chopin does show the restrictions and limiting expectations that were, and to some extent still are, placed on women by certain parts of society and how much of an emotional prison these can create. Yes Edna is far more privileged than many women of the time and she does ultimately make some very selfish decisions, which can be interpreted very negatively. But if you consider why she is in the situation she is in, with the expectation of Victorian society that ladies marry, have children and be the 'perfect' wife putting aside their own dreams, wants and desires (not to mention the fact they are not considered to be sexual beings), it leaves her with few options. And, for me, it is these limitations that mean Edna has no other way to rebel and has every right to be selfish. It is her only way to be herself and break free of her bonds. Chopin has done well to show this battle in its entirety both the good and the bad and in doing so she highlights how the choices left to women of the time epitomize being stuck between a rock and a hard place.