Customer Reviews

The Awakening and Other Stories (Modern Library Classics)

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1 star:		(2)

 

 

I got turned on to KC in college through one story--The Storm--and a little background on her (she wrote ahead of her time, was published and then forgotten until the 1960's Feminist Movement dug her up again). She became one of those authors I lodge in the back of my head to investigate later. I happened upon this wonderful book at the book tent at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Fest and grabbed it. The book gives a great introduction to her and her time. I was lucky enough to read The Awakening and some of her other short stories while staying at Grand Isle. She was and is a great writer. She wrote from a viewpoint that bucked the norms of her time---the late 1800's, she wrote of women who didnt fit the mold of mommy and wife. She wrote eloquently of an area, era, and culture that I love...New Orleans, Cajun Country, and Grand Isle amongst others. I dont write many reviews, but after reading the only other review for this book I felt a different opinion should be heard. She is a good read.

This book is certainly not for the illiterate dime novel crowd. It is a story of one woman's struggle to find herself within the narrow confines of Victorian society. The situations and characters are well developed and some literacy in French is helpful but not required. If you read a bit about Kate Chopin the main character seems to be fairly autobiographical at least where rebellion from female conformity was concerned. The book is not a new idea, a person finding their wings and learning to fly. But the idea of a female doing this in Victorian society was brand new. The book was considered obscene and subversive at the time and that alone makes it worth reading.

This novel had such potential. Chopin had a good setup: a beautiful, lonely, neglected society wife finds herself bemused by latent, unrealized sexual desires; she is charmed by and attracted to a younger, single man who falls in love with her. But their love is forbidden by societal conventions. This is a classic moral theme in literature, and Chopin evokes the sexual conflict much more deftly and compassionately than, say, D.H. Lawrence who bludgeons the reader with a callous, brute of a suitor and a slut of an adulteress in "Lady Chatterley's Lover." Hence, the reader of "The Awakening" looks forward to an equally dexterous and subtle handling of the denouement. But Chopin does not deliver. Instead, of threading a needle and showing her characters making a bold choice concerning their passion, to either live in responsible and mature self-denial, courageously give rein to their passion in amorous recklessness, or find some perilous compromise between the two, she capitulates in the worst and most predictable way: the way of star-crossed lovers since the time of Shakespeare. A craven and hackneyed end to a what began and progressed as a promising exemplar of this species of literature.

I actually haven't reached the Awakening yet. I find it amazing that nobody has commented on the beauty of Ms. Chopin's short pastoral stories. They remind me of the Guy de Maupassant short stories, Boule de Suif etc.

Ms. Chopin was clearly a very skilled writer of the short story and sympathetically conveys a sense of the times and lives of the Louisiana Creoles. This is the most rewarding reading of American letters that I have had for quite some time. I do wonder how I might perceive the stories without an understanding of French since the occasional patois dialogue might be alienating if not comprehended.

I will make a point of passing this book on to a friend.

Spine of the book was broken, pages fell out easily. Cover was not in great shape, and pages are very very old.

I had been urged to read "The Awakening" several times, and had heard the word "classic" used to describe this book, so I thought I'd check it out. And while I understand that this must have been controversial when it first appeared, this same theme has been done much better by later writers. This is a BORING read. Not much happens. There isn't much conflict. I didn't like or sypathize with the main character, who comes off as selfish and cold. I would not recommend this, except in a study of feminist literature. The other stories are pretty much the same as the title story -- slow and plodding. I'm a fan of literature and theme, but this is light on both. Avoid this book.

I read this because It was listed as a "great book". Why, I don't know. Maybe at the time it was risque. Imagine the horror! A wife, not happy with just being a wife! Soon she begins to realize that she is an indvidual who has her own sexual desires, so she trapses around town with men while her husband is away on business. It was a labor to read this, but I always finish. You however- I would not reccomend picking this up.