21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rich and rewarding, March 29, 2005
This review is from: Kate Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories: At Fault / Bayou Folk / A Night in Acadie / The Awakening / Uncollected Stories (Library of America) (Hardcover)
In the late 1800s, Kate Chopin set the literary world on fire with her now-classic novel "The Awakening." But that wasn't by any means the only writing Chopin did. "Complete Novels and Stories" brings together the assorted writings that Chopin did, before le scandale caused her to swear off writing forever.
Her first novel "At Fault" was apparently something of a roman a clef -- a thirtysomething Creole woman is widowed, and takes over the family estate. She falls in love with a businessman, David -- but he is divorced, and her strong Catholic beliefs don't allow her to marry a divorced man.
"Awakening" was the novel that outraged the Victorian morals and sensibilities of the time, and tragically ended Chopin's writing career. Beautiful wife and mother Edna Pontellier has it all: a wealthy husband, cute kids, beautiful house... and yet she is dissatisfied. So Edna begins dabbling in painting and extramarital flirtations, with tragic results.
"Bayou Folk" and a "Night in Acadie" are collections of short stories, centered in New Orleans and the areas of Louisiana nearby. Breakups, romance, death, marital dissatisfaction, freedom, racism and other still-touchy topics are explored in these stories, although bits of humor do intrude from time to time, such as the very short "Old Aunt Peggy," about an ancient black woman who astonishes everyone by never dying. Added on to these are a number of uncollected stories.
It takes a lot to make a book "scandalous" now, but in the late 1800s -- the height of the Victorian era -- it was painfully easy. There's nothing shocking in Chopin's writing by current standards, leaving her writing as a grave look at human nature. In that sense, Chopin's stories are truly timeless, and not just for women.
Continuing themes do run through Chopin's short stories and novels, such as freedom, social boundaries, and the restrictions put on women at the time. One particularly stunning story is "Desiree's Baby," about a young woman and her child who are cast out because the baby is not 100% white... except that her cruel husband has made a mistake.
But it's not nearly as bleak as it sounds -- Chopin's writing is tempered by her dignified, distant 19th-century writing style, and the beauty of her descriptions. ("There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air.") Those descriptions can gloss over plot events as grim as suicide.
"Complete Stories and Novels" is an excellent collection of Kate Chopin's work, and leaves one with regret that she didn't get to write even more during her brief lifetime.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Fine Collection, July 25, 2007
This review is from: Kate Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories: At Fault / Bayou Folk / A Night in Acadie / The Awakening / Uncollected Stories (Library of America) (Hardcover)
This book is a great collection of Kate Chopin's writings. Chopin truly has a way of portraying women in her writings much differently than society in her day believed they should be. If you read her works knowing this, you will come to respect her work the way I have. I believe that in a time when women weren't allowed to speak out on the injustice they faced in society, and the belief that they couldn't be independent sexual creatures, Kate Chopin was making a stand in her writings to express how complex, independent, and sexual they really were. She is an amazing writer and this is an amazing collection.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of my Top Ten authors/books, September 13, 2010
This review is from: Kate Chopin: Complete Novels and Stories: At Fault / Bayou Folk / A Night in Acadie / The Awakening / Uncollected Stories (Library of America) (Hardcover)
Excellent book written by a very independent woman of the late 1800's So much so she was ostrasized for her writings.The female liberation movement of the 1960's brought her writing back to new generations of women.She is more appreciated by today's women for her views. The Awakening is the best story in the book,but all of Chopin's stories are memorable and worth the read!
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