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The Awakening
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The Awakening, originally titled A Solitary Soul, is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-centu
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Kindle Edition, 95 pages
Published
August 20th 2015
by Wisehouse Classics
(first published 1899)
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Why so many ugly one star reviews? All about as insightful as the ubiquitous one star reviews of Lolita which call Nabokov the man a child molester, raving morons who can't distinguish a character from an author and go beyond simply missing the point. And how ironic that all these reviews seem to be from women raging that this book (which they all obviously read for their 'gender theory' class) features a character who abandons her children. Ugh, women who criticize this as a feminist novel beca
...more

Often I have witnessed women, who proceed to talk about misogyny, sexism, or state their views on a piece of feminist literature, starting their discourse with something along the lines of 'I'm not much of a feminist...but'. As if it is best to put a considerable distance between themselves and this feared word at the onset and deny any possible links whatsoever. As if calling herself a feminist automatically degrades a woman to the position of a venom-spewing, uncouth, unfeminine, violent creat
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(**SPOILERS in the comments**)
One of the earliest sleep-with-whoever-you-want feminist rhetoric books. I think much of what feminists fought for and accomplished was vital for protecting women. Women have never lived with such freedom. I stand behind many of the advances. This book, however, as part of the general 60’s feminist philosophy(not the major thinking of the early feminists), I believe has had a destructive effect. Instead of promoting a philosophy that men should be more honest about ...more
One of the earliest sleep-with-whoever-you-want feminist rhetoric books. I think much of what feminists fought for and accomplished was vital for protecting women. Women have never lived with such freedom. I stand behind many of the advances. This book, however, as part of the general 60’s feminist philosophy(not the major thinking of the early feminists), I believe has had a destructive effect. Instead of promoting a philosophy that men should be more honest about ...more

Mar 08, 2009
Meredith Holley
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Kelly
In a hearing I observed once, the husband testified that he had tried to have his wife served with his petition for divorce in the Costco parking lot. The wife went running across the parking lot to avoid service, and her eight- and ten-year-old kids ran after her, dodging traffic and jumping into the wife’s car as it screeched out of the parking spot. The husband filmed them on his iPhone, shouting, “You’ve been served! You’ve been served!”
The judge commented that it was troubling to watch a v ...more
The judge commented that it was troubling to watch a v ...more

This review is being posted mainly because of the awesome backstory. I actually had to read this twice in high school and didn't care for it much either time.
But, here comes my great story!
When I was a sophomore in high school I went out with this girl who eventually dumped me and gave the reason that she was only going out with me until the guy she really liked showed interest in her. A real downer!
Fast forward to senior year . . .
I was in theater and I just so happened to do shows at the all g ...more
But, here comes my great story!
When I was a sophomore in high school I went out with this girl who eventually dumped me and gave the reason that she was only going out with me until the guy she really liked showed interest in her. A real downer!
Fast forward to senior year . . .
I was in theater and I just so happened to do shows at the all g ...more

I'd like to give this book ZERO stars, but it's not an option. This is hands down the worst book that I've ever read. I will never say that again in a review, because this one wins that prize.
BIG SPOILER AHEAD - Be warned.
I had to read this thing twice in college, and it is a horrible story. We are supposed to feel sympathy for a selfish woman with no redeemable qualities. Just because her marriage is bad it does not give her the right to be a lousy, despicable person. Get a divorce? Yes. Find n ...more
BIG SPOILER AHEAD - Be warned.
I had to read this thing twice in college, and it is a horrible story. We are supposed to feel sympathy for a selfish woman with no redeemable qualities. Just because her marriage is bad it does not give her the right to be a lousy, despicable person. Get a divorce? Yes. Find n ...more

Aug 07, 2016
James
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
4-written-pre-20th-century,
1-fiction
Book Review
4 of 5 stars to The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I read this book several years ago and wrote a paper on how society treated women during that period in literature. I cut and paste some from it below, as I think it offers more than a normal review on this one. Please keep in mind, I'm referring to women in the 19th century, i.e. the characters from the book -- not thoughts on women today! As for the book -- it's fantastic... love seeing what people thought 150 years ago, seei ...more
4 of 5 stars to The Awakening by Kate Chopin. I read this book several years ago and wrote a paper on how society treated women during that period in literature. I cut and paste some from it below, as I think it offers more than a normal review on this one. Please keep in mind, I'm referring to women in the 19th century, i.e. the characters from the book -- not thoughts on women today! As for the book -- it's fantastic... love seeing what people thought 150 years ago, seei ...more

Aug 10, 2019
Ahmad Sharabiani
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
united-states,
academic,
19th-century,
classics,
feminism,
literature,
novels,
novellas
The Awakening, Kate Chopin
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899.
Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South.
It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It prefigures the works o ...more
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published in 1899.
Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South.
It is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It prefigures the works o ...more

WOW
probably the most beautifully written book i've ever read, plus so much feminism it makes me weak. I adore this book and I am going to be buying my own copy soon so that i can reread and reread and reread it until I die. ...more
probably the most beautifully written book i've ever read, plus so much feminism it makes me weak. I adore this book and I am going to be buying my own copy soon so that i can reread and reread and reread it until I die. ...more

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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If a woman decides out of whim to shun the familial responsibilities of motherhood and wife and become a servant to her passing senses – she should be rebuked. If a man does it – he should be rebuked all the same. Any person regardless of gender, age, or social standing who demonstrate such irresponsibility deserves their chastisement.
I have read a lot of varying responses to this novel and a good deal of them criticizes this book for the selfish irresponsibility of its flawed heroine. And make ...more
I have read a lot of varying responses to this novel and a good deal of them criticizes this book for the selfish irresponsibility of its flawed heroine. And make ...more

Jun 17, 2019
Lisa
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
1001-books-to-read-before-you-die
"Not Waving But Drowning!"
Edna doesn't want to belong to anyone but herself. She wants to be free to choose her life and love with a passion not directed by society's expectations. She will not give up the essence of her soul to anyone or anything and that ultimately destroys her spirit - for lover and husband and family all have the same idea of a woman's place in the world: she "belongs" to them like a possession. She can be given up or traded or protected as if she was a tool or a piece of j ...more
Edna doesn't want to belong to anyone but herself. She wants to be free to choose her life and love with a passion not directed by society's expectations. She will not give up the essence of her soul to anyone or anything and that ultimately destroys her spirit - for lover and husband and family all have the same idea of a woman's place in the world: she "belongs" to them like a possession. She can be given up or traded or protected as if she was a tool or a piece of j ...more

“It may all sound very petty to complain about, but I tell you that sort of thing settles down on one like a fine dust.”
-Warner, Lolly Willowes
This book is an early distillation of a particular kind of novel that was being written periodically throughout the early twentieth century. These novels are all variations on the same theme, but the basic outline is the same. This one will serve to give you a pretty good idea of the lot:
Edna Pontellier is the rather well-to-do wife of a New Orleans busin ...more
-Warner, Lolly Willowes
This book is an early distillation of a particular kind of novel that was being written periodically throughout the early twentieth century. These novels are all variations on the same theme, but the basic outline is the same. This one will serve to give you a pretty good idea of the lot:
Edna Pontellier is the rather well-to-do wife of a New Orleans busin ...more

Oct 27, 2014
Barry Pierce
rated it
liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
19th-century,
read-in-2015
Even though the entire plot of this novel can be summed up as, "woman sits around and does nothing while having feminine thoughts", there is a resounding beauty in its monotony. The Awakening is a quick and affecting novel (especially with
that
ending). While I do think that it may be slightly subject to over-hype, there is no contesting its importance as an early feminist work. And on that account, I would recommend it.
...more

Nov 13, 2007
Houston
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
everyone
“It sometimes entered Mr. Pontillier’s mind to wonder if his wife were not growing a little unbalanced mentally. He could see plainly that she was not herself. That is, he could not see that she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world.”(p. 79)
“What have you been doing to her, Pontillier?”
“Doing! Parbleu!”
“Has she,” asked the Doctor, with a smile, “has she been associating of late with a circle of pseud ...more
“What have you been doing to her, Pontillier?”
“Doing! Parbleu!”
“Has she,” asked the Doctor, with a smile, “has she been associating of late with a circle of pseud ...more

Sexual Suppression in Fin de siècle Southern Society
Grand Isle, Louisiana, 1899. I can imagine it. The muggy salt air creeps off a windless glittering gulf. White wooden chairs pose in the antique, misty elegance of a large veranda. Blinds half-drawn at sundown to corrugated silhouettes, as the dimming sunlight honeycombs a laced corset.
Edna Pontellier was raised Protestant in rural Kentucky then married into a Catholic, French Creole family in New Orleans. She was completely unprepared for the ...more
Grand Isle, Louisiana, 1899. I can imagine it. The muggy salt air creeps off a windless glittering gulf. White wooden chairs pose in the antique, misty elegance of a large veranda. Blinds half-drawn at sundown to corrugated silhouettes, as the dimming sunlight honeycombs a laced corset.
Edna Pontellier was raised Protestant in rural Kentucky then married into a Catholic, French Creole family in New Orleans. She was completely unprepared for the ...more

A once-controversial novella about marital infidelity, The Awakening considers the devastating emotional toll of the constraints of Victorian womanhood. The story follows Edna Pontellier, a would-be artist trapped in a loveless marriage, as she pursues illicit romance and financial independence in the face of suffocating social disapproval. The more distant Edna becomes from her husband and children, the more awakened she feels to life’s possibilities and the richer her inner life becomes; at th
...more

HOW NOT TO HELP A NOVEL READER
He looked at Edna's book, which he had read; and he told her the end, to save her the trouble of wading through it, he said.
ORIGINALITY IS NOT THE POINT HERE
If you piled up all the novels about marital infidelity you would… well, you’d need a team of assistants with engineering skills and probably ninja powers, plus some hang gliding experts when the extendable ladders reached their limit, and then a lot of expensive final assistance from the NASA International Spa ...more
He looked at Edna's book, which he had read; and he told her the end, to save her the trouble of wading through it, he said.
ORIGINALITY IS NOT THE POINT HERE
If you piled up all the novels about marital infidelity you would… well, you’d need a team of assistants with engineering skills and probably ninja powers, plus some hang gliding experts when the extendable ladders reached their limit, and then a lot of expensive final assistance from the NASA International Spa ...more

Jan 22, 2017
Lynne King
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
definitely-to-read,
2017-books-to-be-read
This is a work about a rather unusual woman, Edna Montpellier who lives in New Orleans with her husband Léonce, a rather successful businessman, and their two children, Etienne and Raoul. Part of the book is also based on their vacation in Grand Isle on the Gulf of Mexico.
The scene is soon set as Edna is beginning to feel unsettled after six years of a rather bland marriage to an older man and feels that there is something lacking in her life. An incident then occurs that soon sets her on a cour ...more

I'm not very convinced on the full awakening- partially, yes- but a substitute for the novel's title might be 'On the shortness of life' (Seneca). This is a (very) sorry story, from start to end, and definitely, quite predictable, back then as to present times. This is not a memoir or an autobiography (from what I read regarding the author there might be certain similarities with her real life), notwithstanding, during the entire reading course, my mind seemed frozen on a short text from the int
...more

…‘there was nothing subtle or hidden about her charms; her beauty was all there, flaming and apparent…’
Another book that I had heard so much about and finally got around to reading. This is a really unusual story. Not much happens, but it is exceptionally captivating and I can see why it always features on all the “Must Read Before You Die Lists” and Top 100s... Chopin’s best known work is a deeply insightful dive into a young woman’s restlessness and disquietude in her marriage. Meet Mrs. Ponte ...more
Another book that I had heard so much about and finally got around to reading. This is a really unusual story. Not much happens, but it is exceptionally captivating and I can see why it always features on all the “Must Read Before You Die Lists” and Top 100s... Chopin’s best known work is a deeply insightful dive into a young woman’s restlessness and disquietude in her marriage. Meet Mrs. Ponte ...more

I do not feel like reviewing this novel/novella, whatever it is... I will just say that these kind of books made me have problems with my literature course and run away from most of the "classics". Although the books were written by Romanian authors I recognize the type. I came to my senses after joining GR and I now try to gain the lost time by reading the books that I should have covered earlier in my life. Until now the results were satisfying as I am on my way of becoming a big fan of Victor
...more

Sep 09, 2011
Danielle The Book Huntress (Back to the Books)
rated it
did not like it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
No one
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.

Sea, sun, bathing and loose summer rules form a recipe for a respite. Warm and welcoming environment, shaped by people with different predispositions gathered under the same soothing conditions, lighten the protagonist's manners. Her senses, before entangled beyond recognition, suddenly soften and let the melodies, smells and shapes in. Adjustments within her, long having been guided by society's calls, now slowly, but steadily, change course. In awakening to the stimulants and novelties the pro
...more

As Angela Carter says somewhere, it would be a long time before a woman in literature could fuck who she wanted without punishment, as she had in Chaucer.
Edna Pontellier is a fine American example of the genre – landed with a husband who looks at her ‘as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property’, and surrounded by a social circle consisting mainly of ‘women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and gr ...more
Edna Pontellier is a fine American example of the genre – landed with a husband who looks at her ‘as one looks at a valuable piece of personal property’, and surrounded by a social circle consisting mainly of ‘women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and gr ...more

Jun 17, 2007
Alison
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
feminists
"But they need not thought that they could possess her, body and soul."
If there ever was a Feminist Manifesto, it truly is Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."
Edna Pontellier is a 28-year-old wife and mother in New Orleans, 1900. Her husband is well-off, and Edna's days consist of watching the nanny take care of her two young boys, scolding the cook over bad soup, giving and attending champagne-filled dinner parties, and receiving formal calls from high society New Orleans ladies on Tuesdays. Also, t ...more
If there ever was a Feminist Manifesto, it truly is Kate Chopin's "The Awakening."
Edna Pontellier is a 28-year-old wife and mother in New Orleans, 1900. Her husband is well-off, and Edna's days consist of watching the nanny take care of her two young boys, scolding the cook over bad soup, giving and attending champagne-filled dinner parties, and receiving formal calls from high society New Orleans ladies on Tuesdays. Also, t ...more

That moment when you read a book so good, you want to lie awake all night and ruminate on it.
Review to come for sure, but it might take a few days - there are too many thoughts somersaulting in my head and I don't think they'll settle anytime soon. ...more
Review to come for sure, but it might take a few days - there are too many thoughts somersaulting in my head and I don't think they'll settle anytime soon. ...more

Apr 24, 2013
Carol
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Carol by:
Jean
A loveless marriage + two children + a life of leisure = a bored woman who no longer wants to be a submissive wife. Throbbing with an uncontrollable desire for the handsome Robert, 29 year old Edna decides to change her life.....resulting in an unfortunate outcome.
Beautifully written and first published in 1899 this short classic tale of a woman's independence and unorthodox decisions caused a stir with the critics and people of the time causing the novel to be banished for decades afterward....
...more
The Awakening is certainly an important novel. Published in 1899, this novel was a forerunner in many ways. Undoubtedly, Chopin crafted one of the early works of feminism, when she wrote the story of Edna, a young woman experiencing ‘awakening’. By creating a literary heroine who is undergoing spiritual, psychological, emotional and sexual awakening, Chopin challenged not only the social views of her time, but social identity as such. Moreover, I do believe that The Awakening is neither reserved
...more
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Never too Late to...: 2020 July: The Awakening by Kate Chopin | 36 | 40 | Jul 29, 2020 11:39AM | |
Reading 1001: The Awakening - Kate Chopin | 4 | 22 | May 31, 2020 09:56AM | |
AP Literature and...: Discussion Board 2: Group 4 | 6 | 13 | Mar 09, 2020 09:46AM | |
AP Literature and...: Discussion Board 2: Group 5 | 4 | 8 | Mar 06, 2020 12:24PM | |
AP Literature and...: Discussion board 2: Group 2 | 4 | 10 | Mar 06, 2020 12:23PM | |
Discussion board 2: Group 4 | 1 | 4 | Mar 06, 2020 12:01PM | |
The Awakening: Discussion Board #1 | 1 | 5 | Mar 02, 2020 12:05PM |
Kate Chopin was an American novelist and short-story writer best known for her startling 1899 novel, The Awakening. Born in St. Louis, she moved to New Orleans after marrying Oscar Chopin in 1870. Less than a decade later Oscar's cotton business fell on hard times and they moved to his family's plantation in the Natchitoches Parish of northwestern Louisiana. Oscar died in 1882 and Kate was suddenl
...more
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