Rating: 
Summary: A must-read!!!
Review: This is an insightful book written well before its time. It deals with issues many women still do not come to terms with even today. I am waiting for the day when women grasp the concept of only giving what they can and not sacrificing themselves to the demands of others.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhere in the middle
Review: I understand the significance of this novel. Like most others who reviewed this, I read this in a high school English class. It evoked great discussion, and I'm not sorry I read it, but I just couldn't like the book. It wasn't the ending -- that made Chopin's point -- but I didn't feel any connection with the people in the book. Sure, as a female I understand where Edna was coming from, but have some personality?
Rating: 
Summary: Simple, unoriginal, uninspired
Review: To quote a number of other people's reviews, "The Awakening" was quite possibly one of the worst books I've ever read. To say that's due to it's being great literature which "always provokes a powerful response" is ridiculous. This book hardly provoked any response. The whole story rambles along, as one artificial plot device follows another, and our heroine reacts, until she takes the easy route out -- coincidentally, the same route many would take if all "classics" were as limited in insight and quality prose as this thing. Sadly, it's easy to see why this story is so popular for some people -- it's plot is simple, generally inoffensive in this day and age, formulaic, and reinforces the values and beliefs of a lot of people who are generally inoffensive and formulaic. Great literature should make you think; it should make you feel...something. This book made me feel sorry -- for the author, and for those who will never be able to apprecia! te a truly good book, because they're incapable of moving beyond the level of Chopin's banal work.
Rating:
Summary: a beautifully painful, real story.
Review: I read The Awakening in college for the first time. It changed the way I looked at things, the way I judged people. It is a deeply moving book, fascinating the reader with every line. Some may find it disturbing, but reality is just that. I know a woman who lived the character Edna's experiences in real life... you see this story is just a reflection of a real possibility in life. This is the story of a woman who made those life choices which are so different from those made by most women in our society. It's just a slice of reality that some people accept and others don't. That's just life, and Kate Chopin opened up the world of Edna Pontellier to us with such adeptness and grace, that I am in awe of her! ..
Rating:
Summary: much more than 19th century feminism
Review: when I first was assigned this book to read in my Modern Litt class I was less than enthusiastic. Honestly, I thought that it would just be some women complaining. Fortunatley I was wrong. It is poignant and entertaining. The ending is fantastic. I highly recomend it
Rating: 
Summary: DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF, SAY, FLAUBERT?
Review: I am giving this novel such a low rating because of its blatant unoriginality. The similarities between Flaubert's Madame Bovary and Chopin's The Awakening is more than I can ignore. Take the plot, for instance. Married woman finds herself bored and dissatisfied with her station in life. Woman seeks man for satisfaction, enjoys herself guiltily for a while, then relationship ends. Woman becomes despondent for a while, realizes she will never become happy so ends it with suicide. It is this basic idea that haunts both Madame Bovary and The Awakening. There are a few trivialities that are different, but the plot of Chopin's is entirely unoriginal.
Rating:
Summary: I know it's not easy for some of you guys to grasp.
Review: It doesn't surprise me that most of the people who stated they read "The Awakening" and hated it, were males. Get a grip on it guys, this is reality. Many women do feel like Edna, maybe even the one you're with! Society has taught us the art illusion very well. It would do you well to remember this simple truth...women have needs, as you do, women want meaning in their lives, as you do, women seek outlets to fulfill their needs, as you do, and women will do impulsive, sometimes brainless deeds to fill in the gaps, as you do. But wait, all's not lost yet for those guys who think this is all a bunch of @!*<. Here's another truth, women are more apt to consider "all sides of the equation" before they "throw in the towel" on their situation, unlike you. But let me say this too, not all women are great illusionists!
Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book Ever!
Review: This is my absolute favorite novel. I read it for the first time in high school, and have reread it several times since my initial engagement with Edna and her strength to decide not to be the woman society tells her she should be. Perhaps it is the writing and story that drew me in initially, but it is the message that keeps me going back to this book. Many say her suicide shows her weakness. I wholeheartedly disagree -- this is her strength, her decision that she cannot be someone she is not. Kate Chopin's thoughts and words are amazing -- a message many today need to appreciate, a message about women as strong individuals, not haphazard followers. The Awakening is incredible!
Rating:
Summary: A Guidebook To Giving Up
Review: My one and only problem with The Awakening is Edna's suicide. It seemed as though she had everything in her reach, and instead of staying strong, she "wussed out." I know that this is as close to literary blasphemy as one can come without being burned at the stake, but it's true. This didn't seem so much like a feminist handbook as a rant explaining why women shouldn't strike out on their own: they can't handle it, so they might as well just kill themselves before they make themselves look like idiots. I love the character of Edna.
Rating: 
Summary: Good point, no morals.
Review: My 10th grade english teacher made me read this book this year, and in a way I thank him. I think The Awakening had a lot of good points to it. However, I didn't like the way Mrs. Pontellier went around flirting with any guy that walked her way. She could of kept the idea of being passionate a little more private. It was wrong to cheat on your husband back then and it still is. Some things never change. However, it was good that Chopin showed by the ending especially, how difficult it was to except and live with the idea that divorce was totaly not excepted. Over all I think Chopin wrote an excellent book, I just didn't like the idea that she was being so rude to her family, her husband, kids, and sister. That was wrong. Especially with what she did with the kids.
|
