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Summary: The Awakening Review
Review: I thought the book was very good. Unfortunately, when I started to read it I could hardly understand what was going on. Women in that time seemed like they were very confused. Edna wanted someone to rely other than her husband. So she left with a younger man to find her true feeling for herself and others. In conclusion, I would read the book again just to realize what women of that time were to go through
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Summary: Magnificent! One of my favorite books.....
Review: I have read this book (at least) 5 times in the past 8 years---a good friend of mine passed a little paperback copy on to me. I was so moved by it the first time I had read it.Initially, I was taken by Ms. Chopins' ability to 'pull one into' the era of which her story takes place. I had re-read it,on occasion, in order to "escape" this life (in my mind, anyway) for just a while.Kate was certainly far ahead of her time, and her story is very real. I believe that most, if not all, who read this book, can relate to even the most apparently negative aspects of Edna Pontelliers'thoughts.... The power of the imagination that is merely enhanced via the suggestions of a gifted writer....
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Summary: The Awakening
Review: Kate Chopin's writing is very detailed and some what mind boggling. You really need to be interested in the story in order to keep up with what the writer is saying. I found myself drifting from the book, chapter by chapter.
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Summary: A book that makes you think
Review: The Awakening is one of my favorite books. Particularly interesting in this novel are the issues it raises about the role of women in society, not only in the time period in which it is set but also in the modern world.
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Summary: Inspiring strength of the soul
Review: If you like Toni Morrison, you will like this book. Really short and easy to read, but very intense and thought-provoking. I loved it. I couldn't put it down.
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Summary: pretty useless
Review: The cajun setting thing was nice. Maybe if I was a woman I would feel empowered, angry, and/or moved by this. I don't know. And maybe it was much more powerful/original when it was first published. I don't know. But now I really don't care.
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Summary: Pretty craptacular
Review: I may be at a decided disadvantage in fully appreciating this book, being a man, but I really found this book unenjoyable. The main character, while taking tremendous chances in her "awakening", seems to me to be selfish and whiny. I also found the pace of this book to be largely inadequate, as it plods along and never really kept my interest for extended periods of time. All in all, this book fell far below my expectations, judging from the accolades it has received in more recent times.
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Summary: Beautiful, complex; not for the uninsightful reader
Review: "The Awakening" is an amazing piece of literature. Edna is truly brave in the way she slowly began to defy her society's conventions. She wasn't being unfaithful to her husband, because he betrayed her long ago by thinking of her simply as an object. The key concept I think most people miss, however, is the reason she kills herself instead of running away with Robert. Robert is just like Leonce, and Edna realizes it. He talks of her being set free and given to him. Edna realizes that he, too, views women as possessions. Granted, he loves her, but his mentality is still governed by his society. She realizes her life with Robert, while filled with passion and love, would still be a repressed one. She said she would give up the unessential for her children, and she did. To have lived would have been to raise her children in the midst of pain and absence of truth. To have lived and given up the essential, herself, would be robbing them of their own personal freedom and expression. Edna is a well thought-out and inspiring character. I do not condone suicide in any way, but would not consider it a "cop-out" in this situation, either.
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Summary: Interesting, revealing, shocking, and frustrating.
Review: In her book, Kate Chopin does a good job telling the story of a woman, Edna, in a male dominant society. Although she does a great job of describing a woman's want of personal freedom and her life in turmoil, it is a shocking book to read, even for the 90s woman. She yearns for romantic love and a way out from her family life but sometimes her thoughts makes me want to say "What are you thinking?!"
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Summary: For any woman who swore she'd never marry - then did.
Review: I liked this book a lot but I can see where some people mightnot. Like Atlas Shrugged, you have to have the same thoughts or lifeexperiences to appreciate it. You also have to remember throughout the book that this was 1899 - not 1999 - when it was written. Women had few choices and in the case of divorce, men took sole custody of the children. People call her selfish and whiny - but that's not what it is at all. She was forced by society & family to be in a situation that was against her nature. I could relate to her constant inner conversations and contradictions: Having deep love for her children while at the same time not wanting to sacrifice her inner self to them; having genuine care and appreciation for her husband but not feeling a passion toward him. Growing spiritually while your spouse stagnates in the material world. No unmarried under 30 can honestly comprehend this. I felt soooo ... vindicated reading her thoughts on Mrs. Ratignolle - the 1890's version of a PTA or SOCCER MOM (women who wander through life mindlessly making the trivial highly urgent in order to find *some* area in life they can feel importance). Edna would NEVER drive a van, wear a jean dress, or actually use a Longaberger basket to shop at the grocery store. Like Atlas, read the book and yawn but make a mental note to come back to it years later. You will either hate her or sympathize with her but you won't be bored anymore.
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