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Summary: Book Review: The Awakening
Review: This book is not for some people; you almost have to be a female to understand the main character. This woman wants to cheat on her husband, but Kate Chopin does not portray her as the evil character. This is not a fast moving book, so if you sre looking for an action packed thrill ride this book is not for you. The Awakening shows how women are affected by marriage and how men expect women to take care of the house and entertain guests like the normal wife. It is an amazing book and well worth the read, but I suggest that you go in with an open mind and understanding.
Rating: 
Summary: A classic with a dated style of writing
Review: The Awakening, reviled in its own time, is now considered one of the pivotal books of feminist literature. The story concerns 28yo Edna Pontellier, a well-to-do wife and mother in New Orleans' Creole society. Her frustration with the limits placed on her sexual, creative, and artistic leanings lead her to rebel in a way society cannot understand or condone.
The writing style, popular when the book was written a century ago, is more 'telling' than 'showing,' and modern readers may find the reading a bit of a slog these days. But the story, even though the outcome quickly becomes predictable, is compelling enough to keep one reading and reading.
A classic.
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Summary: 4 and 3/4 stars
Review: Heroine: slender/average Edna Pontellier has reached a crisis point in her life. Wife of a successful businessman and mother of two young children, she feels as though she is losing sight of herself and is suddenly possessed with a desperate desire to become her own woman. Because of this, the annual summer family jaunt from New Orleans to Grande Isle takes a different turn from past years as Edna, yearning for something new and different, becomes attached to the resort owner's handsome young son. Lost and bewildered Edna cannot decide what to do; stay with the man she married, go with the man she loves, or make a new life for herself on her own. What worked for me: I can see why this story is used in women's studies classes to get a better understanding of life in the middle and upper classes of Victorian society, as well as cultural differences as far as racial and religious background. "The Awakening" vividly paints the Deep South's social structure during that era. Size-wise Edna sounded to be slim to average. Her very good friend Adele was quite plump however, and the author frequently lauded her soft beauty. (However then as now there was still a sense that "big is beautiful" only extends so far, as was underscored by a particular passage with a very abundant woman being physically described in less-than-glowing terms.) What didn't work for me: Edna was the only character who seemed real to me; the rest were cardboard cut-outs. However this may not be a lack of writing proficiency on Ms. Chopin's part, but rather a way to illustrate how cut off Edna was from others. People who seemed unreal to the reader may have also seemed that way to Edna. Personally, I feel ambivalent about the ending. From an artistic point of view it was quite valid, and perhaps it was socially valid in that day and age as well. But I couldn't help but be frustrated with Edna for not finding another way to resolve her situation. Overall: An interesting book for anyone who wants to better understand a well-heeled woman's place in Victorian society, but as a pleasure read this novella might be a bit dry and the ending somewhat unsatisfying.
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Summary: A proto-impressionistic gem
Review: To say Kate Chopin's "The Awakening" is a tragic novel about an unhappily married woman who liberates -- or attempts to liberate -- herself through an extramarital affair would invite an inevitable comparison to "Madame Bovary," so let's get this out of the way first: Like Flaubert's antiheroine, Chopin's Edna Pontellier is selfish and puts her own needs ahead of those of her husband and her two little sons; but she is a more sympathetic character because she is more deserving of her desire, which is true love rather than a romantic and materialistic fantasy world. The story begins on Grand Isle, off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, where the Pontelliers are spending the summer at a pension run by a woman named Madame Lebrun. Mr. Pontellier, a successful New Orleans businessman, is thoroughly devoted to his wife Edna and sons, provides for them a high standard of living, and is generous with gifts; but he is a snob who likes to be assured that his wife isn't associating with anyone commonplace or doing anything that would lower their esteemed social status or compromise their "financial integrity." Edna, annoyed and estranged by his attitude, seeks solace with Madame Lebrun's good-looking but slacking son Robert; but before their relationship has a chance to turn into a full-fledged fling, he impetuously runs off to Mexico to seek some kind of employment. Later, languishing at her regular residence in New Orleans, Edna socializes with her friends Madame Ratignolle and the wizened Mademoiselle Reisz while her dutiful husband is off somewhere making money. The Reisz lady has been getting a steady stream of letters from Robert, and Edna naturally wonders with chagrin why he hasn't been writing her. Robert does return eventually, however, and his presence now, near the end of the novel, establishes his true significance in her life: the love that "awakened" her out of a lifelong dream, a love that her husband, with all his riches, could not offer her. On the surface this may sound like trite romantic fluff that, if written today, would barely raise an eyebrow; but taken in the context of the 1890's when a woman was considered to be nothing other than a wife or a potential wife, it has very deep implications about sexual revolution and the propriety of marriage as an institution. Most appealing to me about this novel, though, is its style, which combines keen psychological insight with a sort of impressionism that anticipates Virginia Woolf. Augmented by the steamy, swampy, Creole-spiced southern Louisiana setting, the novel achieves a fever pitch of eroticism.
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Summary: Ahead of its time, ahead of the pack
Review: A century after the publication of Kate Chopin's novel, its themes -- a woman's awakening to the full potential of her sexual passion and her sense of being smothered by marriage and motherhood -- have become the staple ingredients of 'chick lit'. It is thus easy to overlook how revolutionary and shocking the events and ideas of this story must have seemed at the time. Then, the book was banned from public libraries; now, it is required reading in public schools. In many ways, both in theme and treatment, it resembles "Madame Bovary". Although Chopin lacks Flaubert's scope and breadth of vision, she reaches deeper into the soul of her heroine. Her style is restrained and elegant and some modern readers, accustomed to a pacier and more explicit treatment, may grow impatient at times. But there is beautiful writing here, embodying rich characterizations, strong evocations of time and place and thought-provoking moral ambiguity. An undoubted masterpiece.
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Summary: A novel worth thinking about
Review: I believe this book is deceptively simple to those who read it. The language, although somewhat arcane, is straightforward, the characters are fairly flat and unchanging, and even Chopin's style clearly displays her lack of training in the art of writing great literature. However, it seems to me that if the reader allows himself or herself to judge the novel solely on this basis, he or she has fallen for the facade of The Awakening. For, despite her style, Chopin has created a masterpiece with this story. In my opinion, its significance is not in its strikingly feminist view of the constraints of the world on women, but rather in its personalized impact on the reader. Not to think, "why do I understand Edna's plight?" is to miss the point. This novel is meant to make the reader place Edna as sort of a parallel figure to his or her own life, to help us realize our own worldly constraints, to "Awaken" us to another option, a different path that we did not even realize was there. By doing this, the novel transcends its simplicity and appears as the beautiful work it really is. This is not a book to simply read, it is a book to contemplate.
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Summary: The Awakening-put me to sleep
Review: What has long since its first printing been regarded as a rather risque oeuvre is hardly that today and whatsmore, not particularly well-written. Other than a few memorable quotes, "...she was becoming herself and daily casting aside that fictitious self which we assume like a garment with which to appear before the world," and "...life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms stuggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation," the piece is quite staid. Awakenings, in general, should awaken others even vicariously-perhaps I am simply jaded?
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Summary: BAD
Review: I decided to read this book only because many of my friends had told me it was a very interesting book. However from the moment I started reading it I could not believe they had thought it was anything near good. It was boring right from the beginning. Edna, the main character, was dim, had no pose or moral values. I say this because she goes and on and on about how much she is in love with Robert and that she wants to leave her husband for him. There is a passage in the book that says something like that Edna would be willing to leave her husband and her two children to run away with Robert. This shows that she has no moral values and cares of nothing more than her own happiness even if that my meant hurting other people in the way to reaching it. Edna waits and waits for Robert to be "hers". During this time he is off in Mexico working and so on. Finally he comes back to the city where she lives and they "get together". During that time, Edna's husband and children and both away. Finally, after a long drown out one hundred and ninety pages she leaves with Robert to a beach house, where they have dinner. She decides to go walk along the beach and there she randomly stripes runs into the ocean and kills herself. This book was horrible and, unlike most books I have read, when I knew I had to go sit down and read The Awakening for a few hours I would dread it.
Rating: 
Summary: The Awakening
Review: Nearly one- hundred years old, The Awakening is a book that goes into great detail about a remarkable woman, Edna Pontellier, who discovers her own sexuality at a slow rate, after having to overcome hardships and tragedies within her family and marriage.
When Edna was twenty-eight years old, she spent the summer in the Grand Isle with her children, which was a prime coastal community that was on the Gulf of Mexico. Eventually she is away from her husband, Leonce Pontellier, and releases her own self to her deepest desires. This enflames her heart and eventually blinds her to all else.
Of course, Edna is the protagonist, along with Robert Lebrun. Kate Chopin uses her brilliance to create unpleasant, yet interesting conflicts in the book. For instance, Leonce Pontellier, the antagonist, complained to Edna, his wife, about her duties as a mother. He believed her not to be a good mother when she arrived late coming home one night. This hurts her, but she soon believes she can earn the respect she need form Robert.
Kate Chopin wanted to convey the fact that sometimes you have to look deep within one self to discover who you are and what your limits are. Kate uses Edna as symbolism to most women. Sometimes women, even today, have a hard time understanding their own sexuality.
I really enjoyed this book, and it even had me wondering about myself. I don't think I would include anything else to this book, but I do think that Kate Chopin could have gonad into more detail about Edna's specific thoughts. I would definitely consider reading this book again; it is the type of book that you need to read more than once to comprehend fully.
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Summary: The Awakening
Review: The novel, The Awakening, by Kate Chopin, takes place in Grand Isle, Louisiana and portrays the Creole culture in vivid detail. The protagonist, Edna Pontellier, is a strong and beautiful character who believes that she is equal to a man and does not have to go around taking orders from her husband, which was almost unheard of at that point in time. The thought that a woman would ever think of such a thing was considered morally wrong which gives this charater the excitment that would have been greatly missed if she had been left out. The main antagonists are Edna's husband, Leonce Pontellier and a friend who visits the Grand Isle in summers, Robert Lebrun. The struggle over Edna and her feelings are between these two charaters. Either Leonce is treating his wife with great disrespect or Robeart is messing with Edna's feelings, which causes conflict betweeen Enda and her husband. Kate Chopin uses a lot of foreshadowing, using an array of things, from the weather to the background to the tone of voice used. Chopin gives hints throughout the book to what could be approaching in the future. This novel is not a book that you can sit down and read for just a few minutes at a time. It is a book that to be able to get into, you have to relax and take your time and spend good amounts of time on reading. If you do it any other way your won't enjot it as much.
If you enjoy reading about women activisits you will enjoy reading The Awakening because within the story that is what it is really about, a women who is trying to live her own, independent life through an environment which is made up of men and their thoughts which, at that time in history, made up the bulk and greatly overruled women.
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