Customer Reviews
Ahead of its time, ahead of the pack - By: Peter Reeve, 18 Mar 2005 
A century after the publication of Kate Chopin's novel, its themes -- a woman's awakening to the full potential of her sexual passion & her sense of being smothered by marriage & motherhood -- have become the staple ingredients of 'chick lit'. It is thus easy to overlook how revolutionary & shocking the events & ideas of this story must have seemed at the time. Then, the book was banned from public libraries; now, it is required reading in some American schools.
In many ways, both in theme & treatment, it resembles "Madame Bovary". Although Chopin lacks Flaubert's scope & breadth of vision, she reaches deeper into the soul of her heroine. Her style is restrained & elegant & some modern readers, accustomed to a pacier & more explicit treatment, may grow impatient at times. But there is beautiful writing here, embodying rich characterizations, strong evocations of time & place & thought-provoking moral ambiguity. An undoubted masterpiece.
Fine work, definately worth a read - By: , 02 Jul 2003 I favour this edition as you can compare the novella 'The Awakening' which famously ruined Chopin's career for it's supposed 'sordid' theme, with a collection of her other short stories. I much prefer the short stories as they are far more lively & vivid. My particular favourite is the tragic & highly ironic tale 'Désirée's baby'. Chopin gives the reader much food for thought & there appear to be many underlying morals in her stories. As far as 'the Awakening' goes, Chopin seems to be significantly ahead of her time dealing with a number of taboo issues in her story. It's a beautiful piece with plenty of well thought out description, hence her being known as a 'local colourist'. However the novella is perhaps a little too slow & watery at times. Whereas readers back in the day were shocked by the content, the modern reader would be forgiven for getting quite bored at times. Especiallly as the only sex scene is so well hidden. I actuallly missed it the first time round! You get the feeling she wrote this book on Sunday afternoons (!) as the tone is so relaxed. I highly recommend this book to readers who don't mind a lack of action but enjoy words & imagery in their own sense.
NB: It's worth looking out for how many times the main character appears to be 'awakened' in the novella - Chopin cleverly links this in a number of times!
