El despertar (1899)

I was mad throughout most of this book. The way women are treated is just awful. I know that this is for some but not for me. ( )

"In the summer of her 28th year, Edna Pontellier and her children, along with the wives and families of other prospective businessmen, spend the summer in an idyllic coastal community away from their husbands and the sweltering heat of 1890s' New Orleans. Aware of deep yearnings that are unfulfilled by marriage and motherhood, Edna plunges into an illicit liaison that reawakens her long dormant desires, inflames her heart, and eventually blinds her to all else."

Beautiful.
i love this book. ( )

A Book With Bad Reviews

I can only imagine that Kate Chopin's The Awakening received bad reviews due to its divergence from the morality of the era it was published in, because it is a well-written story which only hints at the indelicate thoughts and actions of its protagonist, Edna Pontellier. As a character she reminds me of Clarissa Dalloway or Mother from Doctorow's Ragtime, a dreamy woman who finds herself stifled by a romance-less marriage to a man who, typical of his age, possesses her as he does his house or furniture.

The Awakening is a short, straight-forward tale, whose power comes from the anticipation and suspense Chopin builds in portraying Edna's budding realization that there is something missing in her life. The interplay between Edna and her two gentleman callers is a slow, entrancing waltz. Both men make love to Edna in the old-fashioned sense of the phrase - verbally, rather than physically - in sensuous (a favorite word of Chopin) flirtations that push the boundaries of acceptable behavior between a married woman and unattached men. Even the ending, easily foreseen, fits perfectly into the narrative.

To enjoy this novel you must read it with a 19th century mentality. While readers of the time found it shocking and offensive, there is nothing even mildly titillating in it*. There are several scenes where Edna is alone with one of her paramours; these are so well written that you find yourself believing a tryst occurred but realize, upon a closer reading, that nothing more than kisses were exchanged. There is also a scene in which Edna visits a pregnant friend and stays for the birth, yet there is only the mildest of indications of what transpired.

I could have assigned this as A Book You Can Read In A Day on my themed reading list; regardless, it is well worth including on your own list.

* - My Dover Thrift Edition comes with a laughable warning to "[s]ensitive readers" who might be offended that Chopin uses the word darky (or perhaps black or mulatto - after reading the book I can't imagine what they're referring to) on several occasions in the novel. I expected the n-word, at a minimum, to merit such a silly forewarning. And in a version published in 1993, no less. ( )

It's hard to believe this was published in 1899, because it reads modern. Beautifully written, it is the very sad story of a glass-smashing, frustrated woman who is sick and tired of social constraints. At age 28, she suffers an existential crisis akin to one in midlife and tries to captain her own destiny. She works on her art, reads the Transcendentalists, wins big at the racetrack, finds a bit of financial freedom and has an affair. The problem is she arrives at the party about 100 years too soon. It did remind me in many ways of Where the Crawdads Sing, in the lyricism of the writing and in the naturalism/Darwinism of the protagonists. The endings are nothing alike, so no spoiler alert here for either text, but I dare say Delia Owens was influenced by Kate Chopin whether she knew it or not during the writing process. It's a short read and a good one. ( )