AUTHOR: Kate Chopin
STARTED: October 17, 2015
FINISHED: October 21, 2015
PAGES: 264
GENRE: Fiction
FIRST SENTENCE: A green and yellow parrot, which hung in a cage outside the door, kept repeating over and over: 'Allez vous-en! Allez vous-en! Saprisiti! That's all right!'
SUMMARY: [From BN] At a time when women's roles were sharply defined by their spheres - the home and the care for their children, which they dutifully presented to their husbands upon marriage - Kate Chopin explored the life and mind of a woman who wanted more. Set in Louisiana, The Awakening contains many elements of style and setting which would later emerge as the trademarks of more famous writers, like Hemingway and Faulkner. Chopin's The Awakening is also among the first works of feminist literature, as it treats her protagonist's struggle against the mores of her time with seriousness, consideration and insight
THOUGHTS: I'm a touch disgruntled that the academic essay included before the story gave away the ending. It influenced my entire reading. Normally, I don't give a fig about spoilers, but this spoiler meant I was reading into motives the entire book.
Anyway, this book was well written and an incredibly easy read (particularly given that it is over 100 years old). In many ways, the text felt a bit like a stage-play. It was very posed and deliberate. As a modern woman it was interesting to read about a character utterly trapped by her gender and social norms.
RATING: 6/10 [Good]
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