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gfdupont's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
tia_nellie's review against another edition
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
hollyr1999's review against another edition
slow-paced
2.0
I was told this book was a classic and it was disappointing. It never kept my interest and just when Edna is making a turn the book ends.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide
alexandrabelze's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
the awakening is now one of my favorite novels. i enjoyed every second of it. the sense of longing that edna has for her own freedom and the realization that she is unable to attain true freedom is so heart wrenching. she has such big dreams but she realized them too late and that broke my heart. i wanted nothing but happiness for her. i was not expecting that ending, but it added to the narrative. 10/10. it being set in louisiana/new orleans definitely added to my enjoyment!
i gave this book 5 stars as a reflection of my enjoyment of and newfound love for the awakening. the short stories were good as well, but i didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as the novel. désirées baby will always be an iconic one. i loved a point at issue and also enjoyed wiser than a god, to get specific.
i gave this book 5 stars as a reflection of my enjoyment of and newfound love for the awakening. the short stories were good as well, but i didn’t enjoy them nearly as much as the novel. désirées baby will always be an iconic one. i loved a point at issue and also enjoyed wiser than a god, to get specific.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide and Infidelity
Moderate: Sexism
Minor: Racism
annaforthebooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Suicide
zimmerlemon's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
4.5
That was really I retesting to me! Honestly reminds me of Virginia Woolf even though the writing style is really different. Also vaguely yellow wallpaper-ish. Some really incredible moments/turns of phrase. I feel like I would definitely reread this and will be lowkey haunted by it lol.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Mental illness and Suicide
north_elliot's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book is okay for the most part, but in some places, the writing quality goes down. Certain parts are slightly confusing. Sometimes, the narrator goes out of character, but it's not too bad. Edna has some mental illness. I'm not sure what Robert sees in her. Also, there is a lack of details, especially at the abrupt end. Edna's suicide is really pathetic
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness
Minor: Suicide and Death of parent
eminent_reader's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide
ccorliss's review against another edition
reflective
5.0
hm …
the description of langor and ennui, of a painful longing, of the richness of items around her, of object’s decadence … of her deepest desires, desire she had not known before, of *female* desire … for something which is out of her reach; a life which is not to be hers … a freedom which does not exist in her own physical body … in her own tangible life … the oscillation of colorful euphoria, of exhilaration and joy and love in life, in independence, in this mental conception of her own *person-ness*, with the deep lulls of depression, that creeping magnitude of vast despair, of destitution at ownership of her each passing day …
and so i am left to dwell with the conclusion of this story. has she succeeded in killing herself? what if she failed? i am inclined to hold out hope that she was not successful, that her naked body was found sputtering ashore, that some visceral human desire of another sort—for survival with no other thought above it—overcame her, and she comes back to life, in some new way.
the used copy i read from, the previous reader left the most rank annotations throughout that maybe made me reactively root for edna pontellier even more than maybe i would have without their dumb, judgmental notes. but i think that edna is a compelling character, regardless. you yearn to see her free enough in her life, enough to have had an option of another life, one where she can be “”mannish”” and like her father, perhaps without kids, perhaps with a man she truly lusted for and loved and was able to stay in love with, maybe have children with that man and still experience the joy she had with her kids toward the end of this story. i’m not blind to the suggestions at something between her and mademoiselle reisz. and perhaps that would be a door in a different world for edna. but i’m not that stuck on that possibility—a lesbian story would unfold if it were meant to unfold. rather, i am struck by the feeling that mademoiselle reisz is special because she understands edna like no one else has understood her before. and that this elemental understanding is something profound. perhaps she senses these lurking feelings edna possesses, or perhaps at times posses edna … and she knows of this love, lust, whatever it may be that is regardless deep and apparent in its attractive pull, between edna and robert. and so she understands this part of edna which no one else does; she sees edna in a more complete way, embracing her urges and whims for her personal expression and ability to embody freedom, for joy in her own person, to bring these rich feeling in to her own life.
and so i do not know that i like the ending per se, i mean, who could? but in the way i hope it goes beyond the last page, i am still drawn to how chopin writes of how this montage brings about the sensual feelings of freedom. the freedom of being a new born adult all over, baptized by the sun, embraced by the ocean’s endless bounty of salt water, to be brought in contact with a feeling of humanness that comes with her being naked before the sky. it is so sensual it is in some ways euphoric. but her numbness is haunting, and i hope, deeply, that the story we are left to continue off the page is one where she is brought to live a new kind of life, however hard or outcast, where she may live as she wishes, where she may feel free and be both excited by feeling, and at peace with being, alive.
the description of langor and ennui, of a painful longing, of the richness of items around her, of object’s decadence … of her deepest desires, desire she had not known before, of *female* desire … for something which is out of her reach; a life which is not to be hers … a freedom which does not exist in her own physical body … in her own tangible life … the oscillation of colorful euphoria, of exhilaration and joy and love in life, in independence, in this mental conception of her own *person-ness*, with the deep lulls of depression, that creeping magnitude of vast despair, of destitution at ownership of her each passing day …
and so i am left to dwell with the conclusion of this story.
the used copy i read from, the previous reader left the most rank annotations throughout that maybe made me reactively root for edna pontellier even more than maybe i would have without their dumb, judgmental notes. but i think that edna is a compelling character, regardless. you yearn to see her free enough in her life, enough to have had an option of another life, one where she can be “”mannish”” and like her father, perhaps without kids, perhaps with a man she truly lusted for and loved and was able to stay in love with, maybe have children with that man and still experience the joy she had with her kids toward the end of this story. i’m not blind to the suggestions at something between her and mademoiselle reisz. and perhaps that would be a door in a different world for edna. but i’m not that stuck on that possibility—a lesbian story would unfold if it were meant to unfold. rather, i am struck by the feeling that mademoiselle reisz is special because she understands edna like no one else has understood her before. and that this elemental understanding is something profound. perhaps she senses these lurking feelings edna possesses, or perhaps at times posses edna … and she knows of this love, lust, whatever it may be that is regardless deep and apparent in its attractive pull, between edna and robert. and so she understands this part of edna which no one else does; she sees edna in a more complete way, embracing her urges and whims for her personal expression and ability to embody freedom, for joy in her own person, to bring these rich feeling in to her own life.
and so i do not know that i like the ending per se, i mean, who could? but in the way i hope it goes beyond the last page, i am still drawn to how chopin writes of how this montage brings about the sensual feelings of freedom. the freedom of being a new born adult all over, baptized by the sun, embraced by the ocean’s endless bounty of salt water, to be brought in contact with a feeling of humanness that comes with her being naked before the sky. it is so sensual it is in some ways euphoric. but her numbness is haunting, and i hope, deeply, that the story we are left to continue off the page is one where she is brought to live a new kind of life, however hard or outcast, where she may live as she wishes, where she may feel free and be both excited by feeling, and at peace with being, alive.
Content Warnings
Minor: Suicide