A Pair of Silk Stockings

Written by Kate Chopin

Narrated by Arielle DeLisle

Kate Chopin is a widely considered a forerunner to the
feminist authors of the twentieth century. Focusing on themes of race and
gender, her short stories largely center on life in rural Louisiana. In “A Pair
of Silk Stockings,” a young woman unexpected finds herself with fifteen dollars.
Inspired by her newfound wealth, she ignores her natural impulses and indulges
in a day of luxurious abandon. A wistful rumination on loss and the illusion of
control, “A Pair of Silk Stockings” is Chopin at her absolute best.

Proceeds from sale of this title go to Reach Out and Read, an innovative literacy advocacy organization.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blackstone Audio
• Release date: Jun 19, 2013
• ISBN: 9781481535250

Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin, born Katherine O'Flaherty (1850-1904), was an American writer of short stories and novels based in Louisiana. Chopin is best known for her novel The Awakening, and for her short story collections, Bayou Folk (1894) and A Night in Acadie (1897). Of French and Irish descent, her work depicted the various ethnic groups of Louisiana, especially of Creoles, with sensitivity and wit, and featured vivid descriptions of the natural environment there. After her husband died in 1882 and left her $42,000 in debt, Chopin took up writing to support her family of six children. Though popular, her serious literary qualities were overlooked in her day, and she is now seen as an important early American feminist writer.

Reviews for A Pair of Silk Stockings

[cj82487 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not the ending I expected if you can even call it an ending, however, Chopin's use of perfectly matched descriptions of everyday items makes this story worth reading. If this serves as an example of Chopin's talent, I am all too willing to delve further into her works.

[philsyphe · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If the title makes you think this is about something sexual, you'd be wrong.When I tell you it's a short story about a woman who has more money than usual, so she goes shopping and to see a play, you might think it sounds boring. If so, you'd be wrong again.A pleasant little tale, this one.

[sasham-1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Didn't hate it but didn't love it either. I have a feeling it would really appeal to lovers of pure literature.

[thedivineoomba · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This s slim volume of selected stories by Kate Chopin, an author from Louisiana who wrote during the turn of the century, generally stories set in before civil war. All of these stories a good. A few them are outstanding. The first story in the book "Desiree's Baby", is quite heartbreaking and shows just how deep slavery and a fear of miscegenation goes.The last story in the book, A Pair of Silk Stockings - is deceptively simple. It starts with a poor lady who has extra money - as she decides what to do with it (get things the family needs), we find out a bit of this lady's past. A few of the stories featured a culture that I wasn't familiar with. The story was very understandable, but I missed the cues that a more knowledgeable reader would use to deepen the setting. My copy is a Dover Thrift Edition - while unabridged, generally doesn't have a long forward, and citation that would have explained some of the cultural cues.Over all, a good book to read in an interesting time period.

[petra5xs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a kind of prototype to What Not To Wear: self-esteem increases when the poor, badly-dressed person is transformed into yet another secretary-clone. Or in this case 'fitting in with the quality'. Excellent story, if you are a woman you will identify with this. Do men?

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting book to read, and that first story, oh wow. I first read Kate Chopin in the early 70’s when I was struggling to understand all the issues with women’s rights and equality. Now, in the light of my struggles to understand issues of racism, especially trying to find a way forward from racialized trauma, and breaking out of white safety to understand what impacts my black sisters and brothers, and extend an honest, understanding, and helpful hand forward, I find this narrative of a previous slice of life extremely timely.

[thecrow2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Deceptively simple, sometimes moody, sometimes straight shocking short stories about the time of american slavery.