The Awakening

Written by Kate Chopin

Narrated by Gil Anders

The Awakening is an 1899 novel by Kate Chopin set in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast at the end of the 19th century. It is widely seen as a seminal work of early feminism which put the spotlight on women's issues.

The story is about Edna Pontellier, the wife of a New Orleans businessman, who falls in love with Robert Lebrun, a man she meets at a resort on the Gulf of Mexico. When the family returns to New Orleans, Edna isolates herself from society and withdraws from some of the duties customarily associated with motherhood. Edna has two friends that give her opposite advice: her close friend Adèle Ratignolle, and the pianist Mademoiselle Reisz, who lives a life of independence. Ultimately Robert withdraws from Edna’s life, claiming in a note that he refuses to shame her in the eyes of society. The combination of realistic narrative, psychological complexity and social commentary makes The Awakening a forerunner of American modernist literature and prefigures the works of novelists like William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Author's Republic
• Release date: Sep 11, 2019
• ISBN: 9781982776749

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 The Awakening

[Samantha King · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed the book, but what an awful reader!

I'll have to avoid anything read by Gil Anders in future, as his robotic timing combined with good mispronunciation of common words such as buffet and monsieur repeatedly took me out of the story. I'm certain better renditions exist, avoid this at all costs.