03 April 2013

Weekly Reads: The Awakening

I am doing a little something different for this weeks post.

This week I participated in the Feminist Book Club hosted by Jennifer (Grits & Moxie) and Jennifer (Grimmricksen) and read The Awakening by Kate Chopin.

This book has been on my to-read list for quite a long time. It was originally recommended to me by my a college professor who thought I would benefit from reading. I'd pick it up a few times before, but had never been able to get through it.

My initial thoughts on the book left me a little disappointed. I wanted to feel like I learned something from the book. I wanted to be changed by what I had read. Instead, I was left feeling extremely frustrated especially with Edna, the main character in the book.

Like most "period" books, I have a very hard time setting aside my own feelings and beliefs to really embrace some of the female characters I come across in the books I read.  I am quite certain this is why I had such issues with Edna. She seems quite self centered and at time immature. Most of the time her behavior left me wondering how she found herself in the life she was living. Did she love her husband? Was she forced to marry? Did she even want to be a mother? So many things were left unanswered but I suppose that goes along with the time period this book was written in. Women weren't necessarily able to make decisions of the heart or of their own choosing.

I will say though that I can see why this book made such an impact when it was first published and why it ranks so high on the list of feminist titles, it's just that it seems a bit out of place/time now.

I am definitely looking forward Aprils selection The Whole Woman by Germaine Greer. I rarely read non-fiction so this will be a great change of pace.

3 comments:

  1. Gorgeous book cover and title though, no? :)

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  2. I'm intrigued by this book. I might have to check it out.

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  3. I too was initially disappointed upon finishing it, but I think the more time I give it and the more discussion I'm involved in, the more I appreciate it.

    *fingers crossed* "The Whole Woman" is as good as we all hope!

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Thanks for reading!

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