The Awakening

Wow, not the book a financial advisor should read/listen to right before leaving his wife to go on a business trip. This is another novel where it seems more important (well timed) than it is actually good (well written). Don't get me wrong, I think this is a fine (and important) piece of literary fiction, but it just isn't GREAT fiction. Chopin, to me, is a little like a trembling bridge between Leo Tolstoy and Virginia Woolf that isn't as perfected as Tolstoy and not as consuming as Woolf, but feels like an adequate literary step between the two.

I paid cash for this when I had no credits. For a dollar an hour, well, I don't know how they did it so inexpensively, but thank you very much. I gather this work is important to the women's movement and also as American literature. Being a lit major, I can now say I've listened. However, it will take another listen or two and some background study to appreciate the work better. Don't choose it for a fun listen; you'll be put to sleep, hardly awakened, with details of drawing rooms and calling cards and removing the hat and so on. This story is subtle, somewhat like Henry James. I remember wanting to shake the man in "Beast in the Jungle" and holler at him, "SHE LOVES YOU, LUNKHEAD!" That said, the story is almost embroidered on silk or painted with watercolors. The narrator gets the Southern accent nicely, but I never forget he is reading. Maybe this is because of the writing. He does read clearly and the whole production is quite flawless. So if your professor has assigned this work, download and enjoy. I know you will enjoy. OTOH for a really good listen, turn to Diana Gabaldon, Bryce Courtenay, or Alexander Dumas.

A...

Walter's narrative is ideal for the story but could be a bit more captivating in its style.

This is about how we often accept less in life... thinking that it's enough, only to discover in time that our path, our acceptance of the ordinary, and our choices have become the walls of our own prison...

A wonderfully rich story, a finely woven life... with a main character who provokes neither affection nor consideration for her situation and her choices, her responses or her relationships until you come to realise you have beome a part of the web of her life... and that by the end you are willingly walking with her to her ultimate freedom.

A good quality story.

Walter Zimmerman narrates vibrantly than Grace Conlin any day.

Listening to a male's voice was more appealing. Grace Conlin sounded like she was reading a college textbbook and sounded like a bore.

He spoke with depth of an novel that has ranked as one in my top ten

Yes...thrice.

Wonderful. I have many copies of this title and will treasure this story always.

One of the best!

It is a feminist movement book, probably the first of it's kind.

All of them, but hte once that had french words had perfect pronunciation.

Yes, I was hooked.

I bought the book, but the experience with Audible was incredible. From now on only audio books, I love it! It is cheaper than the books. I have audible on my phone, my table and my computer. Thank you audible!

Someone who likes stories about bourgeois boredom. I could not get past the way the narrator was reading, and the story didn't really grab me at all.

Too pedantic.

I couldn't get past the first two chapters.

Get a different reader and see if it makes a difference.

If you enjoy the late 1800s, then I would recommend this book. Chopin writes so exquisitely that you feel as though you were traveling back to that period with her. This book was a shock in its time, and I would guess it opened a door for other writers to take those same liberties. It did end like Anna Karenina though, which was disappointing. It doesn't quite hold up to the current vernacular, which can create a misunderstanding of the story or cause one to become bored.

The book aside, I was happy to have Walter Zimmerman read the French pronunciations so well, however, his voice became irritating. Maybe it had to do more with the story though.

Sort of. I belong to a book club and listening to this made the book come alive. With Chopin's use of vivid imagery you could see yourself walking alongside Edna to the tragic end.