The Awakening

By: Kate Chopin

Narrated by: Jane Leclercq

Length: 5 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Set in New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers around Edna Pontellier and her struggle to reconcile her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century South. The Awakening is one of the earliest American novels that focuses on women's issues without condescension. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism.

The novel's blend of realistic narrative, incisive social commentary, and psychological complexity makes The Awakening a precursor of American modernism; it prefigures the works of American novelists such as William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway and echoes the works of contemporaries such as Edith Wharton and Henry James. It can also be considered among the first Southern works in a tradition that would culminate with the modern masterpieces of Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Eudora Welty, Katherine Anne Porter, and Tennessee Williams.

Public Domain (P)2012 Trout Lake Media

a long story

narrator clear but reads too fast,. Story tedious at times in beginning gets better towards end. Do not like ending.

Shattering

Even though I was assigned and forced to read the book, I found myself captivated with its story and ideals, great book for thinkers

Not a Classic

The narrator does a good job, I just disliked the book. I don't understand why it's considered a classic. The other doesn't allow the reader to interpret anything, she tells the audience exactly what is going on and exactly what her characters feel.

Leclercq does Chopin proud

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

A great feminist perspective on the search for identity.

What did you like best about this story?

Edna's realization that she would be willing to give her life for her children, but not her identity or her existence.

Which character – as performed by Jane Leclercq – was your favorite?

Edna of course!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

The novel makes you think, about how your own life is aligned and if you have your own identity independent of your relationships.

Any additional comments?

Unable to engage

I was unable to engage in this book. The reader speaks far too quickly and without distinction or interpretation of the characters. The story is lost because of this.

A bargain, but at a cost

Frightfully posh accent, which is fine though not really in sync with material, but the reader seems not to understand what she's reading, beyond enjoying the elegant sounds she herself is making; this manifests itself in actually getting the words wrong (e.g. "susceptibility" becomes a magical new word, "suspectibility," which makes no sense either in itself nor in context.) The end result is that it is impossible for the listener to become engaged in the story.

Skips

The narrator often repeated herself (read lines over and over again). Poor quality performance. Not that interesting of a plot, or any likeable characters.