Journey of a Twilight Soul: Part One - The Awakening

The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself

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The Caged Bird song is a classical metal song with complex playful arrangements, doomy vocal harmonies and electric guitars. Now the album gets back on track with stronger pieces. Cold As Blue is apiano ballad with grunts and unusual vocals that leads perfectly into The Awakening's elegant piano and percussive brushes. Cold As Blue has Call and Response vocals with the same piano on the background.

I like the "in the eyes of my soul" with violins and faster tempo. Past Magic is interesting enough with it's electric guitar riff blending in with playful symphonic keyboards, pt2 continues it with rhythmic laughter that sounds like Phil Collins' "mama" song: After a creepy interlude, in the eyes of my soul returns and packs quite a punch, while not being too similar from the first piece of the album. I don't know how to criticize it, but it just doesn't sound right and makes me feel puzzled.

Organ Scientific Formula 1 is the most terrifying song of the record with the church organs, doomy electric guitars, and a multi-layered macabre laughter. The organ solo in the end is excellent and is accompained by frenzied rhythm guitars. Night wandering starts again and the symphonic metal of 6 Black Roses pleases your ears if they wanted some rocking out. Autumn Fog Message has a great melodic guitar solo that is an element somewhat lacking in this album. Afterwards, the Black Box of Reverse is another part of "Sleeping Beauty" and is very bizarre with reverse recording effects I think.

The album finishes predictably with the great "In the eyes of my soul" main theme. Nevertheless, if you are a music lover and want to try something new and challenging, get this album. So I bought the album, and for the most part, it delivered on the hype it was getting. The sections are a little choppy and slightly incoherent later on in the album, but not terribly so. I'm not sure of this either, but I hope that the orchestra or orchestral instruments are really being performed by an orchestra.

The linear notes make no note of it though. That would be the only other downfall here. Either way, it still sounds great, so I won't complain. Thoguh it may seem to be at first, it is not the greatest heavy metal album ever made but it sure could have been. It is very epic and intriguing. Unfortunately, the shuffle feature doesn't always work. You have to meticulously place the tracks in a logical order for it to work. It is a cool idea though. In conclusion, a powerful epic that metal fans prog or not really ought to check out. Along with the new Underoath, it's the biggest surprise of thus far.

There is no much to say about the music, its lack of direction is intoxicating. The best part is reserved to the pianos, but still played too technical and less feeled. The album's dizzying time changes and counter-melodies can leave you drooling. The album starts off with chanting that sounds like Ave Maria. Then the guitars come in for the spooky Creep Evil before pummeling you. Six minutes later, synths come in that momentarily break the flow, but the solo is great.

The rest of the album alternates between heavy guitars and slightly softer synths, but it never gets truly soft. If Beyond Twilight continues to make creative and gasp! Ok, now, back to the actual rating It seems to me Beyond Twilight was just another power prog metal band like so many others before this album He also knew that to stand out in this genre one must do something BIG, something that makes us do "aaaahhhs.. I mean, can you go any further, can you break more boundaries as a band after this?

Then take a confusing but original concept, throw some exceptional keyboard playing in the mix, some latin here and there, goosebumps sections and Beyond Twilight came up with a pretty original idea - to create a prog metal opera consisting of 43 short interconnected fragments that are basically a bunch of solos some of them shorter than the time needed to read their titles , that could be rearranged and still deliver a coherent listen. To give this four or three stars? Well, I feel inclined to give it three but the concept and ambition forces a four. Intended, I suspect as a single track, this reasonably short album has 43 parts that make up one 38 minute song.

Just that the song as it is presented in the order it is isn't th It is really remarkable that albums like this one can bring something new and innovative in todas's music! It's really essential that music moves forward with this kind of albums,and this music must be autitioned by any amateur of what is new and original! Nowadays is extremelly rare to bring For the Love of Art and the Making came out of nowhere last year, at least for me, and I know a lot of forum members were stunned at how this album by somewhat unheard of prog-metal band Beyond Twilight was gearing to be one of the top rated releases off So, I wanted to see what the hype A first meaning MYTH , with a storybook that This album has many scattered moments of genius, but it isn't a satisfying experience overall.

The concept of 43 tracks is a great idea, but it just doesn't work in practice.

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Sadly, this album is brought down to an average level by its inaccessible structure and inconsistence of quality. This album could've been a great album, since the instrumental parts are overall brilliant. But unfortunately Beyond Twilight still hasn't found a man to back up their incredibly high vocal ambitions since Jorn Lande. I would qualify this Beyond Twilight album as As usual, brilliant musicianship by the whole band, but this album is not an epic as it aims to be.

Not enough consistency for my taste, many filler riffs, incoherent passages sometimes linking in a sensless w Cut into 43 pieces of short passages, the album itself doesn't reveal the reason to be divided into that many pieces, and however all the elem The best album of for me, and one of the bests ever.

To the reasons yet written I will add the enormous complexity of the lyrics, as you can see in: The 43 amazing tracks mixed every musical genres that you can imagine. Ever since my ears heard the first few seconds of this album, I've been mys This is a trend setting album in it's day and I'm sure this album will b It starts off with what seems like a Symphony X Divine Wings of Tragedy spinoff where there are chorus vocals, and its just like s I don't understand how this can be 1 in the prog-archives lis for Well, I have the doubtful honor of being the first in give this album the 4 star rating.

Let me tell you why: This is the typical album not good enough to be a masterpiece but good enough to be more than a "excellent addition" to any prog music collection". So, why don't rate it with 5 star Let me first state that I am not a huge prog metal fan. Then a friend persuaded me to purchase the new Beyond Twilight disc This may seem like a ponderous weight of wisdom to descend upon the soul of a young woman of twenty-eight- perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually vouchsafed to any woman.

But the beginning of things, of a world especially, is necessarily vague, tangled, chaotic, and exceedingly disturbing. How few of us ever emerge from such a beginning! How many souls perish in its tumult! View all 30 comments. Jan 22, Lynne King rated it it was amazing Shelves: Part of the book is also based on their vacation in Grand Isle on the Gulf of Mexico. The scene is soon set as Edna is beginning to feel unsettled after six years of a rather bland marriage to an older man and feels that there is something lacking in her life.

An incident then occurs that soon sets her on a course that cannot be changed. The reason being, it was published in , a period when a woman was meant to believe and to maintain that her place was purely in the home, having children and taking care of her husband. As was the case with Edna but one day she went unexpectedly completely against the establishment when to her own amazement friendship, love and desire plunged into the arena. Her whole personality changed but I believe this really came about when she learned to swim for she discovered a strength within herself that she had never known existed.

I also began to sense the similarities of behavior with Emma Bovary. Set for the majority of the time by the sea, water will turn out to be the catalyst in this remarkable work. Edna discovered water and then she…. View all 19 comments. Salty, muggy air creeping off a windless and glittering gulf, white wooden chairs posing in the antique, misty elegance of a large veranda, blinds half-drawn at sundown to corrugated silhouettes, and a laced corset honeycombed by dimming sunlight.

She is completely unprepared for the constraining societal demands upon first going to the Pontellier summer house on Grand Isle in south Louisiana. Nor was she ready to deal with Southern belles who sashay from house to summer house stifling the stuffy air as they swelter over sweaty glasses of iced tea.

As Pat Conroy wrote, "the sweetness of Southern women often conceals the deadliness of snakes. Donna Tartt probably best explains the pain of being raised and living among this coquettish set, in writing that, "many Southern ladies are fierce, dignified ex-belles who changed their ways before they went crazy or killed somebody.

In the end, she cannot handle the societal demands of New Orleans and goes for a long swim. In some ways, it reminds me of Madame Bovary published 43 years earlier Besides the geographic differences, Edna was more driven to seek independence by her circumstances and society, to rebel against sexual repression in a place that was more chauvinistic and puritanical than France half a century earlier; whereas Bovary dreamed of romance and free love like that in the books she read.

The writing was commendable and tantalizing. Certainly, it was forward-thinking from the female point of view in the U. From what I've read, this short novel shocked American readers in with its uninhibited look at infidelity and female sexuality, and did not sell well until re-discovered in the s by feminists in academia who saw and still see it as significant and liberating. For starters, I did not enjoy this story, and I did not see why Edna's life was utterly miserable.

I didn't care about her, really. And her plight didn't speak to me at all. Everything is subjective, however, Edna has many more options and choices than some women ever have. More than anything she has safety and the ability to protect herself and her children. That in itself is more than many women have, even today.

I can understand feeling restricted, but I think Edna was a very selfish woman. I For starters, I did not enjoy this story, and I did not see why Edna's life was utterly miserable. If anything, she should have thought of her children. I am not here to say that women don't have existences outside of their marriages, their children. I disagree strongly with that.

But a woman has a choice to make. When she brings children into the world, it changes the decisions that she can make. She can be happy and she can have joy, but she has to make sure that her children are loved and cared for. Edna was a pampered woman with an indulgent husband, and she had the means to go on a nice vacation every year. She had servants, and friends.

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A lot of women don't even have those things, but manage to get up out of bed everyday and live their lives. Yes, she felt that she was denying her inner self, and had to marry, although maybe she didn't want to. Okay this is what I have, let's see what I can do with it. Make the best of what you have. Edna continually made bad choices. She made a mistake and had an extramarital affair. Not the end of the world. I believe her husband would have forgiven her. Or she could have even lived apart from him and hopefully still be a mother to her children.

Maybe I'm being naive about this for the time period, maybe not. She could have stayed with her husband and had a friendship marriage with no physical involvement and painted. Even carried on her affairs as long as she was discreet. She had some choices. A lot of women, a lot of people don't. I just didn't buy the option that she took.

I think she was a drama queen. Sorry, I just didn't have much sympathy for this woman. I can see how this must have been an important work at the time it was written.

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However, it fails to speak to me of female empowerment in a world that allows women less power, choices, and equality. My rating is based moreso on this novella's failure to demonstrate what it set out to accomplish than my dislike of the story. I would read more Chopin, and I intend to do so. Mar 02, Frona rated it really liked it. Sea, sun, bathing and loose summer rules form a recipe for a respite.

Warm and welcoming environment, shaped by people with different predispositions gathered under the same soothing conditions, lighten the protagonist's manners. Her senses, before entangled beyond recognition, suddenly soften and let the melodies, smells and shapes in. Adjustments within her, long having been guided by society's calls, now slowly, but steadily, change course. In awakening to the stimulants and novelties the pro Sea, sun, bathing and loose summer rules form a recipe for a respite. In awakening to the stimulants and novelties the protagonist quietly, but firmly, demands her right to feel her own feelings.

If in the works of similar stature the nuances of emotions are often but subtly implied and hidden behind the excessive behavior, they are here stated openly and affectionately. Although we are given free access to her thoughts, it is with less spectacle than any implication could leave us to imagine.

It's a silent, straightforward strength; she doesn't lose herself in a love affair, but gains vigor from it. Similarly, her decline is more connected with a realization of the eternal gap between human nature and natural laws than it is with love itself. When summer ends, autumn comes and interrupts the immediacy of her bond with nature. Being enclosed between the walls of human invention, she knows no way out, for her awaking progresses linearly and is not attuned with the nature's cyclic seasons.

Jun 17, Alison rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Her husband is well-off, and Edna's days consist of watching the nanny take care of her two young boys, scolding the cook over bad soup, giving and attending champagne-filled dinner parties, and receiving formal calls from high society New Orleans ladies on Tuesdays. Also, t "But they need not thought that they could possess her, body and soul.

Also, the Pontelliers spend every summer on the coast of Louisianna, in a beach house. The nanny goes with, while Edna is free to spend her days as she likes--which happens to be boating and swimming with the unmarried son of the beach home's proprietor--Robert. But there's an anguish growing within Mrs. Her inability to connect with her husband and her children leaves her feeling oppressed. Gradually, and with the aid of young Robert, however, a spark is lit. Pontellier was beginning to realize her position in the universe as a human being, and to recognize her relations as an individual to the world within and about her.

And she's not feeling super cut-out for the job. Pontellier is at a crossroads. Reminded of walking aimlessly through a meadow as a child, Edna yearns for the time pre-loveless marriage, pre-kids when she didn't have to calculate every step. She longs to be lifted from the weight of her "blindly assumed" responsibilities and to be allowed to wander purposelessly. Edna aches for solitude, but fears she doesn't possess the courage to defy social constraint and become a free entity--free to leave behind her husband, home, and children and follow her heart. Edna's duality and transformation reminded me of several in fiction--from Frankenstein's monster to Kafka's cockroach.

The new, sexy Edna recognizes herself as different from her former self--a new creation. Like the monster, she is a "newly awakened being. New Edna is bold and frisky, like "an animal waking in the sun. I guess somewhere on the feminist spectrum, like all theoretical spectrums, I fall somewhere in the middle. Yes, I can see how Edna might feel trapped and oppressed. Domestic life can surely be repetitious, mundane, and exasperating.

I can imagine yearning for something to happen to break the monotony. I can imagine how it would feel to a woman to be regarded as a piece of property--hand picked to run a household and bear children, with no hope of variation, peering out on the rest of her life and seeing very few choices ahead--outside of what will be next for dinner. But toward the other end, I can see things that Edna failed to see--the gratification that comes from growing a family Edna felt her children were robbing her of her soul, I give mine away freely, every day.

Because women like Chopin were bold enough to write characters like Edna, the way women were perceived was drastically changed. Books like The Awakening paved the way for modern women to choose where we fall on the spectrum the CHOICE is the key , to chart our own course, to soar and not sink. View all 7 comments. Jan 05, Adina rated it it was ok Shelves: I will just say that these kind of books made me have problems with my literature course and run away from most of the "classics".

Although the books were written by Romanian authors I recognize the type. I came to my senses after joining GR and I now try to gain the lost time by reading the books that I should have covered earlier in my life. Until now the results were satisfying as I am on my way of becoming a big fan of Victorian literature. However, this book was so, so slow and i could not feel anything. I understand the power of the novel but it wasn't enough to make me like it. Also, I wish there were other endings to women having affairs than suicide. That moment when you read a book so good, you want to lie awake all night and ruminate on it.

Review to come for sure, but it might take a few days - there are too many thoughts somersaulting in my head and I don't think they'll settle anytime soon. Kate Chopin wrote this story of female self-actualization back in the late 19th century, but it's as applicable today as it was then. I think we all feel trapped by decisions we've made capriciously, and we all consider, even briefly, escape.

The main character in this novel not only realizes that she has trapped herself, but she actively seeks to free herself. Her action, rather than just emotion and despair a la Goethe , is what separates her from the herd. Edna is a woman Kate Chopin wrote this story of female self-actualization back in the late 19th century, but it's as applicable today as it was then. Edna is a woman, probably in her 30s or so, married to a successful financier and mother to two charming children. She summers on an island, probably to escape summer diseases in the city, New Orleans. One summer she acquires a friend, Robert.

Although married women in this society frequently have male friends, Edna is an outsider, and she takes Robert's attentions far too seriously. Apparently, he is similarly infatuated. Basking in Robert's attention, Edna understands at last that she has discarded her youthful dreams and hopes and that her current life is unfulfilling. She takes small steps toward freeing herself, and Robert seems a willing accomplice for a while. But Robert sees the hopelessness of such an infatuation: Edna is married, after all.

Abruptly, Robert leaves the island and heads off to Mexico, presumably to seek his fortune. Even after she returns to town, her emotions are in turmoil. But loneliness actually proves helpful. She relearns who she is, reclaims the dreams of her youth, and abandons her husband and children. The author is careful with this last, making it seem tragic and irresponsible, yet ultimately unavoidable. By the last 20 pages, Edna is free. And then Robert returns.

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Edna says that she does not feel obligated by their mutual love; she says that she is an independent woman now who is not the property of any other person. Her actions show that she is dependent on Robert, needy for his love and attention. I still can't decide if the author created this break between words and behavior on purpose, or if she really intended us to believe that Edna was wholly independent. In fact, the only weak part of the story, in my opinion, is that Edna does not take responsibility for her own awakening.

She claims that Robert "awoke" her. Edna does in the end devise a solution that proves her ultimate freedom and independence, and it is the only solution that works. But I won't spoil it by writing it here. The thing that makes this book so lovely is that it isn't preachy. So many modern girl-power novels just sort of slam you over the head with the girls-first-and-men-suck mantra. This book is about Edna; it doesn't purport to be about all women.

It's a very personal work, and the narrative hand is light. It leaves us, the readers, free to recognize the little bits of Edna in us all, and although the rest of us may not ultimately choose Edna's course, it gives us hope that such freedom is possible, even after the fact. Published in , "The Awakening" is a story revolving around personal and sexual freedom for women. The book was set in New Orleans and nearby coastal areas where women--and any property they accumulated after marriage--were considered the property of their husbands.

Divorce was almost non-existent in that Catholic area. Edna and Leonce Pontellier are vacationing at a coastal resort with their two little sons. Leonce is a generous husband in material ways, but does not connect well emotionally Published in , "The Awakening" is a story revolving around personal and sexual freedom for women. Leonce is a generous husband in material ways, but does not connect well emotionally with his wife. Edna falls in love with Robert Lebrun, a young man at the resort. Robert leaves for Mexico since he realizes that the relationship would not have a good outcome.

Edna befriends two women with contrasting lifestyles.

FOR THE LOVE OF ART AND THE MAKING

Madame Ratignolle is a perfect wife and mother, but Mademoiselle Reisz, a pianist, has a very independent life. Edna is unhappy in her life as a wife and mother, even though she has servants to do most of the work in the home. She has the opportunity to rebel when her husband goes on a long business trip and their children are sent to their grandmother's house for an extended stay. She begins a dalliance with Alcee Arobin, a man with a reputation of chasing married women. She asserts her independence by moving out of her large house into a smaller abode, dabbling in art, and is awakened as a sexual woman.

When Robert returns later, she says, "I am no longer one of Mr Pontellier's possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. Even today, society looks down severely on women who abandon their children. Early in the book, it was stated, "Mrs Pontellier was not a mother-woman. The children appeared before her like antagonists who had overcome her; who had overpowered and sought to drag her into the soul's slavery for the rest of her days. But she knew a way to elude them. Edna was a fascinating character.

She seemed to be a woman who was unable to count her blessings, could only see the problems which were certainly genuine, and probably suffered from depression. She moved so much into a fantasy world that a solution seemed hopeless. Finally she hears the call of the sea, "The voice of the sea is seductive, never ceasing, whispering, clamoring, murmuring, inviting the soul to wander in abysses of solitude. All along the white beach, up and down, there was no living thing in sight. A bird with a broken wing was beating the air above, reeling, fluttering, circling disabled down, down to the water.

May 05, Sherwood Smith added it Shelves: It's interesting to read an end-of-the-century novel from the opposite side of the intervening twentieth century, for though there is in Chopin's novel no preoccupation with the remorseless cycle of measured time, the intervening hundred years--and all their evolutions, both cultural and literary--are going to be part of the modern reader's context.

As the novel unfolds, it is very difficult to like Edna Pontellier. In these days of two paychecks being requir It's interesting to read an end-of-the-century novel from the opposite side of the intervening twentieth century, for though there is in Chopin's novel no preoccupation with the remorseless cycle of measured time, the intervening hundred years--and all their evolutions, both cultural and literary--are going to be part of the modern reader's context. In these days of two paychecks being required just to survive, on top of the endless drudgery of housework, car maintenance, and children's needs, Edna's dissatisfaction with a life of social engagements, fine dinners that she did not have to prepare or clean up after, and congenial hours of just sitting about on porches chatting idly, make it very hard for a modern reader to sympathize with her.

While she is obsessed with her perceived bonds of slavery, she spares not one thought to the nameless women of color who labor unceasingly in the background doing the drudge work that is an inescapable part of daily existence. The woman who appears to be the primary caretaker of Edna's two boys is not even vouchsafed a name; she is dismissed as "the quadroon," a racial epithet that relegates her to an importance somewhere beneath parlor furnishings, which are at least noticed by callers.

Chopin's evocative depiction of life in Louisiana a hundred years ago is fascinating both for the differences and for the moments that resonate with our own experience. Adele Ratignole's childbirth scene, with its pain and emotional intensity. The ability of children then, as now, to invent games on the dusty ground. Sitting through an amateur theatrical. The sensory details, and the emotional dynamics resultant all transmit that spark of verisimilitude--the scents of flowers.

The stickiness of clothing in hot weather. How musical artistry stabs through our primal emotions like a hiltless knife. The moment of realization when the warmth of friendship kindles into lust. The novel's overarcing theme appears to be self-discovery, but it reads to me more like self-involvement. Restless, emotionally stifled Edna is "awakened" first by Madamoiselle Reisz's music, and then by a midnight swim when she dares, for the first time, not to wade, but to strike out into the dark waters and test that elusive nexus between heightened physical endeavor and death.

Her desire to free herself from all her perceived shackles of wifedom and motherhood veer when she discovers, belatedly, her lust for Robert Lebrun, and again when she forsakes the serene, generous, but ambitionless friendship of Adele Ratignolle. She tells Robert that she loves him; he responds in kind; in a desperate act of martyred honor Robert leaves, and Edna shrugs off the world and takes another swim, this one toward the eternal darkness.

It is interesting that Edna's very last images are not of any of her putative loved ones, but of vivid and unconnected sensory details-- The spurs of the cavalry officer clanged as he walked across the porch. There was the hum of bees, and the musky odor of pinks filled the air. Throughout the novel the presence of solitary lives wink in and out like fireflies: Edna connects with four different people, two men and two women, however ephemerally.

Each of the four is connected to the rest of their community through a different thread of the lacework of life: Adele and Robert as mother and gentleman, respectively, of society; Madamoiselle Reisz as the artist, and Arabin as the sensualist. All four live the lives they want to live, the latter two as singles, Robert as a son and brother, and Adele as wife and mother.

It is Robert and Adele who, as members of the community, each make sacrificial acts: Robert in leaving to save his and Edna's reputations he leaves twice and Adele through childbirth. Each act is painful, each is a necessity to sustain the implied greater good of the community. Madame Reisz leads an independent existence, having everything she wants except it is implied sex. It is she who encourages Edna to "take flight" and though she speaks in terms of art, one wonders if in fact the spinster is encouraging Edna to give her the vicarious thrill of passion that she, old and ugly, desires.

She certainly knows what it is that Edna wants--as does Adele, who tries to save Edna from cutting herself off from all the other presumed connections of her life in order to satisfy this illicit desire. And of course Arabin represents the life of illicit desire, never responsible, mostly shunned, with no permanent connections outside of the endless quest for gratification. It appears that the illicit aspect of Edna's desires is the driving force behind her quest. She tries one thing after another, from wandering about the streets as long as she likes to gluttonous eating and adultery, and then abandons them all.

She can't be bothered with anything that requires self discipline--not in watching over her children, or communicating with her husband, or even painting. From the perspective of one who was young during the sixties and seventies, it is not surprising that this novel experienced a rebirth of interest during that period. It seems, looking back, that alienation and self-absorbed behavior were idealized during that time; novels and movies featured young singles who rejected everything but the pursuit of pleasure, and found that meaningless as well.

Existentialist angst seemed the raison-d'etre of all art, because life was meaningless, and females felt the shackles of fifties expectations: Nowadays we would call her behavior dysfunctional, and Edna certainly is a vivid portrayal of a dysfunctional woman. Despite Chopin's mendaciously casual dismissal of her heroine in her response to the novel's critical rejection as "working out her own damnation" one suspects that Chopin really did admire her heroine.

All those reminders of how attractive she was in others' eyes; the firm auctorial intrusion not permitting the reader any sympathy with Mr. Pontellier and his "worship of his household gods"--though it is he who spends the most energy in trying to understand his wife, to communicate with her, and to make her happy. It is he who has the strongest bond with the children, though the culture by that time had already disengaged fathers from active parenting--except in punishment and economic control.

The culminating moment of the book is Edna's dinner party, where she is perceived as Aphrodite, the goddess of love--an ironic observation about a woman who doesn't seem to have been capable of real love. This is not to say that the novel doesn't work. In fact, it is so well written that it functions on numerous levels, as a slice-of-regional life historical piece, and as an exercise is stylistic brilliance.

As a cautionary tale during the early part of this century, when the nascent women's movement was beginning to build up enough speed to cause cultural resistance. As a tale of alienation and self-absorption for the young adult reader, who is often alienated and self-absorbed, as it was for a period in our own recent history when such tales enjoyed their literary eclat.

As a tale of dysfunction for contemporary readers, who are engaged in examing the literature of the past so as to find a way to redefine our own roles--gender roles, family roles, community roles--for the future. Feb 22, Ivana Books Are Magic rated it it was amazing. The Awakening is certainly an important novel. Published in , this novel was a forerunner in many ways. By creating a literary heroine who is undergoing spiritual, psychological, emotional and sexual awakening, Chopin challenged not only the social views of her time, but social identity as such. Moreover, I do believe that The Awakening is neither reserved The Awakening is certainly an important novel.

Moreover, I do believe that The Awakening is neither reserved for one female gender, nor a strictly feminist book, for it can be read as an individual search for personal identity and freedom. It is a novel that has aged well and still holds many valuable lessons. The writing as such is quite beautiful.

From the very start, Chopin does a great job of creating the tone and the atmosphere. The novel opens up with Edna who is vacationing on Grand Isle with her kids. The feeling of summer is very much present in the writing.

At Grand Isle, Edna falls in love with Robert. Once Edna returns to her home, she is a changed woman. Chopin depicts different settings with precision. Her portrayal of characters is attentive and well rounded. It is not as intimate and in-depth as I would have perhaps liked, but Chopin does do a great job with the characterization.

She portrays the inner struggles of Edna Pontellier with care. Edna, a young woman trapped in a loveless marriage, is showed to us, not just as a woman but even more importantly as a human being. What I liked most about this novel is how human Edna felt. Edna is not idolized, she never feels like a victim.

I loved Edna even when she seemed selfish, perhaps at those times most of all. His refusal to take part in social activities is surprisingly modernist. I would say that in the course of this novel the life story of Edna Pontellier, a young woman searching for her identity as it is often case with great stories grows into something universal. Edna got under my skin. It is not only Edna, though.

This novel has a unique taste and flavour. After her awakening, Edna can experience music fully. Still, her awakening comes with a price. I felt like Edna was becoming almost an artist, had a potential to become one at least, just by the virtue of daring to search for her identity within herself. Nevertheless, can a woman live her life only for herself? This book raises many interesting questions. Both women are married unhappily, both of them fall in love and decide to pursue a love affair outside of their marriage.

Both of them defy the society. The plot of these two novels may be strikingly similar, but the writing style is quite different. In other words, Chopin is more a naturalistic than a realistic writer. Her portrayal of characters does have an occasional note of animalism. There is also something pessimistic about the way Chopin views society, something makes me think of Maupassant. Edna is a great character in her own right. Mar 12, Chrissie rated it liked it Shelves: Here is another book that surprised me.

I did not like the writing style at the beginning, but by the end I liked exactly that, the writing, very much. The writing is descriptive, right from the beginning, but when it starts not only the places and scenes are described, but also we are told the personality traits of the involved characters.

Here is the classical problem of being "told rather than shown". After the initial presentation of the characters, only then do we begin to observe them. At Here is another book that surprised me. At the same time the tone becomes sensual, beautiful and moving. It starts out choppy. Maybe this is not a bad technique, to first introduce the disparate characters and then to add depth to each one? You begin to watch them and to understand their emotions.

It is Edna, and the other female characters you watch, more so than the male figures. But what I liked about the book was the writing. This is a book of early feminism, published first in We watch the "awakening" of a woman; she becomes aware of her own identity, and her right to have her own identity. The setting is New Orleans and the Southern Louisiana coast. This was my first Librivox audiobook. I want to thank Leslie and Sandy for their help in learning how to download it and for their lists of good Librivox narrators.

Elizabeth Klett, narrates this. To tell you the truth, I didn't like the narration at first. I found it too rapid, I had to learn who was who and so I had a terrible time with the rapid speed. But then, just as I grew to like the writing style, I grew to like the narration too. Sometimes you have to acclimatize yourself to a narrator, and sometimes the narrator has to get into the feel of the story. I will not shy away from this narrator.

She is very good, albeit a bit fast for me. I need time to think when I listen to a book. Then there is the ending I am not so sure I like it, but you will be surprised. Again, it is not the plot that makes me like this book, but rather the feeling the writing conjures. I felt Edna's awakening. A good book, and I recommend it. Throbbing with an uncontrollable desire for the handsome Robert, 29 year old Edna decides to change her life View all 5 comments. Mar 04, Erin rated it really liked it Shelves: Pontellier was not a mother-woman.

The mother-women seemed to prevail that summer at Grand Isle. It was easy to know them, fluttering about with extended, protecting wings when any harm, real or imaginary, threatened their precious brood. They were women who idolized their children, worshiped their husbands, and esteemed it a holy privilege to efface themselves as individuals and grow wings as ministering angels.

Wait, isn't this something that we would read in O magazine these d In short, Mrs. Wait, isn't this something that we would read in O magazine these days? When are we "mom" enough? Can we really have it all? Gosh, haven't we heard all those questions before? What makes The Awakening really interesting and perhaps ageless is Kate Chopin was talking about a wife and mother living in 19th century Louisiana. How can it be possible that we're in the 21st century with better conditions and we are still asking ourselves these questions? What married woman would enter into an adulterous affair?

What drives women to embark on that path? Another friend of mine from university was OBSESSED with this question and as a married woman herself, enjoyed asking the other women in her class, myself included. I wonder all these years later if she ever found the answer. In The Awakening , our main female protagonist, wife and mother of two, Edna Pontellier, draws closer to a local man and although the relationship ends before it can be consummated, forbidden love hangs in the air.

But that summer sets Edna on a course of "awakening" that rocks the foundation of her marriage and the society that surrounds her. This may seem like a ponderous weight of wisdom to descend upon the soul of a young woman of twenty-eight—perhaps more wisdom than the Holy Ghost is usually pleased to vouchsafe to any woman.

Can you just imagine the scandal when this book was released? Even now, just as Anna Karenina and Madame Bovary just to name two managed to set readers apart, Kate Chopin certainly had 'tongues wagging' over things that would have seen completely unforgivable for a woman. There were days when she was very happy without knowing why. She was happy to be alive and breathing, when her whole being seemed to be one with the sunlight, the color, the odors, the luxuriant warmth of some perfect Southern day.

She liked then to wander alone into strange and unfamiliar places. She discovered many a sunny, sleepy corner, fashioned to dream in. And she found it good to dream and to be alone and unmolested. There were days when she was unhappy, she did not know why,—when it did not seem worth while to be glad or sorry, to be alive or dead; when life appeared to her like a grotesque pandemonium and humanity like worms struggling blindly toward inevitable annihilation. She could not work on such a day, nor weave fancies to stir her pulses and warm her blood.

As a reader, when I was a 19 year old university student and today as 35 year old high school teacher, the scene in this story that I will never forget is that of Edna's husband and the doctor. The doctor decides to give the husband some " sound medical advice. Woman, my dear friend, is a very peculiar and delicate organism—a sensitive and highly organized woman, such as I know Mrs. Pontellier to be, is especially peculiar. It would require an inspired psychologist to deal successfully with them.

And when ordinary fellows like you and me attempt to cope with their idiosyncrasies the result is bungling. Most women are moody and whimsical. The Awakening certainly reminds me of the beautifully written The Yellow Wallpaper as both highlight the opinions of what a "woman ought to be. So many readers have stated it so much better than I, but The Awakening certainly still deserves our attention. The voice of the sea speaks to the soul. The touch of the sea is sensuous, enfolding the body in its soft, close embrace. This novel has many themes, impulse, freedom, search for identity, the role of women and sex, marriage, and rejection of tradition; making it into a Bildungsroman novel, as it focuses on the changes that contributed to the main character growth, rather than relaying on past accounts.

I can't make it more clear; it's only something I am beginning to comprehend, which is revealing itself to me. Just because they are our parents does not mean that they must give themselves up for our pleasure, that seems rather selfish. View all 3 comments. Mar 23, Sara rated it really liked it Shelves: Kate Chopin has written in The Awakening a moving and heartfelt glimpse into the struggles of a woman who is torn between her traditional role as wife and mother and her need to satisfy the dreams and needs of self. Edna Pontellier is as individual as any real person any of us knows and as such she captures our empathy and understanding and awakes in us a bit of our feelings of desire for solitude and fulfillment.

As is so true for most human beings, shattered contentment and self-sacrifice are Kate Chopin has written in The Awakening a moving and heartfelt glimpse into the struggles of a woman who is torn between her traditional role as wife and mother and her need to satisfy the dreams and needs of self.

As is so true for most human beings, shattered contentment and self-sacrifice are not easily regained once lost. Freedom is seldom relinquished without regret. I have heard this referred to as a "feminist" novel, but I think it goes far beyond that and reaches into the need of every human being to embrace their own identity and make their own choices. Of course, women were more subjected to constraints in this time than men and men were excluded from any sexual or passionate prohibitions, but consider a man who was forced by conventions to pursue his father's family career choice rather than his own inclinations or marry for proper connections rather than love.

I found this to be more about what early feminists were after, which was equality of thought and value, rather than the kind of feminist issues I see at play today. There is no doubt that this is a powerful story and one that resonates long after you have put down the book. While Edna is experiencing her awakening, we are meant to feel an awakening of our own.

I'm sure it must have had a profound effect on women of her time caught in similar circumstances and trying to pretend those feelings and thoughts did not exist. Modern women have been the beneficiaries of the bravery of such women as Chopin who braved convention and brought such subjects into the light. Aug 03, Alex rated it it was amazing Shelves: This is tired, said Clint, its beats are tired, its cliches are tired, there's nothing more for it to say, I'm gonna give you one last great Western and that's enough, okay? And the movie had such overwhelming eulogic power that it almost succeeded.

It didn't, of course, but it was years before anyone dared to make another one. And I got the same feeling from The Awakening. I felt th Bear with me: I felt that it was hammering the nails into the coffin of a genre - the genre of novels that end the way Awakening ends, which is sortof a startling lot of books. With this mixture of irritation and love - "I'm sick to death of this stupid story" but also, "And here's one more great story.

It didn't work either. But A for effort! We all got it coming, kid. I hated this book. I didn't necessarily enjoy it throughout, but when I got to the end, and saw how she ended it all, I was so mad! She is spoiled and selfish--her children may have grieved her loss, but they were better off without a self-absorbed trollop like herself in their lives.

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