Awakeningby Kate Chopin
This is the story of one woman’s quest for meaning written in 1899 by a before-her-time feminist. Unfortunately, before the protagonist finds any meaning the author gets her into so much trouble that the only way to dispose of her is to let her commit suicide. This causes a rather abrupt and hopeless end to a shallow romance novel. It was a scandal at the time it was written and some think that Chopin never really recovered as an author from the set back of publishing such sensational or sensuous work. One community reviewer concluded that the emptiness of the novel centered on "a picture of wasted lives, people with no concerns other than themselves." She says her 17-year-old granddaughter described the book as "a boring book about boring people leading boring lives."
Be sure to read C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man about literary criticism.
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