The Awakening Audiobook By Kate Chopin cover art

The Awakening

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The Awakening

By: Kate Chopin
Narrated by: Shelly Frasier
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Edna Pontellier is married, twenty-eight, and at a crossroads in her life. She is passionate and artistic but has no one who understands her deep yearnings. She jumps at the chance to spend a summer away from her husband and the heat of New Orleans at a small coastal retreat.

Enveloped by a small circle of friends, she begins to throw off the strictures of the 1890s bourgeoisie. Stepwise, Edna renounces her obligations, takes a lover, and is propelled on a course that frees, consumes, and eventually destroys her.

In what was to be her last novel, Kate Chopin shocked the audiences of her day by depicting a woman being fulfilled by throwing off the ties of marriage and children.

Please note: This is a historical recording. The audio quality represents the technology of the time when it was produced.

(P)2005 Tantor Media, Inc. Women's Fiction Classics Scary
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Critic reviews

"Interesting and timely...Chopin's oracular feminism and prophetic psychology almost outweigh her estimable literary talents." (Newsweek)
Thought-provoking Story • Relatable Character • Excellent Accent • Independent Edna • Lyrical Writing • Perfect Dialect

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Sometimes you think you want your freedom but it turns out to be worse than it was before. Freedom is a relative thing, and as the old saying goes, freedom isn’t free. You have to pay the price. It is a trade off. I just watched the movie about Charles Dickens’ writing A Christmas Carol, called The Man Who Invented Christmas. Charles’ father was no paragon of virtue, but he had some pretty cool sayings, one of which went something like this: No one is without value who brings joy to someone else. That is a paraphrase, but it gives the general idea. So very few people get a perfect life. Most people, in the end, would have to say, “my life turned out quite different than I expected it to.” Most of us have to settle for bringing joy to another person, in spite of our own discomfort, at least to a point. It is sad that Edna could not see that. It is too bad she could not be content with loving her children, being a good wife to her husband, and bringing joy to others.

On the other hand, her life would have been much better and happier if her husband had treated her better, and not like a commodity. I think he really loved her but had no idea how to treat her. There are always two ways to look at it, for sure. But when all is said and done, our own happiness is up to us. I know this novel was written at the very beginning of the feminist movement and was shocking at the time. Edna took some shocking steps away from the traditional role of wife and mother, but did it make her any happier? I don’t think so. So where is the balance? That is the question.

The narrator was ok, but sometimes her southern accent made me think it was listening to Dep’ty Dawg.

Freedom isn’t free

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i enjoyed the pronunciation as well as the voices the reader portrayed for every character

very nice.

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This recording of “The Awakening” contains a constant thrumming hum in the background of the recording. It ruins what could be a decent recording.

An absolutely awful recording of a classic

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The story is ok (very 19th century) and I like the narrator's voice, but the quality of the production is really bad. There's a constant background noise, quite loud, similar to white noise, that is present from beginning to end.

The quality of the recording is awful

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This will always be one of my favorite stories. Also the narration isnt bad as some of the other reviews claim, however I don't know French so I am unbothered by the pronunciations of French words and whether they're correct or incorrect.

A Classic

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