The Awakening
- 218
- Pages
- about 4 h
- Reading time
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Our view
“The Awakening” is a short, plainly written novel that hits harder than its size suggests. It follows Edna, a wife and mother in late nineteenth-century Louisiana who stops fitting the life expected of her. Some readers are exasperated by her choices, and some dislike the ending while granting that the book calls for it.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
The Awakening is a novel by Kate Chopin, first published on 22 April 1899. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast at the end of the 19th century, the plot centers on Edna Pontellier and her struggle between her increasingly unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. It is one of the earlier American novels that focuses on women's issues utilizing narrative techniques. It is also widely seen as a landmark work of early feminism, generating a mixed reaction from contemporary readers and critics.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 7.1 across 408 ratings — not yet many, so the reader vote carries 74% of the weight and the rest pulls toward the Classics average of 7.7. That is how 7.3 comes out.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 7.1 | 39 | 10% |
| Google Books | 7.0 | 44 | 11% |
| Hardcover | 7.1 | 325 | 80% |
Frequently asked
How long is The Awakening?
It has 218 pages — shorter than 71% of the ranked books in Classics.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Classics — with scores between 7.2 and 7.3, closest to this book.
