Look, I know. I understand. I am an English major. I get the historical background and the publishing realities and blah de blah de blah-blah. I understand why the story ends the way it does. That doesn't make it a good ending or even the right ending.

I loved this book from the start right up to the penultimate chapter. The titular awakening is complex, grounded, and masterfully articulated. Edna becomes a real person! It's amazing! And then she throws it all away in what can only be described as a fit of pique. The last chapter blows.

This book should be taught, and it should be taught as a tragedy. Not that the story itself is a tragedy, but the story's conception, context, and publication as a tragedy. We all deserve better than Chopin and The Awakening got, and this novel can serve as a very depressing signpost along the way to getting to that better world.