Kate Chopin’s Novel

From The Mirror IX, May 4, 1899.
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Because we admire Kate Chopin’s other work immensely and delight in her ever growing fame and are proud that she is ‘one-of-us St. Louisans,’ one dislikes to acknowledge a wish that she had not written her novel. Not because it is not bright with her own peculiar charm of style, not because there is missing any touch of effect or lacking any beauty of description—but—well, it is one of the books of which we feel ‘cui bono?’ It absorbs and interests, then makes one wonder, for the moment, with a little sick feeling, if all women are like this one, and that isn’t a pleasant reflection after you have thoroughly taken in this character study whose ‘awakening’ gives title to Mrs. Chopin’s novel ... what an ugly, cruel, loathsome monster Passion can be when, like a tiger, it slowly stretches its graceful length and yawns and finally awakens ... she realizes that something is due to her children, that she cannot get away from, and she is too weak to face the issue ... There is no fault to find with the telling of the story, there are no blemishes in its art, but it leaves one sick of human nature and so one feels—cui bono!