(no subject)

I'm looking for a word that connotes sensuality with a sense of slowness, of fullness, of weight. Fulgent sounds like it should mean what I want, but it doesn't. I need a word that is like a ripe fruit, heavy and hanging low on the branch, dense flesh under a taut skin. When I find that word, then I'll be able to perfectly describe The Awakening. It's a sultry book, suffused with the heat of the New Orleans summer. Chopin's writing is full of sense details, and she uses them to evoke the world of her story with tremendous effectiveness. I find it so easy to imagine her characters on their island, dressed in white, moving about slowly in the heat...

I'm only about halfway through the book, but I like it. It's very different than I thought it would be. I don't feel particularly strongly about any of the characters at this point, although there are moments in which I identify with Edna. And her burgeoning connection with Robert feels strong and very real. I'm sorry that they are all about to leave the island where they've been summering, but I'm interested to see if Kate Chopin can maintain the dream-like tone of her narrative once her characters have returned to New Orleans.