The best thing about this book was that it was short and free on my kindle. It might make for interesting discussion,but overall it bored me to tears. The worst part was not even realizing it had ended because it was combined in with a book of short stories. I'm sure that there are feminists out there who would applaud this early exploration into feminism, but I'm not one of them!

*I'm adding to my review that this book DID make for an excellent discussionwithin our club. As I've often heard, there is a difference between a good book and a good Book Club Discussion book. This definitely falls into the later category. Our club went nutty and discussed it thoroughly and with lively debate. While I personally didn't care for the book, it did rate quite highly overall from our members - so I would recommend it to other clubs.

So I would recommend it to book clubs only because there would be so much to discuss. This was a hard book to read. I had a list of at least 25 words that I had to look up just to make sense of what I was reading. Written so long ago and in the Queen's english that it was hard to make sense of sometimes. Very depressing! It is supposedly the first of it's kind, in that it is the first book written about a woman wanting to make decisions of her own and to live her own life. Feminism at it's youngest!

the story of one woman's search for personal freedom. written in 1899 it was far ahead of its time and aroused a storm of controversy. I always have difficulty reading older books or classics. This one was easier to read. While it was not the most exciting book I've read, you do have to appreciate the subject matter and how the author follows it , for a book written in 1899. Although i can't agree with the descriptions some give it. Examples: I would not describe it as a "passionate physical love affair" - I didn't get that from the writing. Some other reviews find the main character self centered and believe she had other options - not so sure she did in that time frame. Would make for good discussion in a book group.