When She Woke

An Incredible Read!!!

Hannah is a grown woman living in a society where crimes are punishable by discoloration of the skin. They are referred to as Chromes, and after being convicted of murdering her unborn child, Hannah wakes up to find herself bright red. She anticipated that her life would change, but she could never have seen just how hard living as a Chrome would become. Enemies can be disguised as friends. Trust is a commodity. But Hannah finds a kindred soul in Kayla, another Red, and together these two women set out through dark times to save themselves and each other.

I tore through this book at breakneck speed. The first chapter left me breathless and there was no turning back from there. Every time I had to put down the book and step away, my mind couldn't stop lingering on Hannah's story and craving more. This novel is a very scary vision of society's future, both dark and eerily plausible. I felt Hannah's struggles keenly, and didn't want to trust the people she met, even when she did. Hillary Jordan fills her characters with heart-breaking dialog and gut-wrenching descriptions. I really liked that everyone had their own personal story of difficult decisions, always lurking just below the surface until spoken out loud. There were a few questions that lingered in my mind, like whatever became of Hannah's sister? But Jordan has made me think about ugly and beautiful things, and I will not soon forget this incredible read.

16 out of 16 people found this review helpful.

Good Until...

A great read until the author decides to go on several liberal rants. Ugh. Keep your politics to yourself and finish the book...

11 out of 26 people found this review helpful.

A thought provoking page-turner!

Jordan's protagonist Hannah Payne has the reader pulling for her from page one. She faces seemingly unconquerable odds: she has been chromed red for aborting her child, which is visible to all; her family has abandoned her, and she must make her way in a hostile, unforgiving world. Her naivete threatens to sink her, but her remarkable courage and desire to keep from harming the ones she loves fortify her, keeping the reader bound in the spell of her harrowing adventure.
Hannah's epic journey enables her to know herself; no longer is
she merely a product of what society and her family have taught her.
Jordan creates a riveting journey of a young woman who not only survives the demons created by herself and the state but who is self-actualized by the process.
Hannah Payne is a memorable character brought to life by Jordan's insight and skill as a writer. This book will probably create a stir because of its political and religious subject matter,which is exactly what a good book should accomplish. When She Woke would make a perfect book club book; the opportunities for discussion are many.

Highly Recommended

8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

The Scarlet Letter meets The Handmaid's Tale meets women's rights

The imagery in Hillary Jordan's When She Woke is phenomenal. The world is painted so vividly that reading the book, one feels as if they are in a world where certain people of various ages and races are a primary color based on a certain crime they may have committed.

I don't like to give away plot lines in reviews, but I really loved the journey that Red Hannah Payne went through. From getting an abortion and being confined to a new color (Red) to an escape that would take her anywhere and everywhere she never imagined, finding allies in those she never would have trusted, and finding attraction in places she never would have looked.

The only part I did not enjoy was the immense longing for the unobtainable man that I found unreasonable, but that is quite possibly a personal bias.

Where the journey took her from "when she woke" as a Red to "when she woke" reborn was a mix of The Scarlet Letter and the confinement of The Handmaid's Tale. There was a significant amount of women's rights and religious subtext, but was not over-the-top.

Highly recommended.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Exciting and Engaging! A must read!

When She Woke is a dystopian themed adult fiction inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. And like Hawthorne's book, the main character, Hannah Payne, is publicly condemned and ostracized for her perceived crime and forced to wear scarlet as a badge of shame, yet refuses to name the man who responsible for her pregnancy. When She Woke also explores similar themes of religion, adultery, and criminality as did The Scarlet Letter.

After being convicted of murdering her unborn child, Hannah goes through a process called melachroming which entails a convicted criminal having their skin color altered to announce the type of crime they committed. She wakes to find herself in a solitary room with only a shower, sleeping platform, and a camera in the wall that will, for her first thirty days as a "Chrome," monitor and broadcast her every move to the entire world.

The dystopian society was one of extreme religious conservatism and the one aspect of this that almost didn't fit for me was that in such an almost Puritanical society, would they really rely so heavily on technology? Otherwise, imagining a society built on the tenets of extreme fundamentalistic Christian beliefs was downright frightening. Hannah was forced to contend with her guilt over making choices that not only went against every principal she had been taught to believe in her strict evangelical upbringing, but also put her in the untenable position of losing her friends, family, reputation, and possibly her own life. She struggled to reconcile her actions with her religious beliefs and wondered if she would ever feel a connection to God again.

I found When She Woke to be extremely thought provoking. The idea of melachroming intrigued me. There is some part of me that is not fully convinced that this is such a bad idea as it would effectively punish the criminal through public humiliation yet save the state the expense of housing all but the most violent offenders. In the book, there was a lower life expectancy for some crimes or "colors" such as Red (murderers) and Greens (Child Molesters) while those convicted of less serious crimes (Yellows) were less feared and hated but still ostracized. Right or wrong, it was certainly a fascinating concept to consider.

With all of the heavy and thought provoking themes in When She Woke, it still managed to be an exciting and engaging read. I devoured this book in just one day, unable to put it down. I knew before the first hundred pages that I wouldn't be getting any sleep that night until I finished it. It sinks its hooks in early and never lets go as it takes you on an action packed and emotionally stirring journey. When She Woke takes a fairly clear stance on the topic of abortion, however, I don't believe it was presented in such a biased way that those who differ in their beliefs would be unable to enjoy it. When She Woke presents the story from a clearly feminist perspective and this may be off-putting for some but I found it to be an inspiring story about the struggle from oppression to empowerment. This will definitely be shelved with my all time favorites. I would recommend this to fans of dystopian themed fiction, those who enjoyed the Handmaids Tale or The Scarlet Letter, and those who enjoy fiction that focuses on socially relevant issues.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Frightening!

This haunting story grabs you on the first page and won't let go. Some may be adversed to the pro-choice storyline with heavy social issues. The many social and religious explorations Hannah’s world insists on makes survival challenging. Hannah evolves nicely but not without much struggle with her faith, aborting her baby, and losing love. She knows that life as she knew it will never be the same again. Her journey is frightening and will either bring God back into her heart of she could lose her life. There is a lot of graphic detail in this dark futuristic time period with a whole new set of rules. A sexually transmitted disease has killed off most of the world’s population and because of it the world has reverted back to historical Puritanical living…women are once again dominated by men, clothes covering there whole bodies, seldom getting out of their houses. Rather than jail, crime is punishable by chroming which alters the color of their skin to reflect the crime and as a result are ostracized by everyone. Very scary but what an imagination!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A modern retelling of "The Scarlet Letter"

This book was great, but it seems to just be a modern, "dumbed down" version of "The Scarlet Letter." The similarities between the two books include: (1) symbolism of the color red; (2) the initials of both book's main characters "H.P."; and, (3) in TSL Hester's baby is named "Pearl,' in WSW, Hannah remarks that she wold have named her baby "Pearl"). Overall, the book was a quick, easy read; however, I give it only 3 stars because of the author's undisguised and unrecognized reliance upon Nathaniel Hawthorne for her story-line.

3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

A good short story

I purchased this book for my nook app for my daughter but I read everything she reads first usually. I thought this was a good story with some very good ideas and thoughts in it. If it could have been longer so as to flesh everything out more I would have given it 5 stars.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Nothing special

Intial it showed promise but that quickly faded for me. It went off on weird tangents & had issues that were left hanging. Author definitely added aspects for "shock value" & some things were just left totally unexplained. Don't waste your precious reading time on this one!

2 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Great book, ending didn't do it for me

The book overall was great but the ending just felt like it didn't fit with the rest of the book. But overall I loved it and highly recommend it.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

When She Woke is a Great Read

I really enjoyed reading When She Woke by Hillary Jordan. Once I got into the story I couldn't put it down. The characters were believeable and the main characters, Heather and Kayla were likeable and grew as the story progressed. I loved how the story progressed and hope that she will write a sequel to this novel.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A Primer for What Happens Under Neoconservative Rule

Think it can't happen here? Think again. This is what happens when citizens sit back and allow radical conservative candidates to gain control. Hannah reminds us of the importance of struggling to remain human and evolving from the bonds of fudamentalism. This is a must read, especially in today's teavangelically charged climate.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Interesting read

Loved the book! Very interesting insight into religion and its unavoidable intersection with politics. It's a disturbing perspective, but I loved it.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Easy read.

Excellent concept, ending seems somewhat premature and blase.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Church anyone??

Holy jeez this book was like a sermon. The politics didnt bother me nearly as much as the preaching. I realize shes not preaching AT the audience, but Im an athiest and I felt like i was attending church.

had its moments... had its off moments. the ending left a few things hanging though i think.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Recommended - pretty interesting read

Explosive beginning...couldn't put it down! Found it a bit anticlimactic but still proved to be an interesting book overall. Turned out to be a good conversation starter as it addresses several societal issues. Short and a quick read I would definitely recommend this book, in fact already have!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Blah

Too political and religious. Took away from the book . The one part after she got out of the cgrome eard could hsve been cut completely.

1 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Good but a little preachy

This is a good book if you like futuristic dystopia books (which i really do). The imagery and writing is good, although a little long-winded at times. It's good despite the fact that it is quite preachy about religion and abortion. Even though i agree with a lot of the ideas in the book, i think i would have enjoyed the book more without all the politics,or at least have the politics hidden a little better.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Page turner!

Couldn't put it down. Great read, but rushed ending. Left me wanting more.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Ehh...

I wanted to like this book. The premise sounded very interesting and promising, but truth be told, I abandonned the book about a third of the way through.

I'm a huge Margaret Atwood fan and looked forward to a different take on women's rights in a disutopian society. Hillary Jordan tries very hard to emmulate Ms. Atwood...but she fails miserably. While Atwood is able to subtly describe and reinforce the nightmare of living in a conservative disutopia, Jordan fails to exhibit this skill. Where Atwood uses a scalpel to 'disect' her world, Jordan attacks hers with a sledgehammer. The Religious Right seems to be a character all its own, and a rather flat, 2-dimensional character at that. While I sympathisize with Jordan's evident dislike of the Religious Right, her clear bias weakens any message she was trying to communicate.

While the plot sounded promising, it fails to deliver. Jordan has relied on the thoughts and successes of greater authors, namely Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Atwood, to carry her story. But not even the insightful prose of these litterary greats could support Jordan's attempt.

If you are looking for deep, thought-provoking litterature, keep looking. I strongly suggest Margaret Atwood. If, however, you are looking for simplistic fiction, look no further than When She Woke.