Goodreads Synopsis: Hannah Payne's life has been devoted to church and family. But after she's convicted of murder, she awakens to a nightmarish new life. She finds herself lying on a table in a bare room, covered only by a paper gown, with cameras broadcasting her every move to millions at home, for whom observing new Chromes--criminals whose skin color has been genetically altered to match the class of their crime--is a sinister form of entertainment. Hannah is a Red for the crime of murder. The victim, says the state of Texas, was her unborn child, and Hannah is determined to protect the identity of the father, a public figure with whom she shared a fierce and forbidden love.
A powerful reimagining of The Scarlet Letter, When She Woke is a timely fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of the not-to-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated, and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned but chromed and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah knowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith and love.
My Confession: I'm a big advocate of modernizing classic literature, as long as it's done tastefully and gives a proper nod to the original. When She Woke intrigued me because of the author's clever realization that The Scarlet Letter could not be reimagined in our society today. Adultery and pregnancy outside of marriage is hardly noteworthy (unless you're MTV or Bravo) and they're both a far cry from what we deem criminal acts. So instead, Hillary Jordan sets her story in a manic, superficial, dystopian universe where the church has become the state. With the infamous Roe v. Wade case overturned, Hannah's abortion turns criminal, and she's punished with the heinous act of chroming--the resolution to high prison expenses. She's sentenced to spend almost 20 years as a red-skinned outcast, her normal life stripped away forever.
The themes of self-discovery were very prominent in this story. It's not just about how Hannah comes to terms with life as a Chrome; we also watch her re-evaluate and question the once-undeniable "truths" that she was brought up to accept without hesitation. The institution of organized religion takes a beating as Jordan shows us a society where religious extremists run the government. Elements of The Scarlet Letter permeate, like Hannah's lover, a prominent and married minister whose image is put in jeopardy when Hannah discovers her pregnancy. And while Hannah drifts from Hester in that she terminates the pregnancy, she does name a hand-sewn doll "Pearl," after her unborn daughter. There are also many times when the story drifts far into its own world and farther away from the one created by Nathaniel Hawthorne. But that's okay--When She Woke becomes about more than the forbidden romance that causes Hannah's pregnancy. It analyzes a world that has truly lost sight of humanity. The concept of "justice" involves breaking a person into madness and destroying the individuality that causes imperfections as well as independent thinking. The picture painted is eye-opening and graphically realistic. I kept compulsively looking at my arms to wonder what would happen if they were suddenly red instead of olive. What would happen to my self-worth, my identity.
I'll admit to not being a fan of every plot twist and turn. The lesbian relationship at the end of the novel didn't really have a place, and I felt that it was thrown into the story for shock value rather than substance. The story is very heavy on its own, and I don't think the addition of Hannah's sexual encounter with another woman adds anything to her character development--in fact, I think it stunts and undermines it. This relationship lacks sincerity and believability, comes out of nowhere, and disappears just as quickly. It just didn't gel with the story as a whole, which was not centered on Hannah's sexuality, despite her pregnancy and illicit affair. Just when you think Hannah has figured out who she is and what she wants, we're confused all over again by her actions.
Recommendation: All in all, I found this to be a worthwhile Nook purchase. It reads well and tackles some deep and spooky questions about where our society is headed. I just wish it had finished as strong as it started.
Rating: 3.3/5
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