When She Woke Book Review *Hillary Jordan*

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan is one scary book. It shows why religion, specifically the radical aspect of it can be damaging. When She Woke hit me hard up to a certain point because I grew up in a very traditional Catholic home and abided by these rules taught by my parents and my teachers. We were not only taught the fire and brimstone version of the bible, but also the beauty and peaceful side that I prefer to believe in. When She Woke shows the bad side and is a very subjective story for the reader because of the topic of religion and how it can be important to a person’s life. Some allow religion and their faith to make them what they are, while others aren’t so consumed by their faith and use it in ways they see fit. This is one book I can see many talking about for years to come, but unfortunately the explosive bang in their first half deflates and leads to a very disappointing ending.

When She Woke is a futuristic take on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, which is one book everyone must read at some point in their lives. The Dystopian setting is where religion has become an integral part of government. It’s a very fanatical world Hannah Payne lives in. Hannah is one who accepts her faith much like her parents and sister, but likes to question it. An example is when she was a child, she asked a question about Noah’s Ark and why there were no dinosaurs on it. Her mother thinks it’s wrong for her to ask such questions and should take everything their religion is at face value. She can’t understand this line of logic, and silently defies her mother, although her father is more reasonable.

In this world, if a person has committed a crime, they aren’t incarcerated. Their punishment deals with their skin being melachromed for the length of their sentence. If you’re a convicted child molester, you’re blue, a drug addict or those who commit lesser crimes are yellow and a murderer is red. Hannah has become a red when the novel opens. She has been convicted of murder by aborting her unborn child, which is illegal. She refused to name the father because she wishes to protect him. Hannah broke one of God’s laws and had an affair with a married man, the Reverend Aidan Dale, who's the secretary of the faith under the president of the United States. Aidan, who was her first lover. She couldn’t live with herself if she outed him and since she had no other solution, she aborted her baby.

Now as a Chrome, Hannah is not only ostracized by her family, but society. She also questions God, who she feels has left her not because of the actions she took, but with Aidan, who she now believes never loved her to begin with. She’s all alone and scared. But then she’s given a way to escape and start again with no judgment. Hannah meets an underground group of people who are against the government and how they use religion to control people. They want to help Hannah because they believe in a woman’s right to choose about her own body and not fall victim to what society feels is morally correct. Hannah has no other choice but to trust these strangers and hope for the best.

When She Work is a chilling read and shows perfectly why separation of church and state is very important. I can’t even imagine living in this world. It brings to light all the wrongs of what religion and faith is about. Religion, such as the one shown in this book, shouldn’t be used as discipline and as a threat. That’s what’s used by cults and fanatically groups. Religious faith is what YOU make of it regardless of what the bible or the religious higher powers may decree.

The first half of When She Woke is gripping and suspenseful. I really had doubts about Hannah. I didn’t expect her to survive. She’s unfortunately naive because of her upbringing. I totally understood her fears and the heartbreaking decision she made concerning her pregnancy. She will be haunted by her actions for the rest of her life. Some may think Aidan is weak, but he’s a man caught in a situation of his own making he can’t escape. He turns to Hannah for some sense of relief and contentment while feeling shame for breaking the bonds of matrimony.

There are two big issues I couldn’t get passed and made When She Woke a less powerful read than I thought it would be. Hannah is looking for love and acceptance. She comes across as greedy in this aspect. If she’s with someone who will love her, she’ll be complete and whole. She relies on people way too much. Again, I think this is because of her upbringing, but I felt her instinct and will to survive rang false. She doesn’t know who she is and what she wants. Based on her internal musings, she’s in dire need of direction and not even the divine hand of God can help her. She looks for signs from God, anything to point her in the right path. God has become her crutch and I found that annoying and paints her in an unsympathetic light. The point of having God (or so I believe) is to make one a stronger person who looks within themselves for strength.

The second issue, which is a spoiler, is where Hannah has a lesbian sexual experience with one of the women who help her. This encounter comes out of nowhere because at no time during the course of the novel are we led to believe that Hannah is attracted to women. I couldn’t figure out what the point of this scene was. Was it to show how intimacy in any form, regardless of it being with a man and woman, is right and beautiful? If so, I’ve missed the point here.

When She Woke makes some valid arguments and really is a thought provoking novel. But when all was said and don’t, I think it went on too long and the final outcome wasn’t as profound as it should have been. (Algonquin Books)

Final Grade: C+

A few other When She Woke reviews:
Bookalicious
Sophisticated Dorkiness
Washington Post