Hillary Jordan

In the future, abortion has become a crime as a series of events threatens the existence of the United States. One woman wakes up to discover that her skin color has been changed to red as punishment for having the procedure done. Now she must embark on a dangerous journey in order to find refuge from a hostile and threatening society.

A Novel

When She Woke

Jessica Ford

I really enjoyed this book, although I think I would give it more a 3.5 stars. There were a lot of typos, which is very distracting to me. I liked the character of Hannah a lot, and her spunky friend, Kayla. It's scary to think this kind of penal system could become a possibility. Not enough funding for prisons, so brand the criminals and set them free. Very scary thought. I think the end of the book was a little abrupt, but I would recommend it nonetheless.

Celeste Richardson

Warning: Due to the heavy religious tone of the book, this review is going to be religious in nature and will in large part be a discussion of my faith. If you’re offended by this, please feel free to skip reading this particular review.


Some books disturb you psychologically. For authors like King and Koontz and Barker, that psychological fear is their bread and butter, and many of us will pay good money to be frightened. But then there are the books that disturb you on a moral level. A spiritual level. And often, though I’m sure not always, these books are not written with marketing in mind. These books are written because the author has something to say and will burst if they don’t get to vent their anger and concern and fear onto paper, and it doesn’t really matter to them if no one ever reads a word of it. But books like this, like 1984 and The Scarlet Letter, Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451 and The Handmaid's Tale, will always be picked up but a like-minded reader and passed on to like-minded friends, and perhaps even friends whose minds have rusted shut at the hinges, hinges that creak open reluctantly with every page they read. Because the unknown is always questioned and feared, and what greater unknown is there than the future? If we read to know that we’re not alone, we also read (and write) to know that we’re not alone in our questions and our fears.

When She Woke disturbed me on a moral and spiritual level. Here is a society where religion is king, and has begun to mandate law. I’m a Christian. I believe that God is real, that He created everything that exists, that He is involved in our lives, that He sent His Son to die so we could have freedom and eternity, that life is sacred, that I have been blessed beyond measure, that He has been there with me in my darkest hours and that I will never have to suffer anything alone. I believe all these things with all of my heart. And yet the only thing that scares me as much as a world where religion is outlawed is a world in which religion is THE law. God created us with free will, with the inalienable right to choose for ourselves whether or not we will follow Him, and that’s a right that no government on earth should have the power to take away. To quote the book itself:

“You don’t have to stop thinking and asking questions to believe in God, child. If He’d wanted a flock of eight billion sheep, He wouldn’t have given us opposable thumbs, much less free will.”

I’m not going to get into the plot of the book itself here, though I will say that the comparison made on the back cover claiming the story is “The Scarlet Letter by way of The Handmaid’s Tale” is completely accurate. It was a well-written, thought provoking story that will stick with you long after you finish the last page, and I’m glad I read it. I will say, however, that this book made me incredibly sad. Please be aware that this was not Christian fiction, but is instead a book that portrays Christianity as one of its villains. It’s hard to see your faith twisted in such a way that it ruins the lives of others, even if those lives and others are fictional. Christians can be some of the most unforgiving and judgmental people on the planet, which has to infuriate Jesus. He spent His time with fishermen and tax collectors and prostitutes and beggars, with the poor and the broken and those rejected by society. He was despised by those who should have recognized Him, and He died for it. Thankfully, that death couldn’t hold Him and He rose again three days later, but that doesn’t negate the pain and torment He endured at the hands of the very people He had come to save. And if He had chosen to come a couple thousand years later, I think He would have met the same fate; it just would have been televised. Todd Agnew wrote in one of his songs that “My Jesus would never be accepted in my church; the blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet.” Harsh, but true. 

Jesus told His disciples on the night of His arrest, “A new commandment I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 34-35) THAT is supposed to be how the world knows we’re Christians. Not by the words we spout or the bumper stickers on our cars or the way we look down our noses at others. And I hope and I pray every single day that people see the love of Jesus in me when I interact with them, not judgement or hatred. Because Jesus doesn’t hate. God doesn’t hate. God is love. And if we remember this, if we do our best each day to live this, then the future forecast in this book will never become a reality.

For more of my reviews, as well as my own fiction and thoughts on life, check out my blog, Celestial Musings.

Helene Utterback

The first half of this book was incredible, but the last half completely falls apart. And when a certain scene occurs, it comes without warning or precedent, and doesn't make much sense. If I was rating only the first half, it would be a solid 4 or even 5 stars.

Bellwether Prize winner Hillary Jordan’s provocative new novel, When She Woke, tells the story of a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated but chromed—their skin color is genetically altered to match the class of their crimes—and then released back into the population to survive as best they can. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder. In seeking a path to safety in an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly embarks on a path of self-discovery that forces her to question the values she once held true and the righteousness of a country that politicizes faith.

Okay, I slept on it and thought about it a lot. 2.5 stars, rounded down because it makes me mad how much potential this book had.

The reason I'm conflicted about this book is because it had SUCH potential. The concept was really interesting and I found some of the themes really compelling. It got super ham-fisted at times though and ultimately I found that it wasn't as progressive as the author may have been going for.

First, the positives:

+ The concept: abortion is illegal, and to have one done is akin to murder. The offenders are "chromed" red and sent back out into the world (thankfully, it seems most real murderers with a likelihood of offending again are kept in prison). The country is basically run by religious zealots, and it's a pretty sobering look into the future as the religious right gets more and more radicalized.

+ The Straight Path (halfway house) scenes: quite disturbing, but I felt totally immersed in the book during these times. Again, it ties in with the concept, as I could totally see these kinds of places existing in the future. It also reminded me of gay conversion houses, like the one in But I'm a Cheerleader.

+ There were some other interesting things introduced in the first half of the novel, like The Fist and other fringe groups. I really would've liked more expansion on this.

The negatives:

- The world-building was lackluster after a certain point. It started out great, but I quickly got frustrated with the author randomly mentioning the LA bombing and a bombing in Texas with absolutely no explanation. Were these abortion clinic bombings? Random other bombings? Who knows?!

- Some of the chroming concepts introduced make no sense. For example, pedophiles (and I think other sexual assaultists/rapists) are chromed blue? WHY ARE THESE PEOPLE NOT LOCKED UP FOREVER? Also, I find it interesting that abortion is treated as a second-degree murder, but this isn't so much a criticism of the book as it is of the people who think abortion is murder. If it's so murderous, why isn't it first-degree? Well, because these idiots KNOW it's not as bad as first-degree. So that was a bit of a fun thing to think about while reading. I did find the chroming concept interesting, but I do find it a bit too hard to believe in this context. It's just a bit too out there for me to totally buy, though I am curious about some of the ins and outs of how it's sentenced, what falls under which color, etc.

- The second half jumps around SO much, from one scene to the next. The author really needs to learn to show and not tell. At one pivotal moment, (view spoiler)[Hannah and Kayla are kidnapped and drugged, and Hannah slips into the void at the end of the chapter. At the start of the next chapter, she's with Simone and Simone explains that she killed the kidnappers and saved her. The book isn't in first person, so WHY wasn't this shown?? (hide spoiler)] So much of the action in the second half was rushed and not fully fleshed out. It's as if the author got tired of the book and just tried getting it over with as quickly as possible, hitting the high points.

- Some of the side characters that you spend a good amount of the book with are totally shafted. (view spoiler)[How the hell can you end the book without Kayla re-entering the picture?? All we know is that Paul went to find her, and Hannah hopes he succeeded and they'll find each other in Canada. I NEED MORE CLOSURE!! Also, so I guess she just dgaf about her sister still being w/ her abusive husband? What about her poor dad? They get a line or two of her thoughts towards the end, but I still feel really cheated. (hide spoiler)] Again, it's like the author just got lazy and decided not to revisit that stuff.

- I really wish Aidan wasn't as big a factor as he was. The first half was mostly strong, but I did get bored with all the flashbacks of how they met and started seeing each other. I didn't care about him or their romance, I wanted to know about the political climate and that stuff. Also, I hate him.

- Frankly, there was too much God talk. It was fine in the first half, as Hannah was raised in a conservative Christian household and she had a lot of unlearning to do. In fact, some of this unlearning was well-written, where she actually stops and asks herself "why do I think this? Just because I've been told to!" so she learns to think for herself. Okay great. But the second half was so stuffed with God talk (especially one scene that tbh I just skimmed over) that I lost interest. Okay, I get it, she's learning to still believe in God while unlearning the toxic shit. Awesome, good for her. But what about the actual plot?

- THAT SCENE that so many reviewers bash. Honestly, I was excited at first that (view spoiler)[she was unlearning her homophobia enough to explore her feelings with Simone. However, it quickly became clear that she saw it as some kind of experiment or ~cleansing herself of her homophobia by sleeping w/ Simone. Then she immediately runs to Aidan! I'm bisexual, obviously she could truly be bi and have feelings for both, but this was not written well at all and was extremely poorly handled if that's the case. Also, when she started caressing Simone's face, Simone said "stop!" multiple times but Hannah didn't! And then Simone just goes with it. It didn't ~seem rapey since Simone asked "are you sure you want this?" in a way that sounded like she wanted to do it, but it still doesn't sit right with me that Hannah continued touching her when Simone told her not to, especially considering Simone had just told Hannah about her history of having been raped in the past. Just...so much nope. (hide spoiler)] And the fact that this mess was nominated for a Lambda for Lesbian General Fiction really pisses me off.

- The whole ending was a rushed mess and the ending was incredibly anticlimactic. Really, the whole second half should've been expanded to allow for more detail, more showing instead of telling, etc but the ending REALLY shows that. As much as I hate when people stretch out a story into multiple books when it's not needed, I think it was needed here. It should be a duology.

As I wrote this review, I kept lowering my rating lol. I knew I felt disquieted when I finished reading it, but I'm actually mad now haha. Can't wait to discuss this book with my mom tomorrow at Christmas dinner, because she's the one who told me to read it!

Yoomi

When I first started this book, I couldn't put it down. It is a fascinating look into a future when prisons are overcrowded and the Scourge has rendered many women infertile. Extreme measures are taken to save the human race, one of them being the reversal of Rov vs. Wade. In this "remake" of The Scarlet Letter, Hannah Payne (Hester Prynne) has committed not only adultery but gotten pregnant and had an abortion. While the premise of the crime and punishment was chilling, Hannah's journey quickly becomes a winding path of absurdity, twisted with lessons in Christian faith, love and lust, and the consequences of (or lack of) free will. 

It's difficult not to take this book personally when it delves so deeply into religious beliefs, capital punishment, abortion and adultery. These are not issues that separate many people. For this reason, I think it can be difficult to straddle the line between preaching and story-telling. I'm not sure where this book falls and often felt frustrated because of it. Worse, the last 60 pages or so felt rushed and underdeveloped. After everything Hannah had struggled against and fought for, it felt too easy. I was disappointed. The story is a compelling one and I enjoyed it. Just not enough to recommend it to everyone.

Casie Blevins

I was just expecting more, I guess. It wasnt bad, it just didnt reach its full potential. I was still waiting for the dangerous scary journey when it was over.

Elad Schulman

The first half of the book was definitely better than the second half. I had to skim a large part of the last 50 or so pages.

Michael Hessling

Started off like a Scarlet Letter clone, but sure changed in a hurry! The ending was very rushed.

Jen Baron

Sam Gonzalez

In the future, abortion has become a crime as a series of events threatens the existence of the United States. One woman wakes up to discover that her skin color has been changed to red as punishment for having the procedure done. Now she must embark on a dangerous journey in order to find refuge from a hostile and threatening society

When She Woke A Novel

Reviews