When She Woke
A Novel
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4.3 • 26 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
In the mid-21st century, a young woman in Texas awakens to a nightmare: her skin has been genetically altered, turned bright red as punishment for the crime of having an abortion.
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-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated, and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated but “chromed” and released back into the population to survive as best they can. In seeking a path northward to safety, through an alien and hostile world, Hannah unknowingly 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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Though she was raised a good Christian, Hannah Payne often asks uncomfortable questions in Jordan's second novel (after Mudbound), such as "Why does God let innocent people suffer?" But questioning authority and breaking Texas law are two different things. Involved with her pastor, Hannah finds herself pregnant; to have the baby would mean publicly naming the father, so Hannah has an abortion. But in this alternate America, three years after the "Great Scourge" turned many women sterile, abortion is illegal, and Hannah is arrested. Her sentence: to live for several years as a "chrome," injected with a virus that turns her skin bright red. Her father finds her refuge in a halfway house for nonviolent chromes of all hues, but Hannah rebels against the abuse she receives in their "enlightenment sessions" and flees into the arms of an underground feminist group whose brutal pragmatism frightens her. But as she falls victim to betrayal after betrayal, Hannah's occasionally jarring na vet begins to break down. Comparisons to The Handmaid's Tale are inevitable; Jordan extrapolates misogynist fundamentalism to a logical endpoint, but she does little else. Characters are political archetypes, the narrative wanders, and even Hannah's transformation from dutiful daughter to take-charge fugitive feels false.
Customer Reviews
When she woke
Dry start, but a great read, and an even better conversation waiting for when you're done.