nglofile's review against another edition
4.0
I'm conflicted. I was fascinated by the premise of this book, and the beginning completely engaged me. On one hand, I appreciated that Jordan didn't attempt to completely mirror Hawthorne's plot, but it would have been interesting to see a few more of the significant elements reinvented here.
However, that isn't the main source of my disappointment. The facet of science fiction that I most appreciate is the exploration of human nature and society through the lens of altered reality. The idea of thinking about abortion, religion, faith, and racism in a new context is intriguing. It seemed, however, to turn from thought-provoking to heavy-handed, and I found myself pulling back as the story took its turns. I would rather have read about Hannah's experiences as a Red in society; instead the story changes into something else entirely.
audiobook note: Well-voiced by Heather Corrigan, who appropriately conveys vulnerability, strength, and conflict.
However, that isn't the main source of my disappointment. The facet of science fiction that I most appreciate is the exploration of human nature and society through the lens of altered reality. The idea of thinking about abortion, religion, faith, and racism in a new context is intriguing. It seemed, however, to turn from thought-provoking to heavy-handed, and I found myself pulling back as the story took its turns. I would rather have read about Hannah's experiences as a Red in society; instead the story changes into something else entirely.
audiobook note: Well-voiced by Heather Corrigan, who appropriately conveys vulnerability, strength, and conflict.
cindypager's review against another edition
4.0
A near-future dystopian tale that is a bit of a modern-day retelling of The Scarlet Letter. Somewhat scary in the current political climate...
One of those audio books that made me take the long way home sometimes :)
One of those audio books that made me take the long way home sometimes :)
csifbi23's review
2.0
Hillary Jordan was ambitious. This book comes across as a religious blend of The Scarlet Letter and A Handmaid's Tale, and a disappointing blend at that. It misses some of the important points of those two books to preserve religion. It fails to fully deliver on many aspects brought forward, and comes across as nearly mind numbingly naive.
Instead of Hester Pryne proudly bearing her punishment, or Offred strength to fight the government, you instead follow Hannah Payne, a very religious seamstress who has an affair and the subsequent abortion leads her to be melachromed. Hannah's jump from devoutly religious to whatever she becomes is very stilted and unnatural. It is unconvincing...
This was ultimately a book that could have covered so much from the struggle between government and religion to looking at racism to the flaws of the justice system. Instead, it focuses on her religious beliefs and a love story that just doesn't make sense. This concept has so much promise and this book failed to deliver.
Instead of Hester Pryne proudly bearing her punishment, or Offred strength to fight the government, you instead follow Hannah Payne, a very religious seamstress who has an affair and the subsequent abortion leads her to be melachromed. Hannah's jump from devoutly religious to whatever she becomes is very stilted and unnatural. It is unconvincing...
This was ultimately a book that could have covered so much from the struggle between government and religion to looking at racism to the flaws of the justice system. Instead, it focuses on her religious beliefs and a love story that just doesn't make sense. This concept has so much promise and this book failed to deliver.
readjacobmeadows's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A riveting retelling of The Scarlet Letter, Hannah’s story is one of hope, trauma, the will to love despite obstacles, and the challenges one faces in their faith. A story for any fan of Atwood or Alderman, this is a book for the masses.
mariposa_ca's review
2.0
This book started with a bang and ended by jumping the shark. Although I really did like the first two-thirds...the way the book ended was such a stinker that, I have to say, I ended up hating the whole thing!
Jordan's opening line, "When she woke, she was red. Not flushed, not sunburned, but the solid, declarative red of a stop sign," grabs a person for sure. She took me by the hand, and I willingly followed, into a Theocratic, futuristic-by-forty-years America. In this Brave New World, jail space is limited due to failing economies so criminals are branded and impregnated with tracking devices, humiliated on national television, and released into society to fend for themselves.
The basic plot, then, is following the main character, Hannah, through this government-determined chain of events. The interactions with her father and sister upon release from the 30-day reality TV imprisonment are poignant, but her time with them is short-lived. Her only escape (besides living in the ghettos for the red-marked) is a stay in a supercalifragically-creepy (yet upscale) convent that has a years-long wait list (how'd she get here again?) where she meets a similarly pigmented best friend. Great illustration of female friendship, great dialogue, great building of suspense and examples of civil disobedience.
Once she leaves the convent, the race through an underground railroad of sorts is breathtakingly edgy, full of twists and turns. However, in the last 75 pages or so, the book devolves in to a resolution of, "I must break from the chains of my religious upbringing by partaking in a lesbian experience, and then dismissing all of the aforementioned conditions of my escape by going to see my ex-boyfriend." Ay yai yai. What really got me in all of this is how Hannah doesn't even have to try when convincing Simone to "let her have the van," and "by-pass all of the next stops along the escape route," Simone's response? "Oh, sure, honey. Why not? (You were an exceptionally good lay?)" What did this horrific plot twist accomplish? Nothing, save for laying waste to all of Jordan's careful descriptions in prior chapters regarding the group's detailed, futuristic, security measures for bringing chromes to freedom.
In the end, it seems as though Jordan herself gives up on the book too. Does anyone else remember the terrible line written for Hannah when she meets Reverend Easter (in the church just down the block from Aiden's cabin)? It goes something like this:
R.E. ...How can such beauty possibly exist without God? And how can we see it and know it's beautiful and be moved by it, without God?
H.P. ...Maybe it's inexplicable, or beyond explanation.
I rest my case.
bibliobethreads's review
2.0
This was definitely a book of two halves. The first half I was completely gripped by and I thought it had tones of Atwood with some intriguing ideas about the dystopian future. By the second half however it felt like I was reading a different book - with an unnecessary and pointless sexual encounter (in my opinion). Its a shame, as I felt this book had a lot of potential.
Please see my full review at http://bibliobeth.wordpress.com
Please see my full review at http://bibliobeth.wordpress.com
greatlibraryofalexandra's review
3.0
This was an interesting experience all around, and I'm reading this review "blind" in that I haven't read anyone else's thoughts, probably because mine ended up being so complex. For most of the novel, I was highly critical and skeptical and was not enjoying it. The references to the abortion as "murder" and "baby-killing" were so cringe-worthy, and seemed so antithetical to the point one would expect a story like this to make. And at first, the constant pining for Aiden, as well as Hannah Payne's warped idea of being honorable by not naming the father, was grating, irritating, and obnoxious. The book started off so weak in so many ways that I was dreading finishing it.
However, I think it became clear as the novel went on that Jordan was attempting to illustrate a tale of Hannah breaking free of the "box" she'd been slammed into by those who had educated her -- namely, her small-minded parents, and the horridly over-religious ultra conservative power system in place. There were many interesting "think piece" parts of the novel, both in terms of religion, and how hard it is to unlearn things we have been taught since childhood, particularly if we are sheltered from any other point of view. In that respect, the book was good, but did not achieve the levels Jordan was probably going for -- I mean, I've read fantasy novels that deal better with unlearning problematic thinking, and these were fantasy novels that weren't even trying to.
It also seemed to have trouble find a cohesive direction. Hannah's physical journey was probably supposed to parallel and even symbolize her intellectual journey, but it often felt jarring and incongruous. Why did we go to see Becca, and find out about the Fist of Christ, only to have that never really come up again? Why did we get taken by one group and then another, slavers and then another? Why is Hannah almost getting raped every other page, and miraculously escaping? Why is the only characters who has an Arab/Middle Eastern style name a rapey-gas station attendant? Why is the only character who is of colour (Kayla) discarded randomly discarded halfway through the book, and barely given a two second resolution towards the end? Why on earth does Hannah have sex with a woman, which apparently cures her of her homophobia, only to immediately decide she needs to risk everything to go meet up with Preacher Boy?
Absurdly enough, even though Aiden is obviously necessary because without Aiden, there's no abortion, and without the abortion, there's no story - everything about Hannah's involvement with Aiden was so boring and distracting from the larger points that could have been made / were being made. There was no foundation for it whatsoever, subtly or explicitly. He wasn't made out to be manipulative or genuine, he was just a lukewarm idiot man, faceless, and pointless, so what drove Hannah to him, and what the fuck kept her pining for him?
I have to admit, for most of this book, I was ready to write it off as a mimicry of Handmaid's Tale with a side of The Scarlet Letter knockoff, though it has none of the nuance and beauty of the latter, and Handmaid's Tale being its avant garde self will always remain a class of its own.
In my copy, at the end, the author says she didn't notice any similarities to The Scarlet Letter until much later, and I find it difficult to buy that, as the framework -- right down to a scarlet-branded human and her love affair with a preacher -- is exactly the same. For God's sake, Hannah even names her would-be baby "Pearl," which is on the nose in a cringeworthy fashion. And Jordan loses a lot in that the horror and beauty that was present in TSL was augmented by the fact that you slowly realized who the hypocritical father was; in this book it was just spoonfed to us, and rather shallowly, as it just seemed like Hannah was out of nowhere hoodwinked by a hot preacher and then - bam, all of this. The Scarlett Letter is one of my favorite classic novels, and rather than honoring it, this book seemed to cheapen it.
It is getting a bit tiresome picking up these dystopian USA fad novels only to discover they're just elaborately disguised versions of the same stories we've already read. I am giving this three stars instead of two because I did appreciate the discussion of religion. This could have easily turned into pure bashing of religion, but that is not what it was. It was not "atheists against religious nutcases," it was "sane people with good hearts, whether religious or not, against evil religious nimrods" and I feel that deserves kudos. Though I'm not religious myself, and admittedly can't really stand religion at all, I do know many good hearted and extremely progressive religious people, and this book was fair to them. Too often in the current environment I think we are driven to assume that anyone who associates with a religion must be an enemy of progress, and this book presents how false that is.
However, I think it became clear as the novel went on that Jordan was attempting to illustrate a tale of Hannah breaking free of the "box" she'd been slammed into by those who had educated her -- namely, her small-minded parents, and the horridly over-religious ultra conservative power system in place. There were many interesting "think piece" parts of the novel, both in terms of religion, and how hard it is to unlearn things we have been taught since childhood, particularly if we are sheltered from any other point of view. In that respect, the book was good, but did not achieve the levels Jordan was probably going for -- I mean, I've read fantasy novels that deal better with unlearning problematic thinking, and these were fantasy novels that weren't even trying to.
It also seemed to have trouble find a cohesive direction. Hannah's physical journey was probably supposed to parallel and even symbolize her intellectual journey, but it often felt jarring and incongruous. Why did we go to see Becca, and find out about the Fist of Christ, only to have that never really come up again? Why did we get taken by one group and then another, slavers and then another? Why is Hannah almost getting raped every other page, and miraculously escaping? Why is the only characters who has an Arab/Middle Eastern style name a rapey-gas station attendant? Why is the only character who is of colour (Kayla) discarded randomly discarded halfway through the book, and barely given a two second resolution towards the end? Why on earth does Hannah have sex with a woman, which apparently cures her of her homophobia, only to immediately decide she needs to risk everything to go meet up with Preacher Boy?
Absurdly enough, even though Aiden is obviously necessary because without Aiden, there's no abortion, and without the abortion, there's no story - everything about Hannah's involvement with Aiden was so boring and distracting from the larger points that could have been made / were being made. There was no foundation for it whatsoever, subtly or explicitly. He wasn't made out to be manipulative or genuine, he was just a lukewarm idiot man, faceless, and pointless, so what drove Hannah to him, and what the fuck kept her pining for him?
I have to admit, for most of this book, I was ready to write it off as a mimicry of Handmaid's Tale with a side of The Scarlet Letter knockoff, though it has none of the nuance and beauty of the latter, and Handmaid's Tale being its avant garde self will always remain a class of its own.
In my copy, at the end, the author says she didn't notice any similarities to The Scarlet Letter until much later, and I find it difficult to buy that, as the framework -- right down to a scarlet-branded human and her love affair with a preacher -- is exactly the same. For God's sake, Hannah even names her would-be baby "Pearl," which is on the nose in a cringeworthy fashion. And Jordan loses a lot in that the horror and beauty that was present in TSL was augmented by the fact that you slowly realized who the hypocritical father was; in this book it was just spoonfed to us, and rather shallowly, as it just seemed like Hannah was out of nowhere hoodwinked by a hot preacher and then - bam, all of this. The Scarlett Letter is one of my favorite classic novels, and rather than honoring it, this book seemed to cheapen it.
It is getting a bit tiresome picking up these dystopian USA fad novels only to discover they're just elaborately disguised versions of the same stories we've already read. I am giving this three stars instead of two because I did appreciate the discussion of religion. This could have easily turned into pure bashing of religion, but that is not what it was. It was not "atheists against religious nutcases," it was "sane people with good hearts, whether religious or not, against evil religious nimrods" and I feel that deserves kudos. Though I'm not religious myself, and admittedly can't really stand religion at all, I do know many good hearted and extremely progressive religious people, and this book was fair to them. Too often in the current environment I think we are driven to assume that anyone who associates with a religion must be an enemy of progress, and this book presents how false that is.
jayinbee's review
3.0
I thought the premise of this book was interesting. I was able to get past the unrealistic bits (it's fiction after all), and thought it prompted good, philosophical musings. As a girl who was brought up much more conservatively than I ended up becoming as an adult (though I am still a Christian, I am just one of those who is open-minded and focuses mainly on the love/kindness/empathy aspects), I was intrigued and related to the young girl in the story. The book speaks volumes on our current political climate in the US and the terrifying aspect of a merged church and state in which "morals" are enforced as law and used to disenfranchise the disadvantaged. Unfortunately, I didn't love the writing style and the end was so rushed it left my head spinning, while many other sections of the story drew on for longer than I thought necessary. This may work well for some readers but the slow/fast pacing made it difficult for me to really follow along and enjoy it.