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A review by alongapath
When She Woke by Hillary Jordan
2.0
(2.5 stars)
Imagine a society that coloured the skin of their criminals. Each type of crime has its own colour. Red, of course, is for murderers. Yellow for thieves. Blue for molesters. This is the world that Hannah was raised in and believed was just. But after having an abortion, Hannah finds herself on the other end of the reality and suffers dearly because of it. After a month of TV-monitored imprisonment, she is free to re-enter society, wearing her crime on her skin. She discovers a whole world of evil and finds that her life is threatened at every turn.
Jordan has a great idea for a dystopian society here but be prepared for the religious preaching that thickly coats each chapter. Until the very end, I was unsure if Jordan was mocking the Christian religion for its inflexible thinking and hypocritical attitude or if Jordan was trying to recruit a few new members to her strict sect. Being an unreligious person, I found this aspect of the novel offensive and I would have closed the book for good, had it not been for my partner-read commitment! In the end,
Hannah is a flat, unlikeable character. It is difficult to root for her as she escapes misfortune when you don't really care about her. For such a Christian-raised person, she sure is quick to judge and quicker to hate. Actually, most of the characters are flat and unlikeable. Aidan is weakly developed; her mother is cold and unloving; her sister is a spineless follower; her brother-in-law hates and rages for no reason; even Simone is ugly and stiff.
As with [b:The Slap|5396496|The Slap|Christos Tsiolkas|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1330062364s/5396496.jpg|5464024], people seemed to fly into a rage for no reason at all. Hannah would be having a conversation with someone and suddenly envision herself strangling that person or hurling insults their way for no apparent reason. Do people really do this?
Another aspect that irked me was Jordan's obvious confusion between feminism and lesbianism. At one point, Hannah is being protected by a feminist group, who have pro-choice beliefs, and within a week in their care, Hannah initiates a lesbian encounter with her protector. A bit out-of-character, I say, since this same Hannah recently believed that homosexuals were worms in the eyes of god. Jordan needs to learn the difference between feminism and lesbianism before she treats their topics in a novel. Bah...
Considering the enormous potential of the dystopian society that Jordan created, it was a highly disappointing read.
Imagine a society that coloured the skin of their criminals. Each type of crime has its own colour. Red, of course, is for murderers. Yellow for thieves. Blue for molesters. This is the world that Hannah was raised in and believed was just. But after having an abortion, Hannah finds herself on the other end of the reality and suffers dearly because of it. After a month of TV-monitored imprisonment, she is free to re-enter society, wearing her crime on her skin. She discovers a whole world of evil and finds that her life is threatened at every turn.
Jordan has a great idea for a dystopian society here but be prepared for the religious preaching that thickly coats each chapter. Until the very end, I was unsure if Jordan was mocking the Christian religion for its inflexible thinking and hypocritical attitude or if Jordan was trying to recruit a few new members to her strict sect. Being an unreligious person, I found this aspect of the novel offensive and I would have closed the book for good, had it not been for my partner-read commitment! In the end,
Spoiler
it becomes apparent that Jordan is indeed as religious as thought but simply wishes that 'god's will' was replaced with 'free will'.Hannah is a flat, unlikeable character. It is difficult to root for her as she escapes misfortune when you don't really care about her. For such a Christian-raised person, she sure is quick to judge and quicker to hate. Actually, most of the characters are flat and unlikeable. Aidan is weakly developed; her mother is cold and unloving; her sister is a spineless follower; her brother-in-law hates and rages for no reason; even Simone is ugly and stiff.
As with [b:The Slap|5396496|The Slap|Christos Tsiolkas|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1330062364s/5396496.jpg|5464024], people seemed to fly into a rage for no reason at all. Hannah would be having a conversation with someone and suddenly envision herself strangling that person or hurling insults their way for no apparent reason. Do people really do this?
Another aspect that irked me was Jordan's obvious confusion between feminism and lesbianism. At one point, Hannah is being protected by a feminist group, who have pro-choice beliefs, and within a week in their care, Hannah initiates a lesbian encounter with her protector. A bit out-of-character, I say, since this same Hannah recently believed that homosexuals were worms in the eyes of god. Jordan needs to learn the difference between feminism and lesbianism before she treats their topics in a novel. Bah...
Considering the enormous potential of the dystopian society that Jordan created, it was a highly disappointing read.