"When She Woke" by Hillary Jordan - Fiction

Started January 1, 2012 - Ended January 2, 2012

I was really excited to read "When She Woke" by Hillary Jordan. I'm not going to lie, I had never heard of it until Amazon ran it as one of their daily deals. I did not buy it, BUT the synopsis did prompt me to download it from the library for my Kindle. BTW, this is NOT YA.

From Amazon: 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.

I *LOVED* the beginning. It was fast-paced and grabbed you right away. Around the 3/4 mark it started to feel rushed and I felt like the ending basically came out of nowhere. Yes, it followed with the story, but to me it could have gone on a few more chapters. I still rate this book a strong B+. It does deal with some sensitive topics, religion and abortion being key, but both are intrinsic to the story line and not at all out of place. I liked most of the characters and the issue of melachroming was very thought-provoking. What if criminals really were tinted based on their crimes? What if the moment you met someone you knew their past indiscretions? I'm curious to know your thoughts on the issue. I know I have mine.

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