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Summary and Reviews of When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

When She Woke

A Novel

by Hillary Jordan
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  • Critics' Consensus (7):
  • Readers' Rating (12):
  • First Published:
  • Oct 4, 2011, 352 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Sep 2012, 368 pages
  • Reviewed by BookBrowse Book Reviewed by:
    Kim Kovacs
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About This Book

Book Summary

When She Woke is a fable about a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, who 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.

Bellwether Prize Winner Hillary Jordan's provocative new novel is the fiercely imagined story of a 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 crime - and then released back into the population to survive as best they can. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder.

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Reviews

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In short, When She Woke is a fast and engaging read, and ideally suited for someone looking for an entertaining book requiring little thought. It's popcorn, not steak: enjoyable and addictive, but in the long run not very filling...continued

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(Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).

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Beyond the Book



Roe vs. Wade

The United States started adopting laws restricting abortion in the early 1800s, ultimately outlawing it in most states by the turn of the century. Interestingly, at the time, abortion wasn't proscribed as a moral issue the same way it is today; it was criminalized primarily because it was a dangerous practice with very high mortality rates, before the advent of antiseptics and antibiotics. These laws didn't necessarily stop the abortions from being performed, however. According to an article in The Atlantic, "The American Medical Association's crusade against abortion was partly a professional move, to establish the supremacy of 'regular' physicians over midwives and homeopaths... Nonetheless, having achieved their legal goal, many ...

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Read-Alikes

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