When She Woke is a dystopian retelling of a Scarlet Letter. In this world criminals are chromed (their skin turned a different color) according to their crimes. Hannah the main character in this book is charged with murder, because she had an abortion, and is chromed red. Life as a chrome is not easy and Hannah must navigate difficulties she never encountered before.
What impressed me most about this book is how strong Hannah is. Even though it added years to her sentence as a chrome she refused to name the person who performed her abortion. She also refused to name the father of her child to protect his job as he is famous and influential. You do not find many woman of this strength in books. She poses a good role model for doing what is right for you and having the strength and backbone to follow up on it. This book does not descend into preachy moral tones but instead present things as they happen as the logical next step in the life of Hannah.
This book if full of tension. I had to stop reading a few times because I was so afraid of what would happen to Hannah. I really felt connected to her and cared about her and what happened to her. The author did I good job at ratcheting up the tension. This book is horrifying in a way because it shows what can happen if political climate goes to far to the right. It shows a world where choice is taken away. Where people must live how other people say you must. While I was reading I kept thinking this could really happen. That made it all the more horrifying.
Every word seems to be crafted to mean something in this book. The prose was beautiful. It was like Hannah was your friend and she was telling you, the reader, what had happened to her. This book comes highly recommended.
