Soy Speechless

So as (one of) my final projects, I read When She Woke by Hillary Jordan.

CAUTION: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS, HINTS, SOY or TRACES OF PINE NUTS.

 

It. Was. AWESOME. I can’t even believe how fantastic it was. I stayed up way past my bedtime two nights in a row reading it. Which is a big thing for me. I voted for this one when we were deciding on a book to read as a whole class even though I didn’t know anything about it, but golly, I must have some great instinct because it absolutely rocked my fuzzy socks off.

The premise is that in our not so distant future society, we’ve given the criminal justice system a makeover. Think about what a good TV show that would make. Extreme Makeover: Prison Edition. I’d watch it. Anyway, Hannah (the main character) tells us that “prisons were disintegrating and filled to bursting… living in conditions so horrific as to be unconstitutional. Rape, murder, disease and abuse of prisoners by guards were endemic” (209). That pretty much paints the gruesome picture of it. I mean, in some places that’s not too far from the truth.

As a result of all of these things, the government decided to switch to a practice called melachroming instead. When someone commits a crime (with the exception of some terribly violent crimes and extremely dangerous criminals) they are melachromed. What this means is they are implanted with this virus that changes the color of their skin according to the crime they’ve committed. Hannah is colored red for abortion, which is considered second degree murder. But there’s a whole rainbow to choose from- yellow for minor misdemeanors, blue for child molesters, and the list goes on.

You have to renew this virus every four months or the virus will start to fragment and you spiral into insanity and you must retain your color for however long your prison term would have been had you been in a society like ours. The thing about Chromes (what they call these colorful criminals) is that they are treated very poorly. I mean obviously, they’re criminals, but it was rather heartbreaking to read all of the disadvantages and horrible things that happen to them.

Let’s get to Hannah. She is a regular girl, presumably in her mid 20s, belongs to a very Christian family in Texas, real family girl. Then she has this affair with a married man (GASP) who also happens to be her reverend (DOUBLE GASP). She gets pregnant (DUH) and decides to have an abortion. She gets sentenced 10 years for this and due to the fact she would not name the father or the abortionist, 6 years are added. 16 years as a Red? I can’t even imagine.

The book goes onto to chronicle the time ( maybe a year-ish) following her release from the initial detainment and turning Red. Her struggles with family and faith and the sketchy organization known as the Fist. I don’t want to give anything too big away, so I’ll leave the storyline rather vague because you should read it for yourself.

Whilst reading, I was struck by how it incorporated ideas from some of the books and movies we’ve looked at. There was a Great Scourge, an epidemic in which women couldn’t give birth and wasn’t remedied until seven years later, leaving many women sterile. Doesn’t that sound a bit like The Handmaid’s Tale and Children of Men? That would explain why abortion is illegal. There’s talk of these new technologies and a hint to the power of corporations, as in Feed. Lucky for us, we don’t all talk like idiots. And wouldn’t you know, they even make a reference to a cat. I’m not sure in what context because it was so brief, but I do know that nobody ate it. Thank goodness for that.

I guess this book freaked me out a little, because it’s not too exaggerated and some of the events could be probable. For instance, she discusses the nuclear attack on Los Angeles “as she pictures a carefree twelve-year-old girl much like herself, coasting down a hill on her bike in Los Angeles on a day much like this, her face lifted to the wind, to the sudden searing blast of air from the bomb that would incinerate her and her family and seven thousand others” (163). Terrifying, right? And we very well know that some nations have the power to do this at the push of a button.

She alludes to the revolt of Middle Eastern countries and the prevalence of anti-Islamic bias, to the cutting of ties between Canada and the United States, to the Sanctity of Life laws, to the intermingling once again of church and state.  To environmental changes like extreme flooding, to a 1984-like “Freedom from Information Act,” to the fall of the last democratic government in South America.  It’s all a bit alarming when you think about it. It seems that we’re always on the brink of a world-changing crisis. Fiscal cliff, anyone?

But even with the shocking and the saddening, the book kind of uplifted me. Even after Hannah’s been through so much, she develops a new sense of self, so transformed from the old her, and in a good way. She finally stands up for herself and gets out of all of the boxes she’s put herself in, both metaphorically and physically. It definitely demonstrates the flexible nature of personality, even when we think who we are is set in stone.

And of course a good book isn’t complete without a bit of romance. It gets a bit awkward in parts, but the fact that she can still love after all that’s happened to her and that someone may even be able to love her, gosh, I was nearly in tears. It was just so beautiful, but not too worry, it wasn’t as mushy as a Nicholas Sparks book or as… indescribable as I imagine 50 Shades to be.

And I have this thing about quotes. I like to write down quotes from books that I find particularly striking or touching or wise or otherwise memorable. Quotes are just to fascinating not to. So I will provide you with some of my favorites:

“There are infinite kinds of love, but charity is the purest of them all, because it’s the only one that doesn’t ask, What’s in it for me?”  (54)

“How could anything be grateful for such an existence? And yet, this creature was, and when it saw itself and knew that it wanted to live in spite of everything, it wept even harder” (280)

“God is He and She, straight and gay, black and white and red and green and blue and all the rest. And so, to despise me or you would be to despise not only His own creations but also to hate Himself. My God is not so stupid as that.” (303)

“Maybe beauty just is, Maybe it’s inexplicable, or beyond explanation.” (320)

I’m not sure how to conclude really, besides the advice that a) you should read this book, b) we should probably try our best to prevent our society from evolving into this, though I don’t know how, so you’re on your own there, and c) we should be grateful and happy and accepting and open to change and whimsy and life as a whole. Fantastic. I end on a rather cliché note, but alas, embracing letter c), I shan’t be troubled by it, but rather embrace it.