October 2011

Hillary Jordan’s debut novel, MUDBOUND, won a number of prizes and became a reader favorite for its honest portrayal of a family struggling to make ends meet on its Mississippi Delta farm during the 1940s. The topic of WHEN SHE WOKE couldn’t be much more of a 180, as it’s a dystopian novel set in the not-too-distant future where criminals are referred to as Chromes. The skin color of all Chromes is dyed to reflect their crime. At the start of the sentence, their jail time is continuously filmed in a reality show kind of format, and their actions are broadcast nationwide. Once released from their original sentence, they remain dyed, and their skin tones define them and keep them ostracized from the general public. It’s chilling and haunting and a brilliant social commentary.

If you read MUDBOUND, you would likely never guess that Hillary’s next book would take this kind of turn. And, by the way, I am not a fan of the futuristic or dystopian work, but this book was done so brilliantly that I was way beyond seeing its genre. I found myself thinking a lot about not just social issues of today --- and my dislike for reality television --- but also about the novel 1984 and how it painted a picture of the future. And, of course, there are parallels to THE SCARLET LETTER.

I was not the only one in our family completely caught up in this book. My husband read it on an airplane, and as he walked through the airport when he landed, a man who had been seated near him called out and asked what he was reading. He was intrigued as Tom had barely looked up the entire flight. Tom gave him a quick synopsis of WHEN SHE WOKE as his fellow traveler wrote down the title. It’s the kind of book you will pass along so you have someone to converse with about it.