Now I rely on other sources to make my choices--fellow booksellers, both Boswell and otherwise, reviewers, and also regular attendees to the in-store lit group. Only one of the group had previously read Hillary Jordan's When She Woke, which she had read for another reading group. But there was a lot of bookseller enthusiasm. When She Woke was the #1 Indie Next pick for October 2011, and Algonquin had made the smart choice to release quotes from many of the other booksellers who nominated the title.
But this story does not follow just any plotline. When She Woke is inspired by The Scarlet Letter, with Hannah Payne taking the role of Hester Prynne. She's fallen into an affair with a married preacher, in this case, Aidan Dale, who is now a national figure, Secretary of Faith. But instead of being branded as an adulterer, her crime is abortion, and abortion is murder, so she is chromed red. The chroming is actually a virus and is temporary, but just so you don't think you can figure out a way to go off the grid and hide, another virus is linked to the punishment, which will lead to fragging, a sort of brain encephalitis.
When She Woke led to a spirited book club discussion. Things that some folks disliked about the book did not bother others, and I also became aware about how a discussion can tip when there are few strong opinions raised at the beginning of a discussion. That's why some groups ask folks to refrain from saying whether or not they liked a book for at least the first half of a discussion. But whether or not folks liked the book, When She Woke gave rise to several interesting conversations about novels and reading, author's intent, and what are the choices an author makes when he or she writes a story.
There's a long history of such novels. One could say Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged all wear their heart on their sleeves (jacket sleeves). And of course the canon of feminist literature has many entries, including Marge Piercy's Woman on the Edge of Time, Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, and most notably Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale that were issue centered.
Despite Jordan's best intentions, at least one of our readers wanted even more social criticism built into the story . When R. proclaimed that the Jordan did not do enough to address the racial underclass, I contested that this is what the whole book was about. The country had claimed to transcend race (as it certainly did for about ten seconds after the election of President Obama) and yet, the country continued to judge people by their color. And of course Hannah's flight eventually led her to the equivalent of the Underground Railway. But there were other things, like brief interludes of LGBT awareness and spousal abuse that were so shimmeringly brief, that we wondered whether it might have been better to either strengthen their presence or eliminate them altogether (though I should note that the former might have led to a nom for the Lambda Literary Awards).
So it was that Hannah and Reverend Aidan's romance was a sticking point in the story. Why did he stand by her when it was in his best interest to dump her? With all his other qualities, did it seem at all plausible that he'd be tempted to give everything up for Hannah? And why did she stand by him? And why was she not caught? The response of N when we asked these questions? "Well, that's the way it was in The Scarlet Letter," and we began to feel like Hawthorne had tightened the noose around Jordan's pen.
And just to end the post on a high note, here are some great reviews from both national media and fellow booksellers. And here's the link to The New York Times Book Review piece.
The upcoming reading list for the Boswell In-Store Lit group:
Monday, January 7, 7 pm: The Barbarian Nurseries, by Hector Tobar
Monday, February 4, 7 pm: Arcadia by Lauren Groff.
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