STILL LIFE WITH BREADCRUMBS

TITLE: STILL LIFE WITH BREAD CRUMBS
AUTHOR: ANNA QUINDLEN
Pages: 272
Date: 02/02/2014
Grade: 5-
Details: Received from Hutchinson
            Through Nudge
Own

Rebecca Winter used to be famous for her photographs. A picture called ‘Still Life with Breadcrumbs’, showing the leftovers of a dinner party the morning after, made her name both in artistic circles and it the woman’s movement. But that was ages ago, when she was still married to a man who turned out to change wives every ten years.

Now aged 60 Rebecca is worrying about money, something she can’t really remember doing before. With her fame in decline and her work no longer selling it is getting ever harder to find the money to pay for her apartment in New York City, contribute to her mother’s nursing home costs, her father’s accommodation and all the other drains on her ever dwindling resources. Letting her apartment for a year while renting a small cottage in rural New York State seems the perfect solution. Except that she hadn’t expected the cottage to be quite as primitive as it turns out to be, nor the countryside as lonely as it is.

A racoon taking refuge in her attic brings Rebecca in contact with Jim Bates, a roofer who takes care of the roon problem and slowly coaxes the photographer out of her self-imposed solitude. It is through Jim and other locals that Rebecca comes to recognise that life at 60 is far from over, that new opportunities lie just around the corner if you’re willing to open your eyes and mind to them and that happiness is anything but the exclusive right of the young.

It took me a little while to get into this story and, more specifically, Rebecca. For a while I just wanted to take this woman by the shoulders and shout at her; remind her that she was 60 years old and should have gotten a hold of herself and her life years ago. This feeling dwindled as the story continued because Rebecca’s journey is both fascinating and thought-provoking. It was a delight to watch as she slowly opens herself up to the possibilities represented by a new environment, new people in her life and a new perspective on the world around her.

At first glance the writing in this book seems distant, unemotional, because the story – like Rebecca’s pictures - seems to concentrate on the minor details, without putting them in their larger context. It is only as the story progresses that it becomes clear that the reader and Rebecca are on a similar journey. In her photographs and in life Rebecca has always concentrated on details so small that it became impossible to see the bigger picture. Her year in the middle of nowhere and her contact with Jim, Sally, the owner of an English teashop and Tad, a professional clown, force her to look at the bigger picture and the beauty that can be found when you take in the whole. The reader’s journey is the same. As all the small details of Rebecca’s life slowly come together it becomes possible to appreciate the woman for all that she is rather than despair about her for one or two minor idiosyncrasies.

This is a book about encountering new opportunities and having the courage to embrace them, regardless of what stage of your life you happen to be facing. This is true for Rebecca, who has to reinvent her life, the way in which she has approached photography and rethink her ideas about age and love. It is also true for Tad, who uses Rebecca’s example to pursue his own dream and it is true for the dog Rebecca adopts even though she is not a dog person.

On a side note I should probably add that the few chapters written from the dog’s perspective are probably among my favourites in this book, a close second to the following passage, which ties in nicely with my early reservations about Rebecca and her story.

“(...) she realized she’d been becoming different people for as long as she could remember but had never really noticed, or had put it down to moods, or marriage, or motherhood. The problem was that she’d thought that at a certain point she would be a finished product. Now she wasn’t sure what that might be (...)”

It is very appropriate that Rebecca is a photographer since this is a story about perspective. Just as it is possible to change the picture you capture with your camera it is possible to alter the way you approach life, provided you’re prepared to adjust your default settings and take a risk.

This a sparsely written story with a powerful message; life is what we make of it, regardless of age or circumstance. If we are willing to look at the world from a different perspective we might just find that opportunities are available to us where we least expect them.

BURIAL RIGHTS

TITLE: BURIAL RIGHTS

AUTHOR: HANNAH KENT

Pages: 338

Date: 31/08/2013

Grade: 5

Details: Received from Picador

            Through Nudge

Own

Fact: The last person ever to be executed in Iceland was Agnes Magnúsdóttir for her part in the murder of Natan Ketilsson and Pétur Jónsson. Agnes and her accomplice Fridrik Sigurdsson, were beheaded on January 12, 1830.

                                                                                         

Fact: Agnes spent the months leading up to her execution with a family at Kormsá.

I could go on. This book’s story is fictionalised fact and as such is beautiful, thought-provoking and totally heartbreaking. In a narrative told from various points of view the reader is introduced to Agnes while she is being held prisoner under conditions you wouldn’t submit an animal to. When she is moved to a new location at Kormsá she is filthy, weak and sullen. The Jónsson family she is to stay with until her sentence will be executed, is anxious and hostile, faced with the prospect of harbouring a convicted murderess under their roof. Assistant reverend Thorvardur (Tóti) Jónsson is given the task of seeing to the soul and redemption of Agnes, as requested by her. During her months at Kormsá, Agnes slowly shares her story. We read about her desperate childhood, her hard life, the short glimpse of hope and the devastation that followed.

This is a fascinating story for various reasons. The fact that everything written in this book is based on real events makes this a harrowing tale to read at times. The murders, as described in this book, are gruesome and the way Agnes is initially portrayed makes it all too easy to believe that she is the cold-hearted murderess her judges make her out to be. It is only as Agnes slowly opens herself up to Tóti and to Margrét Jónsson that the reader is getting an insight into who this woman was, what may have led to the murders and what, if anything, her role in those may have been. By the time the axe has fallen and the story is finished, it is up to the reader to decide for themselves what to think of this woman, and what to believe – about her and about what exactly happened.

The story is told in a wonderful way. The words used are sparse yet lyrical. On these pages the rough and barren landscape of Iceland comes alive. The claustrophobic living quarters, the isolation of some people, the harsh living conditions and the brutal weather all enhance the feeling of gloom and despair in this story.

I loved the way in which the developing relationships between the characters in this story are described. The gradual transition from out and out hostility to something almost resembling kinship is made all the more realistic by the fact that there is no clear turning point. The Jónsson family and Agnes, being forced to live and work together in a small space for an extended period of time, get closer to each other almost despite themselves. By the time Agnes is taken away to face her sentence it is clear to the family that the woman who is leaving in no way resembles the monster they initially believed her to be. And, most heartbreakingly of all, Agnes is taken to her death from what has probably been the best house and family she has ever stayed and worked with.

I liked the way the author plays with her readers in this book. We know that what we are reading is fictionalised fact and as such know that not everything we read is completely true. We know that the author has no way of knowing what Agnes may have thought and felt at the time or even what exactly happened on the night of the murders. Hannah Kent puts an interesting spin on this idea by making Agnes into a not quite reliable narrator:

“This is what I tell the Reverend.”

Is she just spinning him a tale, portraying herself in the best possible light? Or is this just a statement of fact? Hannah Kent cleverly leaves it up to the reader to make that decision, and in doing so makes the story even more intriguing than it already was.

The language in this book is beautiful and thought-provoking:

“It was only later that our tongues produced landslides, that we became caught in the cracks between what we said and what we meant, until we could not find each other, did not trust the words in our own mouths.”

Time and again sentences like that forced me to stop reading to think about what I had just read and marvel at the depth and beauty.

It is hard to believe that this is Hannah Kent’s first novel. This book is so beautifully written and so wonderfully well constructed that it feels like the work of a seasoned author with years of experience. If this book sets the standard, than us readers have some treats to look forward to from this author in years to come.

Finally, I want to end this review with an Icelandic saying I came across in this book. A saying that will resound in the soul of everybody who loves reading:

“Blind is a man without a book.”

THE BONE SEASON

TITLE: THE BONE SEASON

AUTHOR: SAMANTHA SHANNON

Pages: 454

Date: 24/08/2013

Grade: 4+

Details: No. 1 Bone Season

            ARC received from Bloomsbury

            Through Nudge

Own

“I committed high treason just by breathing.”

The year is 2059; the place Scion London. For just under two hundred years the people in England have been divided into two groups; those who are capable of clairvoyance and those who aren’t. For just under two hundred years those who have the sight, can communicate with spirits and can touch the Aether - the spirit realm - have been prosecuted. When clairvoyance was declared an epidemic, those capable of it became outlaws; people to be hunted down, caught and eliminated.

Nineteen year old Paige Mahoney is one of those “cursed” with clairvoyance and has been working for Jaxon Hall, a powerful crime lord, for more than two years. As a dreamwalker, Paige is capable of entering other people’s dreamscapes, a power Jaxon is determined to explore and exploit.

But Jaxon is not the only one with an interest in Paige’s powers. When she has to use her powers to protect herself, Paige attracts the attention of those whose existence she wasn’t even aware of. Her subsequent arrest should have lead to a swift execution, but instead Paige finds herself transported to Oxford, a secret and hidden place, ruled by non-human entities. A place where clairvoyance is not only normal but also exploited to fulfill the needs and desires of the Rephaite overlords.

From the moment she arrives, Paige’s only goal is to make it back to London and her friends; a wish which appears impossible. Assigned to Warden, Paige is put through training which should prepare her to join the ranks of the clairvoyant army protecting the secret city. But is that all her captors want from her or do they have ulterior motives? And if they do, what might they be? Do all Rephaite expect the same from her or are there divisions among their ranks as well? Is the enigmatic Warden really Paige’s enemy or is there something else going on? Whatever Paige may discover, one thing is for sure; her life is in more danger than ever before and will never be the same again.

This is a difficult book to summarize in a meaningful way. Samantha Shannon has created a credible and very complex world and throws her reader into the middle of a character and action filled story. And, if I’m honest, I have to admit that I felt a bit lost and confused while reading the first part of this book. The world described in this book may resemble ours, it is also very different. And with Seven Orders of Clairvoyance - each having their own subdivisions and powers - it does get a bit hard keeping everything straight in your head. And the same can be said about the characters; there are enough of them in this book that the reader has to continuously pay attention in order to keep them all separated.

The author does try to make it easier on her reader by not dumping all the details about this world on them in one go. But, while this certainly makes the reading easier and the story move faster, it also means that it takes longer for the reader to get some understanding of what exactly is going on, how this world works and who is playing what role in this story. Of course this is the first title in a seven book series, and any world expected to entertain the reader for that long has to be complex and well developed. And while I’m full of admiration for the way in which Shannon managed to create a realistic world and one I could easily picture in my mind, I also have to admit that there were times when I was taken out of the story by the amount of information I had to absorb.

But, and I can’t stress this enough, it is well worth sticking with the story. Paige is a wonderful, strong, flawed and therefore completely realistic main character and I found it impossible not to get caught up in her fears, hopes and desires. The Warden is an enigmatic character that will keep both Paige and the reader guessing for a long time. In fact, there were quite a few things in this story that took me by surprise. Certain characters were introduced and I would be convinced that I knew exactly what their role in the story was going to be, only for my theory to be proven completely wrong. And I do like it when an author manages to keep my on my toes and guessing.

I also greatly appreciate that although this book is the first installment in a series and it is quite clear from the last pages that there is a lot more story to come, the author didn’t leave her readers with a massive cliffhanger. She did leave more than enough questions unanswered and facts shrouded in mystery to make me very curious about where this story is going to be taking us next, though.

It is hard to know how to categorize this book. There is a lot that reminds me of Young Adult titles such as Twilight and The Hunger Games while there are other aspects to this book that make it feel more like an adult book. I know it is being marketed as a book for adults by the publisher but in my opinion this is a perfect example of a crossover title. Anybody who enjoys a well written, imaginative and thrilling story will get a kick out of this book.

While this is a great adventure story, set in an intriguing and terrifying world and a definite page turner, this book is a lot more too. It is a story about growing up, about being different and coming to terms with that, about finding your own strengths and learning to rely on them, and most of all a story about trust. This is not a predictable book, nor does it go for easy answers; black isn’t always black nor is white always white. There were a few surprises in this book that I didn’t see coming and I fully expect there to be a lot more of those in the books to come.

And yes, I am looking forward to the rest of this story. I can’t help feeling that with this world and its inhabitants having been established in this first book, the subsequent stories will be even more intriguing and captivating.

Samantha Shannon turns out to be an author with a rich imagination and a good eye for detail. She knows how to draw her readers into her world and keep them there, captured by a need to know what is going to be happening next. I have no idea when the second Bone Season title will be released but I do know I’ll be among the first to read it when it does.

ANGEL CITY

TITLE: ANGEL CITY

AUTHOR: JON STEELE

Pages: 528

Date: 19/06/2013

Grade: 5+

Details: No. 2 The Angelus Trilogy

               Received from Penguin Group/

               Blue Rider Press through NetGalley

Own / Kindle

The Blurb:

“Two years after the battle at Lausanne Cathedral, the War of Shadows goes on...

Jay Harper, one of the last ‘angels’ on Planet Earth, is still hunting down the half-breeds and goons who infected Paradise with evil. Intercepting a plot to turn half of Paris into a dead zone, Harper ends up on the wrong side of the law and finds himself a wanted man. That doesn’t stop his commander, Inspector Gobet of the Swiss Police, from sending him back to Paris on a recon mission... a mission that uncovers the mystery of an ancient gift to mankind, born of angels at Montségur, the last fortress of the Cathars.

Katherine Taylor and her two year old son Max are living in a small town in the American Northwest. It’s a quiet life. She runs a candle shop and spends her afternoons drinking herbal teas, imagining the crooked little man in the belfry of Lausanne Cathedral, the man who believed Lausanne was a hideout for lost angels. And there was someone else, someone she can’t quite remember... as if he was there, and not there at the same time.

A man with a disfigured face emerges from the shadows.  His name is Astruc, a defrocked priest wanted for murder; he's obsessed with the immortal souls of men.  Like a voice crying in the wilderness, he warns the time of The Prophecy is at hand...a prophecy that calls for sacrifice of a child born of light...”

                                                                                                    

“The religions and flags of men mean nothing to me, or those like me. Religions and flags come under the heading of free will. We can’t make those sorts of choices for men. It’s a certain breed of evil hiding behind the religions and flags, the ones who sow fear and greed among men, that we’re interested in.”

WOW! What a book! What an imagination and what a story!

When I read The Watchers almost a year ago I was blown away by the book. The idea behind the story was original, well thought out and brilliantly delivered. When I discovered that the book was the first part of a trilogy I was both delighted and a little bit afraid; would the author be able to live up to the expectations he had created in book one? And, before I go on, if you haven’t read The Watchers yet, please do so before starting this book. You will probably enjoy this book without having read the first book but not nearly as much as you will if you know the back-story.

I shouldn’t have worried. Angel City is at least as good as The Watchers and pushes the story forward in a manner that makes perfect sense and yet is full of surprises and unexpected twists. Two and a half years after the battle in Lausanne Cathedral, Jay Harper is still his old unpredictable and hard to control self. Although some of his memories of what happened in Lausanne have been erased – as most of the memories from his past have been – he remembers enough to realize that he escaped from a great danger and that the battle was only started at the Cathedral. And although there is something wrong with Jay Harper, something that may well end his existence once and for all, he is still on a quest to defeat the forces of evil, although he doesn’t know who or what exactly he is looking for and what exactly those forces are after.

Katherine Taylor is living in the United States, protected by forces from the Swiss Guards with her son Max, who was born after she narrowly escaped with her life in Lausanne. Since Katherine’s memories are also being controlled she is not exactly sure what happened in that city or even who Max’ father might be. And although she does realize that she is in danger, she has no idea how big the danger actually is and what form it might take should it ever find her.

Astruc is a priest on a mission. Convinced that he and his assistant Goose are the only forces for good left, he sets out on a quest to warn the world about the Prophecy that is about to be fulfilled; a war between the forces of good and evil that is about to reach its climax and the future of the world and humanity appears to depend – some would say once again – on an innocent baby boy.

Like I said, this is an amazing book. Taking the reader from Montségur in the 13^th century, to Paris in the very near future, from Switzerland to the USA this is a story that begins at full blast and doesn’t let up until the very last page.

Historical facts, conspiracy theories and biblical stories are faultlessly brought together to create a plausible and fascinating plot. So plausible, in fact, that it is almost possible to believe that this could actually happen. In Jay Harper’s words:

“Trust me mate, spend enough time watching the world go by and you learn just because something isn’t possible doesn’t mean it can’t happen.”

And it is Jay Harper’s cynical view of the world and the situations he finds himself in, as well as his dead-pan way of dealing with, and commenting on, what is happening with and around him that stops this from being an incredibly dark story. In fact, one of the strengths of this book is that the author manages to combine drama, tension, action, humour, descriptions, relationships and love without ever slowing down the plot. No matter how pleasant a scene in this book may be, there is always that undercurrent of danger that keeps on pushing the story and the reader forwards.

I like that our heroes are as flawed as they come. Jay Harper may be an angel but you’d be hard pressed to call him Angelic. And while Katherine Taylor may be a former hooker she proves herself the most loving mother and loyal friend imaginable. It is impossible not to like these two characters and become engrossed in their adventures. These are two anti-heroes and yet the future of the world and humanity depends on their actions.

And then there’s the cliff-hanger. Did the first book end in such a way that the story could have stopped there, this book ends at such a heart-stopping moment that there is no room for doubt that a sequel is coming. And I have absolutely no objection to another book by this author. set in this world with these characters. What I do have a problem with is that I haven’t been able to find out when this third book might be coming. I really do NOT want to wait another year before I find out how all of this is going to play out.

THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE

TITLE: THE LONELY PASSION OF JUDITH HEARNE

AUTHOR: BRIAN MOORE

Pages: 223

Date: 28/05/2013

Grade: 3

Details: Book Club read for Dialogues

            Through Literature

Own

 

The blurb:

“The lonely Passion of Judith Hearne is the story of a respectable and religious piano teacher who has moved into a boarding-house in Belfast. Miss Hearne, like the house, has known better days. The landlady, her monstrous son and the other tenants make her nervous, but the landlady’s brother, Mr. Madden, seems attractive, possibly a suitable husband. Judith thinks he owns a hotel in New York, but in reality he is close to penniless and he has a drink problem. So does Judith. As her emotional and social life begins to fall apart, she also loses her grip on the faith that has sustained her. At last she does something shameful in a church.

Judith is an intensely sad heroine, but the way she is portrayed by Brian Moore is vibrant with life and dark comedy.”

A story without a single sympathetic, relatable or pleasant character in it is hard to like, and I have to admit that I didn’t enjoy this book very much. This is the second time I read this book and I really hoped that my dislike of it, the first time around, was due to me still being fairly unfamiliar with life in Ireland. Alas, it turned out that after another 10+ years in Ireland I don’t like this book any better than I did back then.

On the plus side I have to admit that this is a well written story. Brian Moore knows how to put a story together and build it up to its inevitable climax in a convincing and compelling way. For me to end up disliking the book and the characters in it as much as I did in this case both the story and people in it have to be written in a convincing manner.

My problem is that this story was compelling in the same way an accident or natural disaster can be hard to look away from; you can’t stop staring but feel kind of disgusted with yourself for not turning away. I mean, it is not unusual for me to come across a character I would love to slap around for a while. What is unusual is to read a book in which none of the characters appear to have any redeeming qualities. This book appears to be a study in human pettiness, determined to show-up the middle classes in Belfast about 50 years ago as small-minded, selfish and lacking in most forms of human decency. It really doesn’t matter which of the characters you look at; from Judith herself to her landlady, the landlady’s horrid son, the landlady’s brother returned from America and even the parish priest, everybody seemed to be thinking only of themselves, their own interest and the image they would like to uphold. It painted a very sad picture.  Although there were characters who, through their actions, appeared to show some human kindness near the end of the book you’d have to wonder if that was the result of their goodness or just to silence their guilty conscience.

Regardless of whether or not this book paints a faithful picture of Belfast in the 1950’s I can’t find many redeeming qualities in it, least of all the dark humour described in the blurb. And it is safe to say that I won’t be reading this book a third time, not for any reason or occasion.

AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST

TITLE: AN INSTANCE OF THE FINGERPOST

AUTHOR: IAIN PEARS

Pages: 692

Date: 31/12/2012

Grade: 5+

Library

“When in a Search of any Nature the Understanding stands suspended, then Instances of the Fingerpost show the true and inviolable Way in which the Question is to be decided. These Instances afford great Light, so that the Course of the Investigation will sometimes be terminated by them. Sometimes, indeed these Instances are found amongst that Evidence already set down.” – Francis Bacon.

I almost always write my own summaries of the books I read. I’ve decided to make an exception for this book though; I just don’t think I can do the contents of this book justice without giving away too much of the plot. So here’s a copy of the blurb as it appears on the inside sleeve of the copy I read:

“We are in Oxford in the 1660’s, a time and place, of great intellectual, scientific, religious and political ferment. Robert Grove, a fellow of New College, is found dead in suspicious circumstances. A young woman is accused of his murder. We hear about events surrounding his death from four witnesses: Marco da Cola, a Venetian Catholic intent on claiming credit for the invention of blood-transfusion; Jack Prestcott, the son of a supposed traitor to the Royalist cause, determined to vindicate his father; John Wallis, chief cryptographer to both Cromwell and Charles II, a mathematician, theologian and inveterate plotter; and Anthony Wood, the famous Oxford antiquary. Each witness tells their version of what happened. Only one reveals the extraordinary truth.”

In November, when I finished “The Prince” by Tiffany Reisz I tweeted about my frustration about the monumental cliff-hanger the book ended on. I was delighted as well as surprised to have her reply to my tweet and admit that she is the queen of the “mind-fuck”. Although I won’t know the exact extend to which she fucked with her readers’ minds in that book and its two prequels until I read The Mistress, the fourth and final title in this part of her “Original Sinners” series, I am inclined to take her word for it. When asked, she recommended “An Instance of the Fingerpost” as one of the ultimate “mind-fuck” books she had ever read. This comment, of course, meant that curiosity got the better of me and I requested the book from my library. All I can say now that I have finished the book is WOW! This is indeed a book in which the reader is taken for a ride, given one impression only to have it demolished in a later part of the book. This book is a work of genius. The reader is presented with a mystery and subsequently given four different accounts of the events that lead up to and followed it. The four parts are told by four different narrators all of whom play a pivotal role in the proceedings. The four men sharing their stories all share from their own perspective and with their own interests colouring what they do and don’t share. And all four men come up with different answers and conclusions. Since only one of our narrators actually has all available information, only one of them shares the full story of what exactly has happened and why, and the reader is held in suspense until the very last page of the book.

What makes this book so incredibly clever is that the author plays a completely fair game with the reader. He doesn’t cheat and confront the reader with a lot of new, yet essential, information in the last few pages of the book. Most of the clues as to what is happening can be found in the first three accounts. I would defy anybody though to only read those parts and try to come up with all the right answers for I don’t think it is possible. This book plays with the reader at every turn and does this in such a way that the book gets ever more intriguing with each subsequent page; that which appears straight-forward turns out to be anything but.

As a mystery this book is intriguing, well plotted and completely engrossing. As a work of historical fiction it is fascinating as well as plausible, not in the least because most of the characters encountered in the book did really live at the time the story takes place.

Of course the second half of the 17^th century is a fascinating time to read about even without the mystery this book provides. England is a country trying to find a balance that will prevent it from descending into civil war once again and modern science is starting to emerge in a time when every new discovery still had to be attributed to the greater glory of God and superstition was still rife. It makes for a wonderful mix of progress and repression and it was with wonder and an occasional smile that I read about obviously very clever people with ideas and discoveries that were nothing sort of genius falling back on their faith to explain what they had produced through their own intelligence.

I could go on raving about this well written, well plotted and well executed book, but I will stop myself. I just want to say two more things:

-          Read this book if you haven’t already done so! And,

-          Thank you Miss Reisz for pointing me in the direction of this fabulous book!

THE LITTLE PRINCE

TITLE: THE LITTLE PRINCE

AUTHOR: ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Pages: 91

Date: 29/12/2012

Grade: 5

Library

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”

This is a story told by a man who discovered the truth quoted above as a child and who continued to view adults as unimaginative creatures even when he was a grown-up himself.

The narrator of this story drew a rather clever picture when he was six, a picture that the adults around him unfortunately didn’t understand. Instead he was advised to give up on his art and concentrate on more practical skills – on “matters of consequence”-, because that is what grown-ups are interested in. Years later, after he crashes his plane in the dessert he meets with The Little Prince who has arrived on earth after leaving his own asteroid and travelling to other planets. On his travels the Prince met all sorts of adults preoccupied with things that appear important to them but have no real relevance when you really think about it; a king, a conceited man, a tippler, a business man, a lamplighter – the first person who doesn’t appear ridiculous because he is thinking of something else besides himself. Once the Little Prince arrives on Earth he really starts learning lessons about friendship and about what makes certain things and people unique, even if they look just like thousands of other things and people:

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

This is a story about the innocence, wonder and honesty of children and how we lose that when we grow up and become obsessed with hard facts. It is a fable telling us to hang on to that innocence, to continue to look at the world with wonder, to never stop believing in the impossible; to never stop looking at the world through the eyes of the child we once were. This story shows us that the things we think we need and treasure – power, money, knowledge – are not what really matter in life. It is the things we can’t see, the things we can only feel or believe in, that make our lives worthwhile.

 

“But the eyes are blind. One must look with the heart.”

I really wish I could remember how I felt the first time I read this book. I must have been about ten (?) at the time and that is just too long ago. All I can say is that the title always stayed with me and that just hearing someone mention the book would fill me a pleasant, happy feeling not just for this book but also for my mother, who first told me to read it. And if that isn’t a good reason to occasionally re-read this book I don’t know what is.

WHEN SHE WOKE

TITLE: WHEN SHE WOKE

AUTHOR: HILLARY JORDAN

Pages: 341

Date: 04/12/2012

Grade: 5

Details: Received from Harper Collins

              Through Nudge

Own

“When she woke she was red.”

Hannah Payne has grown up in a future America where extreme right-wing and very religious beliefs determine the way people live their lives. Unlike her younger sister, Hannah has always struggled with the limitations her family and surroundings have imposed on her, but for most of her life she has more or less stuck to the rules. Recently that has changed though. When Hannah found herself pregnant as a result of her loving but illicit affair with a married man she decided to seek a very illegal abortion. When she is caught immediately after the clandestine procedure she is arrested and forced to stand trail. The accusation is murder and the victim her unborn child. The penalty for abortion is severe; refusing to name your abortionist increases the sentence by ten years and the fact that she refuses to name the babies father doesn’t help Hannah’s case either. When Hannah wakes up, shortly after having been sentenced to 16 years she is red. Not the sort of red that is the result of a sunburn but bright red, all over. In this new society most criminals are not incarcerated to serve endless sentences. Instead they get a treatment that radically changes the colour of their skin in accordance with the crime they have committed. And after thirty days in solitary confinement in a state facility, after a month of every minute of her existence being videoed to the population on the outside, Hannah is set free to take her changes in a world where everybody will know her crime with just one glance at her, where fanatical groups hunt Chromes like her and hurt or kill them without anybody really caring and where returning home is not an option.

Spending six months in a religious home for Chrome women appears to give Hannah the opportunity to get used to her situation and a chance for others to organise some sort of future life for her. But after only a few weeks the situation there becomes unbearable and Hannah leaves. With only one friend, another Chrome, to turn to Hannah’s options appear very limited until help arrives from an unexpected corner. It seems that Hannah does have a chance at a future. But the road to freedom is fraught with danger and Hannah has to face both outside threats and her inner doubts and demons before she can have a chance at a new life.

A dystopian thriller is always the scariest when the premise of the story appears only too plausible, which makes this book terrifying. You only need to turn on your television and watch certain American broadcasters to know that the religious beliefs voiced in this book are pretty close to those harboured by real and powerful people in today’s world. Reality may not have reached the extreme proportions as put forward in this story (yet), but you can’t help feeling that, if those right-wing voices get any stronger, it could easily come to pass. And the same is true for the system of punishment. Superficially it would make perfect sense to save money through not locking criminals up. As long as they are instantly recognisable and too busy trying to keep themselves alive they can’t pose much of a threat to society even if they are out and about. It is only once you start thinking about the further implications of such a system that the true horrors spring to mind.

So yes, this is a book that leaves the reader with a lot to think about. But it is much more than that. More than anything this is a very well plotted and fluently told story about one woman’s personal journey towards enlightenment. Although there is more than enough tension and danger in this book to keep the fan of thrillers turning the pages, there is at least as much character development and growth. Hannah’s journey from somebody who was taught all her life not to think for herself and not to question her betters to the young woman who grabs her own life in her hands and shapes it into what she hopes it will be, is fascinating and uplifting.

This is a very well written book and a balanced story. What I admired most is that I never felt as if the author was trying to convince me of her own opinions. She manages to write about the society in which Hannah grows up in such a way that the rules and way of life almost make sense. It is only as Hannah starts to question that which she has held to be true for most of her life that the reader starts to realise how insidious this world actually is. And Hannah’s transformation is gradual – occurs in fits and starts – and therefore all the more realistic.

In short, this is a very well written dystopian thriller; a fast read that will keep you thinking for days afterwards.