In Awake: A Memoir, Jen Hatmaker tells the honest and heartbreaking story about the end of her 26-year marriage. Her journey from that early morning in 2020 when she heard her husband whisper, “I just can’t quit you” to another woman to 2025 is sad and ironically witty, and also hopeful.
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When her marriage implodes, Hatmaker realizes she has been encouraging her large following of women to embrace authenticity and find agency but she herself had not. She makes it very clear that she felt like a failure.
Hatmaker calls her memoir a coming-of-middle-age story. Due to this traumatic event, her life was in upheaval, and with the help of loyal and loving family members and friends, she takes stock of the how and the why of her situation and rebuilds.
The how and why may upset some readers because Hatmaker explores gender roles and purity culture in the church and societal expectations of wives and mothers, and lays blame in both places. She questions the religious and cultural systems that kept her asleep.
Hatmaker is AWAKE now and charting a new course for the second half of her life.
Hatmaker narrates the audiobook, and it is excellent. The reader hears the pain in her voice at times because this is her story. Also, she offers “asides” (her word) for more context that are not in the book.
Look for these recommendations and other books at Knox County Online Library or your local independent bookstore each week.
Linda Sullivan is an avid reader and wants to inspire you to become one, too. For more recommendations or to talk books, reach out to her at thebookwhisperertn@gmail.com. She can also be found @thebookwhisperertn on Instagram.
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