Wednesday, October 28, 2009

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson - Review

Imagine waking up and finding that you remember nothing --absolutely nothing. The people who say they are your parents tell you that you've had a terrible accident and that you need to stay inside while you recover. And that maybe you could recover your memories by watching the videos they've taken of your life. So you start to watch. But all the time you wonder why your family has relocated from Boston to California, why your Grandmother keeps such a distance from you when she clearly doted on you in the movies, why no one from Boston has tried to get in touch with you? And why don't they want you to leave the house.

But then you start remembering things that you shouldn't really remember and you decide your parents are keeping something from you. So you go to school, make new friends, and try to start again. But you keep trying to find out what they are keeping from you. Trying to recapture your past and what happened to you.

It's an amazing story that explores what it means to be human, how you impact the world around you, what makes you "you", and how far people go to save those they love, while exploring the boundaries of science and ethics. Beautifully written, complex yet realistic, this is thoughtful, provocative, disturbing, and yet uplifting. It will leave you with as many questions as it answers.
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3 comments:

Eleni said...

Nice review, I've had the hardcover of this book for the longest and still haven't read it, hopefully I get to it soon, it sounds awesome ;P

Bookgeek said...

I also had the book for the longest time before I read it. But it's really worth it.

Tere Kirkland said...

Really looking forward to this one, but I need to finish Leviathan first.

Thanks for a great review.