Review - The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Read by Jenna Lamia
Publisher: Macmillan Audiobook 2008
Audiobook 6 discs 7 hours 30 minutes

Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox awakens after more than a year in a coma to find that her entire memory is gone. Her name, her parents, even her body is a stranger to her. Her parents tell her that she's been in an accident, but avoid giving away any details about what happened to her or why they moved from their home in Boston to a remote, run down home in California.

As Jenna begins to rebuild her life and memory, helped from detailed home movies that have been taken of her throughout her life, memories begin to come to her, hinting at secret that can tear her family apart.

"I never asked about the accident. Something told me not to. Maybe it was the shine of Mother's eyes.
Maybe it was Father's smile that tried too hard.
Maybe it was something deeper inside me that I still can't name.
The Accident.
Like a title. A stop sign. A wall.
It separates me from who I was and who I will be.
I can't ask and they don't offer.
It's a hushed agreement.
Perhaps the only thing
we have ever
agreed upon."

- From The Adoration of Jenna Fox

The book blends science fiction with the exploration of the human soul with grace and simplicity. The author also explores issues surrounding scientific ethics, though the book fall shorts when exploring this issue. It asks a very important question about human life, but fails to answer that question to any satisfying conclusion. The only other fault that I had with this book was the underdevelopment of the supporting characters. They seemed to fall flat, even the estranged relationship between Jenna and her grandmother could have been more fully explored, though plenty of page space was given to it.

I would recommend this book to readers 8th grade and up, and to those who enjoy dystopian themes without the bleakness of Feed.