The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Release Date: April 2008
Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 265
Jenna awakes from an eighteen-month comma unable to remember who she is or those who are the closest to her. All that she knows is, is what she is told, she was in an accident. When her memories do start to come back, they are only in bits and pieces but something isn’t right. Jenna has memories of herself as an infant, and although she can’t remember anything about herself, she knows an unprecedented amount about world history. It doesn’t take Jenna long to figure out that a huge secret is being kept from her.
Here is an excerpt from the book. I don’t usually do this, but this passage just really got to me.
Pieces
Isn’t that what all of life is anyway?
Shards. Bits. Moments
Am I less because I have fewer, or do the few I have mean more?
Am I just as fell as anyone else? Enough?
Pieces.
Allys saying "I like you."
Gabriel snorting out bread, freeing me to laugh.
And Ethan reminding me how much I do know.
Pieces
I hold them like thy are life itself.
They nearly are.
Such a short summary, I know, but I hate to give anything away! The entire time your reading from Jenna’s perspective and you know that something isn’t right. You know there is something that your missing! What really happened after the accident?
This novel is part mystery and part science fiction. The story is told beautifully and it fully captivated me. It unfolds slowly, but it is necessary to understand everything that Jenna is going through. I was also fascinated by the topic of medical ethics, how far should we let science go? Is this the kind of world we’ll be living, in the not so distant future? If you haven’t read this novel yet, I highly suggest that you do. I know that I will be looking forward to reading more from Pearson!