The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Jenna Fox has just woken from a year-long coma. She can recall facts about history and recite verbatim lines from Walden, but she can't remember anything about who she is. When her mother gives Jenna a stack of DVDs documenting the 16 years leading up to her coma, she sits down to watch. What she can't figure out is: why was she in a coma? Why does her grandmother hate her so much? And why does she walk funny? The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a YA futuristic novel that has all the usual tropes: threat of agricultural integrity (engineered crops vs. natural ones), development of super bugs due to vaccines and over-medication, heavy use of biotechnology, an incredibly devastating--natural--disaster (California had a really bad earthquake), and an angry teenager. To temper the elements that are out of control or have gotten to that point, Pearson introduces Lily, Jenna's grandmother and a devout Catholic. I don't normally like the inclusion of religion in the fiction I read (too easily it borders on proselytizing), but here it fuels Lily's emotional and spiritual motivations and behavior toward Jenna. There is also Allys, a friend Jenna makes in charter school who battles the political and social side of the science that has become quite personal for Lily. Jenna is all too analytical and blunt as the novel opens. The prose mimics her learning in sharp, precise sentences and phrases punctuated with dictionary definitions that span the spectrum of meaning. One of the most poignant is Jenna's discovery of the word lost: "She is afraid I will get lost. Lost adj. 1. No longer known. 2. Unable to find the way. 3. Ruined or destroyed. I am afraid I already am" (p. 18). The first part of the book was difficult for me to get through because of Jenna's scientific approach to gestures, language, and behavior--social cues we take for granted she had to learn all over again. Her study of words, like the quote from above, were what saved me. That and the humor that arose from the verbal situations she found herself in. Including a range of definitions was a not-so-subtle way of thrusting her struggle to the front of our concerns: how does Jenna navigate the literal with the trickiness of double-meanings that we intuit through context and experience; for all intents and purposes, Jenna has no experience. To emphasize this was the significance she attached to little occasions or details: "When your life has had few events to occupy it, it's amazing how a simple encounter can seem like an entire three-act play" (p. 53). This, along with the definitions helped me sympathize with Jenna, but I was glad when the prose started picking up as she became more comfortable navigating her surroundings. The gradual change in style reminded me of Charlie from Flowers for Algernon. In both cases, scientific intervention (or meddling, depending on how you choose to look at it) played a large role in the process of awareness that brought Charlie greater intelligence and Jenna--well

Terrifying yet intriguing. Those are my first thoughts after reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson. The basic premise: Jenna Fox, age 17, wakes up after being in a coma for one year. She has to relearn everything, walking, talking, thinking, etc. But something is off. What secret are her parents hiding from her? And that secret is HUGE! As I read, I got glimpses of the truth. And that's how the book reads, teasing and tormenting each moment. I felt Jenna's pain, confusion, and finally horror as she realized what happened to her. Pearson is an excellent storyteller, revealing all things in her own time. I know this review is secretive but I don't want to give too much away! It's better going into it not knowing much! It makes the reveal that much more exciting and revolting! Definitely pick up this book and read it! It's one of the best books I've read in a long time!

To Adore: to worship or admire as divine or as a deity; to be very fond of Mary E. Pearson's The Adoration of Jenna Fox begins with a teenager who wakes up from a coma to discover she has no memory of her life or her "accident." But the story is much more than Jenna's struggle to find her identity and reclaim her past. The novel examines how one person's struggle with identity can impact a family, friends, and even people s/he doesn't know. ***Spoiler Alert*** Jenna Fox is a teenager severely injured in an accident, and many medical professionals presumed she would die. However, through significant risk and determination, Jenna survives and awakens from a coma. She doesn't understand the world she awakens in; a new home in a new state and a place where her grandmother doesn't look at her in the same way. Jenna grows uneasy with the life she now leads, seeking greater freedom for herself. She makes friends again, returns to school, and learns the biggest secret of her life. It is clear from the videos Jenna watches to regain her memories that her parents adored her, but they seem to have adored her to the point that she was perfection in their eyes, rather than their daughter--an imperfect teenager. She felt adored; she felt like she had to be perfect. I wondered if this is why the accident occurred--she wanted to break free from the perfect mold she had become. She feels guilt over her decision, and she even expresses her desire to break free before the accident. Jenna seems to ask the same question of herself; did the accident happen because her parents adored her too much and she merely wanted to be normal? ***End Spoiler Alert*** I will not go into the secret or any of the pertinent details leading up to the secret, but I will mention that I uncovered it long before it was revealed. However, I don't think that this detracts from the overall examination of human identity and acceptance within society for those things that are not easily understood or explained. I read this book fervently over the last week. There are so many nuances in this society that Pearson created, and each of those nuances could be discussed numerous times over. But the one question that sticks in my mind is how far would you go to save your child when all hope is lost? I know many parents would say they would do anything to save their child, but it makes me wonder whether those decisions are made for the right reasons or for selfish ones...at least partially. I wonder if the parents in this book thought about how their decisions would impact Jenna and her life, or if they merely wanted to save their child because she was their only child and their miracle child. However, no parent wishes to die before their child, nor to witness the death of their child. The dichotomy of this point is likely to haunt me for some time. I don't have an answer to my own question.

How far would you go to save your child? Is there a limit as to how much science and medicine should intervene when it comes to saving lives? These are questions that are still spinning around in my head three days after I finished The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Set in a dystopian future where there have been enormous medical advances, 17-year-old Jenna Fox wakes up from a coma after a horrific car accident. As her memory gradually returns, she can't help but think that something is not quite right. How is possible that she can remember events from her infancy? How can she quote Thoreau's Walden word for word? Why does her grandmother seem to hate her? And why is her mother so secretive? As Jenna struggles to find her identity and fit in with her peers, she discovers the terrible truth about the accident and her recovery that leaves her and her entire family in danger. Mary E. Pearson's powerful writing and unique plot kept me up reading until 3:00 in the morning because I simply had to know what would happen to Jenna. However, despite the seriousness of the book, Mary E. Pearson never lets you forget that Jenna is a teenager and adds some lighthearted moments. This is one of those books that I feel crosses over into the "adult" realm, and teenagers shouldn't be the only ones to read it. Every person (adult or teenager) who has questioned the role of science and the possibilities it can play in medicine should read this book. How far would YOU go? How far should science go? As a mother myself, I think I know what MY answer would be.

"The dictionary says my identity should be all about being separate or distinct, and yet it feel like it is so wrapped up in others." Jenna was left comatose after a tragic accident. One year later, she awakens to a life she can't recall, a body she doesn't recognize, two parents and a grandmother doesn't really know, and a house she can't leave. Her parents want her to stay at home for a while in order to make full recovery and avoid a relapse. Their smiles are cautious, wary; her grandmother's smile is sad, almost bitter. When Jenna watches old home movies, she can't help but think of herself as two people. (Since she narrates the story in first person, it's easy to follow this train of thought: there's "Jenna," dancing and smiling away on the recordings, and there's "I" or "me" watching them in the present day. Also, there are shaded pages, passages in which Jenna has mental confessions about the past, present, and future.) She knows she was a dancer, a daughter, a student, a friend, and that she was happy, but the most of this knowledge comes from outside sources rather than her own memories. She does not want to rely on what the videos show and what her family tells her - she wants to know herself, herself. Bits and pieces of her past begin tug at the edges of her mind, but they are not always happy and rarely are they clear. If anything, these blurry scenes and feelings only make her more confused about what happened to her, with her, around her. With the help of others - some forthcoming and some reluctant - things begin to clear up. The edges of her mind are still jagged and raw. Tidbits scraping there only serve to open up old wounds and leave new scars. Wanting to know who she was, why she is the way she is, and what happened the night of the accident, Jenna pushes her parents' buttons as well as her own physical and mental limits. Her arms, hands, legs and feet, which once were "perfect," don't look, feel, or move the way they used to, her physical changes being as obvious and frustrating to her as her mental blocks. Though she is at first scared and tentative, Jenna keeps trying to get to the bottom of things until she gets through to others and dares to walk on a new path. "Are the details of our lives who we are, or is it owning those details that makes the difference?" This book brings up many questions, not only physiological and psychological but also philosophical: How much can you really trust your memories - and if you lose them, can you get them back? Can you get yourself back? "Maybe that is all any life is composed of, trivia that eventually adds up to a person, and maybe I just don't have enough of it yet to be a whole one." The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson is a stunning, fascinating novel. This eye-opening story which openly explores the concept of identity will stay on your mind for a long, long time.