The Adoration of Jenna Fox

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Apparently this is the first book in some sort of chronicles; I'm probably going to have to pick the others up since this one was pretty mind twisting.

An amazon summary to get us all mostly on the same page, "Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication." AMAZON LINK OF JUSTICE

Part of the reason I liked this book so much, is that I had no idea what was going on.

I'd like to think that I'm a hard person to completely stump to which direction the book is going, but I was stumped for so much of this book that it was really exciting for me to read.

Jenna Fox wakes up one day after being in a coma for a year after her terrible 'accident'. She has severe memory loss and even struggles with proper words. Luckily, her parents have discs or home videos of her life sorted by the years so she can start to remember who she was. Due to her being in a coma, she takes nutrients instead of eating and her body slowly begins to function as it once did again.

The very cool thing about this book as it starts to tackle the question, "What does it mean to be human?" through questions from Jenna and situations with the other characters. There are many moments where Jenna simply begins to rediscover herself that makes her seem more human and less like a robot or an infant first discovering things about the world.

The world building is fascinating as well as it seems to be a future alternate Earth with the way society is set up and how science is depicted.

I really enjoyed the struggle with ethics and human emotions, what does it mean to go too far and what can determine happiness in a person's life.

I found the book utterly fascinating with it's exploratory nature and only wish that I could read more about Jenna Fox. With how the book ends, I imagine that any other books in the chronicles are not about Jenna Fox but relate to her in some way. Maybe I'm wrong. I suppose I'll have to pick up a book to find out.

This is definitely a book that was thought provoking, and I loved to read the discussion questions at the end of the book as well as an interview of the author; it provided more insight to the book.

However, I also enjoyed how the book presented the questions, but didn't really determine answers. It was a good change of pace.

Happy reading!