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

From Inside Jacket: Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a year-long coma, and she's still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. Her parents show her home movies of her life, her memories, but she has no recollection. Is she really the same girl she sees on the screen?

Little by little, Jenna begins to remember. Along with the memories come questions - questions no one wants to answer for her. What really happened after the accident? 

My Rating: 5 hearts

Thoughts on the Novel: Owning a copy of Mary E. Pearson’s Scribbler of Dreams and having really enjoyed it, I decided to check out The Adoration of Jenna Fox from my local library.  I don’t generally read sci-fi – Scott Westerfeld’s work is an exception – but this book just blew me away.

Set in a future that sounds highly plausible given current medical research and technological advances, the story is written brilliantly with early chapters being short and having a confused undertone and later chapters becoming longer as Jenna begins to recover more of her memories. Two things that made Pearson’s writing even better though was the use of definitions of words that Jenna looks up and applies to herself and the questions Jenna poses to herself. The former lets the reader gain a deeper appreciation of certain words while the latter raises ethical issues that will linger with the reader.

Pearson also does an exceptional job with the creation of her characters. Jenna’s character slowly develops from an isolated and bewildered girl to one who is able to be assertive and create her own identity. The reader also learns about Jenna’s life before the accident as the “new” Jenna watches video clips of herself and so is able to empathize with Jenna’s parents’ actions. The other secondary characters like Lily, Jenna’s grandmother, and Jenna’s friends, Allys and Ethan, are also well-developed so that the reader understands their actions and motivations.

The Adoration of Jenna was released by Henry Holt and Co. in April 2008.

Comments About the Cover: I still think that the cover is kind of random but after having read the book, I at least know that the colour blue and the butterfly have some significance.