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

Title: The Adoration of Jenna Fox
Author: Mary E. Pearson
Genre: Young-Adult, Sci-fi
Series: Jenna Fox Chronicles #1 

Paperback, 266 pages

Publication: April  29, 2008 by Square Fish

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Source: Publicist 

Everything is different
Seventeen-year-old Jenna Fox has just awoken from a year-long coma - so she's been told - and she is still recovering from the terrible accident that caused it. But what happened before that? She's been given home movies chronicling her entire life, which spark memories to surface. But are the memories really hers? And why won't anyone in her family talk about the accident? Jenna is becoming more curious. But she is also afraid of what she might find out if she ever gets up the courage to ask her questions.

What happened to Jenna Fox? And who is she really?

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is an interesting young-adult sci-fi series exploring themes of family, love, life, friendships and the discovery of one self.  Jenna Fox just woke up from being in a coma for over a year, and she doesn’t remember much of anything that happened before then. Her parents moved the family in the middle of nowhere and won’t let her leave the house. After many complaints for more freedom, Jenna was able to go to the local charter (environment school). It is there that Jenna learns social interaction, and how different she is from everyone else…how everyone there is pretty much an outcast. Jenna eventually discovers that she been in a horrible accident, an accident that a normal person wouldn’t be able to walk away from, let alone live.  All Jenna wants is to unlock her past to find out who she was, but once everything becomes clearer…she’ll realize she’ll never be the same ol’ Jenna again.

The novel was a perfect blend of contemporary and science fiction, woven together for a flawless story line. The science fiction was easy to understand, and it never overwhelms me when reading the story, which is told in the first person narrative. For most of the book Jenna is watching home movies of her childhood from birth up till the age of sixteen, trying to trigger any suppressed memories. She is basically learning everything over, the meaning of words, how to interact with others, and to recognize what certain emotions mean. There wasn’t much action, and sadly since we know what Jenna’s father does for a living…everything, including the ending was kind of predictable (minus one thing).  I just wish there was more of a mystery to it and more action. Jenna was a likeable character, I love that she never gave up and wanted more in life than what her parents thought was right for her. What she wanted most in the book was to find herself, her identity and I’m glad to say that she got exactly what she wanted in the end.  The Adoration of Jenna Fox was a good book, but didn’t have that big wow factor that I was looking for. Even though not the greatest, the ending left a lot of possibilities for the future and I am interested in seeing what happens to Jenna and her friends.