The Adoration of Jenna Fox (The Jenna Fox Chronicles, 1)

So much has been said about this book already that I don't have a whole lot to add, beyond saying: For anyone who enjoys biomed ethics books, this is the one to read. There are a lot of crappy biomed ethics books on the shelves right now that neglect to address the tough issues that arise around

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this topic, but Pearson confronted them head on. She didn't spend a whole lot of time covering some of them, but the way she handled particular issues (for me, I always look for discussion of the soul, as I find that question fascinating) was extremely well done.

I also really enjoyed the way the book was laid out, with Jenna's thoughts placed between the chapters.

Ultimately, it's not only an entertaining story, but it raises questions that make you think. It's intelligent YA that's worthwhile for adults and youth alike.

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Jenna Fox wakes up from a coma following a car accident. Her body feels uncomfortable, though it is not as damaged as would be expected following her accident. She is in a new home, on the opposite coast, and has no contact with anyone from her past other than her mother, father, and grandmother,

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with whom she lives. At first, she has almost no memories of her former life and her grandmother treats her icily. Slowly, Jenna begins to piece together the truth of what has happened since her accident and to try to build a new identity for herself.
Although this is a science fiction novel, it is one that is likely to appeal to a broader audience, especially because it is also a well-written coming of age novel. Though the premise of the book is that Jenna is saved through the use of illegal and possibly unethical scientific technology, much of the story focuses on her emotional journey as she rediscovers herself and questions what it means to be human, an individual, and a friend. Her struggle to make her own decisions and form her own identity, independent of the perfect version of herself that she believes her adoring parents expect her to uphold is one familiar to many young adult readers. Learning Jenna’s story through her eyes as she discovers it, allows readers to understand her feelings and to empathize with her and keeps the suspense high throughout the book. The book raises great opportunities for discussion and may challenge some ideas that readers’ take for granted. It will be popular with many young adult readers.
I really enjoyed this book. I kept talking about it as I was reading, so my 14-year-old daughter decided to read it, too. We kept making and modifying predictions about what had happened and what was happening all the way through our reading. I was mostly correct about my predictions, but there were some surprises, and having an idea about what had happened did not ruin the suspense or my interest in the book, as sometimes happens. (We're both on the waiting list for the release of the sequel _The_Fox_Inheritance_, which will be released August 30, 2011.)

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Jenna Fox wakes up from the coma she's been in for over a year with severe amnesia after an "accident." Her doctor father promises her that she'll start to regain her memories slowly but surely; Jenna does, but she struggles to put the pieces together about what she knows about herself before and

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now. Her mother gives her a set of discs of Jenna at various ages; but despite this, Jenna senses her parents are hiding something.

Set sometime in the future with medical advancement and bioengineering so far gone that native plants are struggling for survival, this is a science fiction that doesn't get bogged down in the details of The Future even while exploring ethics of the scientific and medical advancements made. Jenna's normal teenage struggle with identity is multiplied tenfold by her memory loss and the unfolding of her parents secrets. The parts that seemed the most forced had to do with Dane, a guy who is characterized as "not right" because his classmates look into his eyes and see emptiness. Upon reflection, I wanted to have a deeper of a character sketch than that, though in the pace of the story it only bothered me a little while I was reading. Not a perfect book, but a fast-paced read for me because I wanted to know more about Jenna and the decisions she would make.

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Jenna is a 17-year –old who wakes up after an 18 month coma. Slowly her memories begin to return and some disturbing truths are revealed. This dystopian novel deals mainly with science vs. ethics and is hard to put down.

I love dystopian novels. Some of my favorite books fall into this category.

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I love how truths of human nature are often revealed in these stories and the fact that they’re never very far from our current reality. Writing a book set in a future or parallel world gives the author the freedom to explore touchy issues in an abstract way.

In dystopian novels the line between good and bad is always blurred, it is an exploration of gray in a way that shows just how black and white things often are (if that makes any sense.) The bad guys always have a perfectly reasonable explanation for all the choices they’ve made. Sometimes they even make some convincing arguments, but then you remember what they’ve done and you’re horrified that you even considered siding with them for an instant.

*********SPOILERS FOR OTHER DYSTOPIAN BOOKS*********

For example, in Fahrenheit 451 they burn books, in The Giver they have forced euthanasia, in The Hunger Games it’s the slaughter of children for entertainment.

******SPOILER OVER*********

Though I was completely swept away by this book at first, it seemed to unravel a bit in the second half. I don’t think Pearson knew what point she was trying to make. It was like she was using the book as a platform to discuss the issue and in the first half she brought up some chilling points, then in the second half she seemed to just waffle back and forth on whether she thought it was right or wrong.

My favorite part of the whole book is the character of Lily, Jenna’s grandma. She is the grounding factor for me, the one I can relate to. She’s in the story, but she isn’t the one who has made any of the decisions, so she can be a bit more objective.

The inspiration for this book was born out of Pearson’s own experiences. Her eldest daughter was diagnosed with cancer, then a few years later her youngest daughter was diagnosed with the same cancer. Those traumatic events led her to explore the question of science vs. ethics and wonder how far a parent would be willing to go to save their child. It’s a fascinating exploration, but she didn’t seem to be able to answer her own question.

It’s definitely worth reading, but some elements are far-fetched and it seems to really have to reach to wrap everything up at the end. I do think this would be a fun one to discuss in a book club.

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This book was absolutely lovely. It starts as a bit of a mystery, although not much of one - the answers to Jenna's questions are fairly clear, and I think that I knew most of them fairly early one.

But that doesn't matter, because that's not the point. The point here is a lovely and human

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exploration of identity, of what it takes to be you (how much is enough? 10%? Does it matter /which/ 10%? ), and of how people change.

There's also a delightful thread about medicine and technology and what it can do, and what it should do. This thread surprised me some - the book manages to explore both sides and come out with an angle that I wasn't quite expecting. It made me think a lot about many far-future epics I've read - things like Pandora's Star and Old Man's War - where technology that enables you to live forever or reboot your body is commonplace. Here, we see something of what society might be in the very first throes of these possibilities. It's something I haven't seen explored very often, and it's well done.

Of particular importance is Jenna herself - her voice is lovely, and her character is drawn with a lot of heart. You feel for her and with her, and the questions she asks (especially about definition) resonate deeply. I suspect even more deeply with its intended YA audience. Without a strong Jenna at the center of this book, the rest of it would be pointless - fortunately, here we have a character who can carry all those heavy questions on her shoulders with ease - in part because she's the one asking them.

Highly recommended.

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This book is about a girl named Jenna Fox who almost dies in a car accident. Her father works for a medical company that has come up with breakthroughs in medical technology. His wife and himself cannot bare the thought of losing their only child. Therefore, they decide to take what is remaining of

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her body and and use Bio Gel to make a new, perfect body for Jenna. However, only ten percent of the old Jenna is left. When Jenna wakes up from an eighteen month coma, she remembers nothing about who she is. She begins remembering some events from her life and slowly figures out what her parents have done to her. Throughout the remainder of the book, Jenna struggles with her new self. Is she really human and has a soul, or is she merely a lab rat that is part of new technology? Jenna struggles to accept herself and find her own identity.

Two important themes from this book that would be good for a teacher to research and discuss are breakthroughs in medical technology and the search for perfection. Doctors and scientists are coming up with new vaccines and cures for diseases every day. However, where do we draw the line? Many of these new advances in technology are very beneficial; however, do we, as humans, have the right to play God and determine when someone should or should not die. I feel like this topic would be very engaging and interesting for adolescent readers because of the various opinions and outlooks on this subject. Another important topic in this book was Jenna's struggle to accept herself, find her own identity, and quit living to be the "perfect child" for her parents. So many children today live to please their parents. Also, many parents today live through their children. Many adolescents struggle to find their own true identity. Therefore, I find it very important to discuss this topic. Children need to know that they are their own person and should be happy in their own skin. Yes, they should respect their parents and authority. However, no one can live to please other people forever. Eventually, people must accept themselves and live to do what makes them happy.

I very much enjoyed this book. I found it very interesting because I feel like doctors and scientists today are making millions of breakthroughs in technology. Therefore, I could see us one day being able to carry out procedures like those done to Jenna Fox. This book did not remind me of anything else I have ever read before. However, I felt like the topics and themes in this book could easily be in real life. I feel like one day in the near future, we will be able carry out transplants that keep people alive like Jenna. I also feel like Jenna's struggle to find her identity is a topic that many people struggle with, whether they are 100% human or only 10% human. Furthermore, I feel like when our medical skills are advanced enough to carry out procedures like those in this book, more and more people will struggle with the same questions as Jenna. Do they have a soul? Are they in control of their own body, or do they simply live off of neurochips? Identity is not something concrete; it is abstract. A person must believe in who they are. Only then do they find their own identity. I would use this book for seventh thru twelfth grades. The words are not difficult, but I feel like the content is inappropriate and too complex for students any younger. I also feel like this would be a great book to use as a supplemental text in biology. The advances in medical technology in this book would be great to start many class discussions in biology. I enjoyed reading this book and will definitely implement it into my middle or high school classroom.

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Like most seventeen-year-olds, Jenna Fox is still trying to figure out who she is. Only she probably has more existential questions to deal with than most teenagers, because Jenna has just woken up from a year spent in a coma following a horrific car accident that nearly killed her, and she can't

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remember anything at all about her past or who she was. She has to rely on a bunch of videotapes recorded over the years by her parents to see for herself what she was like growing up, and she's not sure she can continue being the perfect and adored child she seemed to have been for the first 16 years of her life. Her grandmother Lilly seems to mistrust, even dislike her, though Jenna has no idea what she's done to deserve this cold reserve. Day by day, she begins to recover memories from her past, including some memories which she shouldn't have, such as when she was baptized when only a few months old. She's curious to know why they are now living in California when her and her parents had spent all their lives previous to a few weeks ago living in Boston, where her father is still working. Little by little, she recovers her memory, but still things don't seem to add up, and she isn't quite sure there is a connection between the Jenna before the accident, and the one who has woken up a year later. There's very little else I can say about this book without revealing a major spoiler.

A very well written story with an intriguing premise and and intelligent development which is suitable for young and old adults alike. It's a short novel to begin with, but I created lots of listening time and finished it in just two days because I was dying to know how things unfolded. Jenna Lamia, who narrates the audio version, is a great narrator and is convincing as a teenager with her girlish voice and the maturity she brings to the reading of a complex character. This is book is part 1 of a trilogy, but it's great as a stand-alone too. Definitely recommended.

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I wasn't too sure of this at first as the description of the back of the books seemed very misleading. I'd asked for recommendations for dystopian books, and the blurb on the back made me think I was actually getting a time traveling book.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox was a very interesting read, and

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Jenna was a very likable character. Her confusion, fear, and frustrations were very natural and made her very believable.

About halfway through the book, I felt that it was turning into Spielberg's A.I. and was certain she would be some robot. I just felt like it was too similar to the AI movie. It asks the same questions, but has none of the action. What action there was, was minor. The character of Dane never goes anywhere. Just leads to more questions. Even the storyline of Allys never fulfills it's promise. The moment Jenna left Ally's house, I knew Allys parents what they would do. Jenna says Allys wouldn't want it, yet does nothing to stop it and we never see Ally's reaction.

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Jenna Fox-modern day Frankenstein? Jenna awakens from a coma to find her memory gone, her two best friends dead, and her body strangely different. Slowly, she comes to realize that she should have died after the car wreck but her parents managed to "save" her. Actually, they were only able to save

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10 percent of her brain, the butterfly or core. The rest of her is pieced together from lab grown samples and an incredible blue gel that her father's biomedical company produces. Is she still Jenna? Does her soul still exist? Jenna struggles with her humanity while trying to relearn life, love, and relationships.

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The plot behind this book is quite innovative, however, I’m not really able to speak to it as much as I’d like for fear of spoiling some of the outstanding revelations the reader is party too as the story unfolds.

What worked for me — Pearson wrote Jenna’s struggle for identity so

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profoundly. The hurdles of secrecy from those around her, seeking and navigating new friendships, the desperation to remember who she was all shaped how Jenna constructed who she was presently.

I enjoyed the ethical dillema’s Jenna’s circumstance created. These dilema’s affected every relationship she had as well as the nation as a whole. It was definitely an interesting aspect of the story that surrounded morality and values. Further it was thought provoking enough to lead the reader to question their own thoughts on the issues presented. I do feel like this would make an excellent book club read as there is a wealth to discuss.

What didn’t work for me — the end. I felt like the epilogue rushed to tie everything up with a nice pretty bow. We’d spent all this time in the messy aftermath of Jenna’s accident and then we travel however many years after major revelations are made and we have epic scale closure. Personally I would have liked to have either seen a small progression in time from said revelations or, even better, read the story between when they were made and where Jenna landed in the epilogue.

The tone. The tone of this story was quite docile and monotone to me. I think given the circumstances of Jenna’s accident and the secrets being kept this choice made by Pearson was a conscious one. But because it was so flat I didn’t feel the emotion as much as I would have liked. Further I think some of the urgency was lost when we learn some of the higher level secrets being kept from Jenna.

Ultimately, Adoration of Jenna Fox was a good read that certainly makes a person think. It’s one of those YA books that I feel could appeal to those who are not sold on the genre. It would make an excellent first foray for adults curious to experience young adult literature.

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The adoration of jenna fox was a great book. Jenna Fox is a 17 year old girl who has been in a coma for a year. Jenna had a car accident and was knockes out in a coma for a year. When she wakes up she does not remember anything. Jenna soon figures out why she can't remember anything, but I am not

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going to tell that because i think that it is a big part of the book and you should read it to find out. Jenna's father is a doctor/scientist and she calls him father. Her mother name is Claire and she also has a grandmother, who doesn't like Jenna very much and these reasons will be revealed as you come across the mystery of the book that i don't want to give away.

I think that this book is a great book for the classroom because it shows what the world may be like in 100 years and i think that it is a good thing that we as teachers expose children to what might be in the future of our world, as far as the girl made from biogel made. I also think that it is a good thing for children to think about what it would be like to lose a year of your life. This would be a good book to read and then maybe ask the children to write a paper on what it would be like to lose a year of your life and have them think of what t would be like to wake up and not remember your family or your friends or your life.

My personal opinion of this book is great. I love this book and I honestly didn't think that i would in the beginning. But as I read more of the book the better it got especially when the big mystery of the book is revealed, but I am not going to tell you that or the way that it ends because that would give away all of it. I think that if you haven't you should really go out and buy this book and read it.

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The Adoration of Jenna Fox is about a girl named Jenna who miraculously wakes up from a year and a half long coma only to discover that she doesn’t remember anything about her life before waking up. As we read, we find out that the book is written in a kind of post-apocalyptic world caused by a

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worldwide epidemic due to the use of some many vaccinations and bioengineered products. This causes Jenna to question her everything including her being alive when the accident that caused the coma should not have been survivable.
I would definitely love to use this book in a middle to upper level science classroom. This book could be read before, along with, or even after a unit in bioengineering or even human biology. It could also possibly be a fore-warning to many and bring about the awareness of the possible side-effects of bioengineered agriculture and animals. I could also just have it in a regular classroom library for a reading class. I feel that the book could teach young readers a lot about themselves and how to be more accepting of themselves and others.
I really enjoyed this book! I loved how Pearson nicely wrapped it up in the end for the readers. I appreciated the overall message that I received from the book and that was to kind of accept yourself as you are and don’t question yourself so harshly. My favorite part in the book (spoilers!) is when Jenna and Lily collaborate and conspire against Jenna’s parents. This book makes me want to read more by this author and to show it to others to let them know that it’s out there and that it’s a really fantastic read.

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Pearson, Mary. (2008). The Adoration of Jenna Fox. New York: Henry Holt. 266 pp. ISBN 0-8050-7668-9 (Hardcover); $16.95

Look for this one on award tables next year. Pearson’s A Room On Lorelei Street is still one of my favorites; this one is even better. Jenna has been in a coma for a year. Now

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she is coming out of it and is beginning to remember. These memories, however, call into question Jenna’s right to be alive! I especially love the way this book sneaks up on readers. At first I thought OK this is an "I forgot" book. Soon, however, you find yourself saying, "Toto I don't think this is Kansas anymore." And when Jenna cuts herself and learns the startling truth about who she is, I thought, "Oh no, there is still too much book left for this to happen so soon." What a delightful surprise to find myself realizing that I was so WRONG so many times. What an astonishing and surprising read! This book is PERFECT for teens that often fill themselves with little pieces of others in the sometimes desperate hope that those pieces will provide an identity. There is much to talk about with this one. It works on many levels. I plan on recommending it for book groups and I think it works for both teens and adults. By the time this article appears, readers will be able to purchase multiple copies of this future award winner!

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This book is about a girl who is named Jenna. She has had a car accident, and she has been in a coma for about a year and half. Before, she had the accident she lived in Boston. When she woke up from heer coma she was living in California. Her dad is her doctor. Also, for some reason she thinks her

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grandmother, Lily does not like her. In this book, when Jenna wakes up from her coma she does not remember anyone including her parents. She does not remember words and how to perform everyday task.

I think this book would be a good book to use in a science class. This book shows how the different medical technologys work. Jenna has biochips in her. Also, I believe this book would be a good book for a technology class. I believe this book could really show students how the medical world really works.

I would give this book a rating of 4. I think in the near future a lot of the medical world will be like this. It was very interesting to see how we can use technology today and how it effects our lives. It is amazing to see how a girl that is in a coma for a year and half survives. Jenna is known by her parents as their miracle child. Her mother had miscarriages before she was born. That is why Jenna was in coma so long, because her parents did not want her to die. Jenna wanted to go to school, but her mother did not want her to go. Finally, her mother enrolled her in a charter school. That is where she met Ethan. Her grandmother really did not seem to like Ethan. Ethan and Jenna go to visit Allys. Allys's mother thinks she does not need any visitors, but her dad thinks other wise. At the beginning when Jenna wakes up from her coma, her mother tells her not to go outside, but she does anyway. Jenna wonders off to Mr. Bender's house. When Jenna is older she marries Ethan. After, she marries Ethan the house she lived in burnt and now they live in Mr. Bender's house.

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Jenna Fox has been in a coma for the last year. She remembers nothing of the accident or her life before. Her parents and grandmother try to cover up the past but Jenna is determined to find out what exactly happened. What she discovers, however, is a whole different thing than what she expects.

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Now across the USA from where she formerly was, Jenna tries to become normal again by even trying to enroll into school. But Jenna is far from normal and struggles to keep her Secret.

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A spectacular piece of science fiction to make any young adult or adult pause to consider ramifications of genetically modification to food, environment, and the human body. Enjoyable as a companion to the backstory of Dead Witch Walking for adults. Similarly interesting in comparison to Artemis

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Fowl for younger readers. Those books having been mentioned, The Adoration of Jenna Fox is in no way similar to those books, but is in fact a unique story (so far as I've read recent sf), suggesting some elements of Feed, Maximum Ride and Pretties.

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I don't regret it one bit, and don't quite understand where my friends are coming from. I enjoyed the story. There was very little that I didn't like about the book.
I liked the mix of characters. Jenna's grandmother being my favorite. She just seemed really logical and down to Earth. I liked

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hearing about Jenna and her grandmother's relationship before the accident, the connection that used to be there before the accident, and the transformation it had made after. I also loved how the grandmother (Lily) would be so supportive of her daughter (Claire) Jenna's mother in the whole thing, even though the situation was not acceptable, she was there to support her daughter in the decisions being made. That is a good mother.
There is a certain level of mystery and danger to their story. They are taking baby-steps regarding Jenna's "recovery", she has to be able to live her life, get out of the house and go back to school. But the revelations that come about because of her need to live a life is what this is all about really.
A very good story of what could become of our future, medical advances and if we are able to achieve such great things, what is the point.
Although there is not a huge religious concept brought into the book, it is mentioned, but not overwhelming and definitely something that would need to be approached if our future is headed this way.
I enjoyed the characters in this book, they each represented a part of humanity, showing the reader different human reactions to school, technology, religion, loss/death. All kinds of emotional ranges from fear, anger, love, happiness, friendship. A very wide range of things being represented in different characters and how they all interacted with Jenna, as she is now and her memories of before the accident. A huge eye opening experience for me into the range of human emotions regarding advances not only in technology but also medicine and the affects that our future may have on the environment around us (only lightly touched on in this particular story, but still there)
This would be a really good book for teachers to use as a tool in classrooms for the above reasons.

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Jenna Fox is a seventeen year old who has been in a coma for eighteen months after a terrible car accident. Now she has awakened, but her memory has not:

"I don’t remember my mother, my father, or Lily. I don’t remember that I once lived in Boston. I don’t remember the accident. I don’t

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remember Jenna Fox.”

By page 31 we get a huge hint to the mysteries posed thus far by Jenna’s condition. At that point, I almost put the book down, but decided there must be a reason why the author gives it away so quickly; she must have more to say. And in fact, she does.

Caution: The next two paragraphs are sort of spoilery (at least until page 31 when you find this out anyway):

Ten percent of Jenna’s brain was salvaged from the accident and a bit of her skin and DNA, so she was reconstituted with her father’s biotech innovation “Bio Gel.” Jenna is furious when she finds out. Is she even human? Is the “brain” the same as the “mind”? Does she have a soul? Will she now be perfect or can she just be Jenna – that is, the new Jenna? What will the repercussions be when she falls in love with a “human” male who will age, can procreate, and will die?

Moreover, there are societal issues to be considered as well: How far should a parent go to save a child? Is it ethical to pour so many resources into one life? Who decides then who shall live and who shall die?

Discussion: If you’ve read Richard Powers book Galatea 2.2, you know that there are much more sophisticated ways to treat the issues raised in this related story for young adults. But I think giving voice to these concerns by a teenage girl is a good idea. First, it brings these issues to the attention of young readers, which may get them interested in the very real contemporary debate on allocation of resources for health care. Second, there is also a very charming coming of age aspect to the story when Jenna meets a boy she likes, which adds another dimension of interest for readers otherwise adverse to reading about science.

Evaluation: I really liked the way the author portrayed Jenna; I thought her voice had a wonderful authenticity in spite of Jenna’s enhanced mental capabilities. The way she related to her parents, with that typical teen combination of love and rebelliousness, seemed right on. I also liked the way Jenna loved her friends, both male and female. I can’t rave about the book for me as an adult; it struck me as very much a YA book.

The epilogue, however, showed promise as an additional book! It has echoes of Robert Heinlein's Time Enough For Love, which, if you haven't read it, is a scifi classic about a long-lived male who keeps outliving the women he loves. Heinlein was a bit of a male chauvinist however; it would be wonderful to see the epilogue of Jenna Fox fleshed out to reflect a female perspective on disparate lifespans.

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4.5/5 stars

With a slight sci-fi bent and a beautiful use of language, The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a poignant, gorgeously introspective book about what it truly means to be an individual, the nature of grief and loss, and the sheer ferocity of a parent’s love. This novel held so much depth, and

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many times I found myself blown away by Pearson’s keen and honest insights about life through Jenna’s inner monologue.


Jenna, her parent’s miracle baby, has long felt weighed down by the enormity of their expectations for her. For so long, she’s felt the need to pursue perfection to please them — to keep their love and approval. It’s interesting to watch her interactions with her parents and grandmother evolve as Jenna rediscovers and reinvents herself in the aftermath of her accident. Ironically, Jenna just may find the tragedy that forever altered her life, may just have given her the freedom she needs to be her own person.


Overall, Jenna’s journey to discover who she is and who she was will resonate with readers on many levels, as she questions who or what defines a person, what gives us worth and what really makes us human.

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Science and technology. Advances in medicine. These are suppose to be governed by logic and reason. Yet their existence was founded by hope. Every day someone, somewhere hopes and prays for a cure, for a way, for a life. Lose a limb? They can give you a false one. It's not the same but it lessens

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the feeling of loss. An organ fails? You get in line for a new one. You may get it and maybe, just maybe it'll take to the rest of you. Those that make the discoveries, claim great strides. For those who are waiting, will it ever catch up with the hope?

In a future, science has developed a fix all. Bio gel, a neurochip laden, oxygenated substance that mimics human cells, only more efficiently, and can condition themselves to perfectly replicate real cell action. They can become whatever they are told to be. Not just a new arm, your arm. Not a donor heart, your heart. We can now completely replace any part that is diseased or damaged. With this new technology, we could completely rebuild a human and to tether that ability, the government has sanctioned that only up to 49% of a person can be replicated. Brain cells are forbidden. There must still be boundaries. We must still have an expiration date.

A terrible accident should have cost Jenna her life, as it did the other victims of the accident. No one could have survived it. Maybe no one really did. There shouldn't be anything left of her. Maybe there really isn't.

Don't you just love the dystopian genre? It's like reading a horror story, a sci-fi and a conspiracy theory all in one. It's conceivability is the scary part. The way it so closely mimics our own reality blurs the line on fiction and the fact that you could really imagine this happening makes you question whether or not it already has. I get so caught up in these stories I almost forget that the neighbors are not really zombie/alien/robots- well maybe mine are.

Jenna's story is full of questions. Could this happen? Should this happen? And maybe even a hopeful, "When will this happen?" The myriad of ethical issues raised are interwoven into a family's understandable sense of desperation. If you could save your child or loved one? Government regulations and moral responsibility be damned. You'd do it. Are we such selfish creatures that we would jeopardize the very humanity of the human race to save the one person that means the most to us and us alone? Yes, but I prefer to believe it's because our capacity to love trumps reason every time.

"One small changed family doesn't calculate into a world that has been spinning for a billion years. But one small change makes the world spin differently in a billion ways for one family."

Excellent story of self-discovery. For Jenna it's both real and replicated, and how you have to learn to except who and what you are, even though you may not like what you find out. Even in a future where so much of a person can, in essence, be faked, the part or us that is us doesn't change.

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The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a contemporary novel inside a science fiction cover. Though the novel takes place far in the future, it focuses on issues that teens struggle with today, like struggling with self-identity. Most of all, Jenna Fox focuses on choices, and really gets the reader to

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question what they believe to be right or wrong.

I enjoyed The Adoration of Jenna Fox because of its strong themes and its mysterious main character. The storytelling is perfect: Mary E. Pearson slowly reveals who Jenna Fox is and was while keeping us guessing all the way through. Small hints are dropped, but most of my assumptions were quickly turned on their heads.

The science fiction elements of the story had me especially intrigued—I wish there had been a bit more of a focus on that, if not just because I’m somewhat of a nerd. The Adoration of Jenna Fox is very similar to Robin Wasserman’s Skinned in terms of science fiction elements, but where Skinned focused more on SF, Jenna Fox tackled the emotional side of things.

I decided to stick with a shorter review for The Adoration of Jenna Fox because it’s the type of novel that you probably shouldn’t know too much about before reading it. I had heard only that the book was very good before picking it up—I didn’t have much of an idea of the storyline. This definitely helped keep the book mysterious, just like its main character.

4/5 Stars for a deep-thinker story with science fiction elements and contemporary themes.

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Before the accident she was Jenna Fox, a sixteen year old who followed the rules, who was her parents' miracle child, who was perfect. After the accident she was no longer sure she was Jenna Fox. She was no longer sure who Jenna Fox was.

When she awoke she cried, she didn't remember doing that. When

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she awoke her family was with her; her watching father who was soon to leave her, her over protective mother who would not leave her side, and her grandmother who now despised her. They were all there but she didn't remember them.

When she awoke it was to a different world, a different city on the other side of the country, a different house unfilled and dilapidated, a different room bare and impersonal. What had happened for them to move so far, what had happened to all her belongings, what had happened to her?

As everyone around her tries to convince her of who she was she realises she no longer knows what she is. What is she if she can not understand the world around her, if words she once knew escape her, if voices she once heard still call to her? Is who she is now enough to exist, enough to be loved? Can she still be Jenna Fox without knowing anything about her?

The Adoration Of Jenna Fox is about definitions, acceptance and ethics. A captivating and moving mystery of life and change that demonstrates the blinding power of love, and how far people will go to save the ones they love.

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Jenna wakes up after a serious accident with amnesia following a long comma. As she struggles to regain her sense of self, she has to work to discover just how far her parents went to save her and is forced to come to terms with her new life.

I knew way more about this book than you're supposed to

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going into it. I wonder how much it changed my enjoyment of it. The book was by no means hard to get through, but I was a little disappointed by the end, which I believe many people liked a lot. (I think mostly it's me holding a grudge against a character who gets a happy ending.) I liked the main character and enjoyed the mental exercise of considering the choices of almost all of the characters, so in the end, a worthwhile read.

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2 words that describe the book: Sci-fi Lite

3 settings where it took place or characters you met:

* Setting: California, sometime in the future

* Jenna Fox is a 17-year-old girl who wakes up after a year-long coma. She had been in a terrible accident but seems to have no recollection of her life

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before. Little by little, Jenna begins to remember more about her past, but each memory brings more questions--questions that her devoted parents seem not to want to answer. When she finally uncovers the truth of what happened to her, it rocks her to her core.

* Lily is Jenna's grandmother, who initially seems standoffish and cold to Jenna, for reasons that Jenna can't comprehend. As Jenna seeks for answers about what happened to her, she begins to understand Lily's complicated feelings towards her--just as Lily begins to understand some of what Jenna is experiencing and makes an effort to help her find the answers she's been searching for.

4 Things you liked and/or disliked about it:

* I liked how Pearson has written a Young Adult (YA) book that is filled with some Big Questions: How much does memory play a role in making us the person we are today? What does it mean to be human? Can we love someone too much ... to the point where we damage them instead of nurture them? The book also raises issues regarding medical ethics. In a very short amount of time, Pearson manages to raise a host of issues that will leave readers thinking. HOWEVER...

* I disliked that the book felt underdeveloped and simplified. I wish things had been more fleshed out. I truly felt that the book was too slight for its ideas, and I would have liked more details, set-up and development. At only 288 pages (many of which are short journal entries written in fragments), the book is a fast read ... too fast. I really felt Pearson could have done much much more. As usual, I struggled with the whole YA label. This felt like a book that was "dumbed down" to me. Pearson has lots of good ideas, but the story and characters felt shallow.

* I disliked that Pearson introduces characters, hints at Dark Things about them, and then doesn't really go back and explain things well. There was one character (whose name escapes me) who is either a psychopath or a really damaged kid. Pearson keeps bringing him in, having him scare or threaten others, and just drops him. Same with Jenna's neighbor, who seems friendly at first but then is revealed to have a bit of a dark history as well. Both of these characters should have either been developed further or eliminated as I didn't think they were integral to the story.

* I disliked that I couldn't buy into the science that plays a key role in the book. I'm not a real picky reader (though from this review it might seem like I am), but I just couldn't believe in the technology in this book. The single biggest hurdle for me were the three computers that play a role later in the book. I just didn't buy into that aspect AT ALL. It didn't make any sense to me, and I'm not sure I understood 100% what Pearson meant were on those computers.

5 Stars or less for your rating?

I'm giving the book 3 stars. I know a lot of people really really loved this book, and I might just be a crank or a person who doesn't really appreciate YA books, but I just felt like this was a wonderful idea for a book that didn't live up to its promise or its premise. As I said before, the book felt very underdeveloped to me. With such interesting and thought-provoking ideas, I think Pearson squandered her chance to write a really amazing book that would speak to all levels of readers. I seem to be in the minority on this one though, so be sure to check out what others think about this book. If nothing else, it would make a good book club read.

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