The Adoration of Jenna Fox

Starred review from March 3, 2008
Sometime in the near future, Jenna Fox, 17, awakens from an 18-month-long coma following a devastating accident, her memory nearly blank. She attempts reorientation by watching videos of her childhood, “recorded beyond reason” by worshipful parents, but mysteries proliferate. Jenna can recite passages from Thoreau yet can't remember having any friends. As memories return, however, Jenna starts picking at the explanation her parents have spun until it unravels. Pearson (A Room on Lorelei Street
) uses each revelation to steadily build tension until the true horror comes into focus. Even then Pearson does not stop; she raises the ante in unexpected ways until the very last page. Clues are supplied by the supporting cast: Jenna's father, who made his fortune in biotechnology; a classmate whose loss of limbs has turned her into a crusader for medical ethics; Jenna's Catholic grandmother, who is hostile to her. A few lapses in logic— if Jenna's father is world-famous and the family in hiding, why does she enroll in school under her real name?—can be forgiven in favor of expert plotting and the complex questions raised about ethics and the nature of the soul. Ages 14-up.

August 1, 2008
Gr 9 Up-Mary Pearson's novel (Holt, 2008) provides a thought-provoking and intriguing examination of what really makes us human and where to draw the line with fast developing technological and medical advances. Jenna Fox wakes from a coma more than a year after having an "accident." With no memory, she slowly learns to function physically, but she can't seem to connect emotionally. Written in a beautiful symphony of revealed memories, Jenna slowly begins to recognize that a secret is being kept from her and something complex and dangerous is going on. As she realizes that she essentially died in the infamous "accident" and was reborn through her father's controversial discovery. Jenna begins to question biomedical ethics and human nature. Narrator Jenna Lamia excels at evoking the haunting, yet detached way that Jenna begins to connect the events in her life. Combining science fiction, medical mystery, and teen relationships into an excellent package that is satisfying from beginning to end, this is a must-have for all collections."Jessica Miller, New Britain Public Library, CT"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2008
Pearson's stunning novel follows a halting path of realization as Jenna learns the reality of the horrific accident that put her into an extended coma and the actions that her adoring parents undertook to assure her survival. Seasoned reader Lamia becomes the transparent agent of Jenna's story: she leads the listener along that path by keeping her voice continually in the now, her nuanced, authentic teen inflection reflecting Jenna's newly won proficiency with language and her gradual decoding of the emotions and motives of her limited circle of family and friends. Lamia holds the rare gift of communicating not only the words on the page but also the punctuation and white space, infusing all with emotion. Listeners are taken beyond the book by the inclusion of a bonus interview with Pearson, which provides the gripping description of the author's driving force behind the writing.

(Copyright 2008 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)