(spoiler-free review)
In a near-future, 17-year-old Jenna Fox wakes up one day without any memory of her past life. She’s told by her parents that she was in a coma after suffering a terrible accident, but from the start something doesn’t feel right.
Together with Jenna (our first-person narrator) we start discovering the truth behind her past and present.
It’s the type of book I’d love to read in class or with a book club. Jenna’s situation is the perfect base for an interesting debate into all sorts of ethical dilemmas better discussed in a group with mixed ages and backgrounds. I would be especially interested in the opinion of parents.
The best thing about The Adoration of Jenna Fox is that it’s written to get the reader to question him/herself. It adds layers of grey to areas that weren’t black or white in the first place. In the endless debate about scientists playing God (or even about things like the death penalty), I’m fascinated about how our strong convictions tend to blur when it gets personal. As humans we might be instinctively against certain scientific advances, but what if it happens to us, to our children/parents/best friend?
For a book dealing with such strong topics and emotions, The Adoration of Jenna Fox was strangely subdued and quiet (bordering on the flat). From the moment the Big Secret is out, the tension is released and never really picks up during the second half of the book, even when Higher Secrets are reveled. The ending also never delivered on the expected conflict and ties up too nicely, and I could have done without the luck-warm romance. I wasn’t in love with the book, BUT…
It was well worth the reading and I’ve had great dinner-table conversations because of it.
***
Other thoughts: It’s all about me (time), Like People and Butterflies, Leeswammes, Rhapsody in Books, Teen Book Review, Book Addiction, Out of the Blue, YA Reads, bildungsroman, Dear Author, A Novel World, 5 Minutes for Books, I’m Booking It, 2 Kids and Tired Books, My Book, My Life, S. Krishna’s Books, Rywn, Semicolon, Maw Books Blog, Lady Business (yours?)
13 comments
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March 14, 2012 at 4:40 pm
Ti
I can totally see a group discussing this one. I haven’t read it, but it seems as if there would be a ton to discuss.
March 19, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Alex
From ethics to religions – juicy stuff!
March 14, 2012 at 5:44 pm
rhapsodyinbooks
Interesting take on this book. I didn’t think it was done that well, but I do agree it gives readers a lot to discuss!
March 19, 2012 at 5:02 pm
Alex
I was a bit “meh” about it. The best thing was really the fact that it puts the questions out there, in a balanced way. Not reading the next in the series…
March 14, 2012 at 7:34 pm
Nymeth
I liked this book a lot, but it would have been SO much better without the epilogue. Too neat indeed.
March 19, 2012 at 5:03 pm
Alex
.. and hurried. I though that the ending would be less neat, considering the tension she tries to build us before (e.g. the friend with the strong ideas), but it all came to nothing.
March 14, 2012 at 9:20 pm
Larissa
That epilogue really annoyed me. The whole book was about an open question and different people having different points of view, and it’s as if the author, wanting too much of a “nice” ending, suddenly took sides for the last pages.
But I believe it’s great that young adults get to read stories with ethical issues like that and get to question these things.
March 19, 2012 at 5:05 pm
Alex
Exactly!! (see my response to Nymeth). I wonder what her editor told her? Maybe something like “this is YA after all, let’s not get too dark, ok?”.
March 15, 2012 at 7:12 am
heidenkind
I read this book, too. I agree that it definitely makes you think long after you finish it. The story-telling is a little flat, but I think the novel’s main purpose is convey certain questions and ideas, which it does very successfully.
That being said, I have no desire to read the follow-up. 🙂
March 19, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Alex
Yes, I also had that feeling, that it was just a vehicle…. but then there are the sequels. I miss a good old stand-alone.
March 20, 2012 at 2:26 am
heidenkind
Me too!
March 20, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Melissa
I thought this one was interesting, but not enough to read the sequel.
March 26, 2012 at 3:22 pm
Joanna
Glad you (kind of) liked it. I actually listened to the follow-up on audio and REALLY didn’t like it. It didn’t bring up any additional interesting information, it was just prolonging the epilogue. I loved the first one though!