The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson
June 26, 2010 11 Comments
The Adoration of Jenna Fox
This book (2008) is definitely a Young Adult book. Both the writing and the story are quite simple and easy to follow. I prefer books to have a bit more substance. Even so, I enjoyed reading this and I thought the main topics of the book, identity and medical ethics, were well-thought out.
Jenna Fox wakes up from a coma a year after a car accident. She remembers almost nothing from her life before the crash, but bit by bit her memory comes back. When she finds out that her body has been medically enhanced, the question arrives of what makes her the person who she is? Is she less herself than before? This is especially relevant to her brain, which is no longer intact.
Jenna struggles with the question of who she is, is she still the person she was before the accident?
There is also the ethical question of how far the medical world should go to save the lives of badly injured people. The story takes place after a virus has killed off many people. These circumstances didn’t play a large role in the book, but probably the idea of the writer was that this recent history would make human life more precious.
During the book, Jenna finds out about the accident, about the role her parents played in keeping her alive, and meets other teenagers that have been saved after an accident.
I found the story a little too focused on Jenna and her medical situation, making this a rather one-dimensional story. Not a bad one! It was fun to read, but more for the ideas that were presented than for the story itself. 3/5
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It’s funny how different my definition of YA is from that of most other readers’. I don’t think simplicity of tone or content have anything to do with what gets marketed as YA or not. I haven’t read this one yet, but I’ve heard good things about it. I’m glad you found it fun to read despite its flaws.
Hi Nymeth, what do you consider YA? My main criterion is the age of the main character (but that’s not always true) and simplicity is part of it (YA is not literary, most of the time). Also, which I didn’t mention, this book (a Dutch translation) was very obvious a book for younger people, the font, the spacing between the lines, etc.
This book has been on my wish list ever since I read a couple of rave reviews. I’ve just toned down my expectations, so I’ll probably enjoy it more if I do get the chance to read it.
You’ll have to make up your own mind about the book. Most people love it, though.
It sounds like an interesting book. The main character sounds a little Bionic Woman-ish (that’s the nerd coming out in me). I like to read medical ethics stuff so I might actually have to pick this one up.
If you are interested in reading a non-fiction medical book that deals with ethics to some extent, I enjoyed Complications by Atul Gawande. It definitely makes for good conversation.
Thanks Carin, I’ll check that out.
Hi! I visit so many blogs but I read only a few. I liked your review. I only read the reviews which are only short and sweet.
Thanks for visiting my blog, Selva!
I must agree that generally single YA novels are simple in premise. Not alot of complexity to the characters and the plot and subsequent story lines are very easy to follow.
I am only a few chapter’s in to Jenna Fox and so far, I’m not that impressed. I hope it get’s better!
I liked the book because of the ideas in it: such as the medical issues, the computer (later on), why the parents had moved houses. The story itself was too simple for my liking.
Hope you’ll manage to finish it nd enjoy it anyway.
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