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

Reader reviewed by Kelsey

Jenna went through a horrible accident which practically took her life away. With her father being  a scientist, he used the latest medical concepts to save her life. With only saving ten percent of her brain, her father had to program everything. Jenna doens't know anything about it, until one day, she cut herself. Can she figure out the real truth from her parents?

Reading this book, I really didn't like it because i'm not into scientfic like readings. BUt i have to say this book changed my mind a little, it makes you wonder how far medical research will becoem.

Great read!

Reader reviewed by EmilyRuth

Who is Jenna Fox?

It's the question Jenna asks herself every day, since waking from the coma. She doesn't remember anything about her life before the accident, but she sure isn't the same perfect Jenna on the home videos. As the memories slowly come back, more is revealed about who she is. But Jenna isn't sure she can stand living how she is--what she is. 

I loved The Adoration of Jenna Fox. Absolutely adored it. Everyone that has read it has put up a good review, but I didn't expect it to be thisgood. Jenna's story is unique. While the prose doesn't have the flair of Beth Kephart or Alison Croggon's writing, it still capture's Jenna's spirit and delivers effective and moving dialogue. 

The main thing that hooked me was how real it all seemed. Like it could happen in real life. Like there could be a Jenna. And I guess there are, maybe not exactly like her, but many have woken up from coma's without recollection of anything. Pearson lets readers look at what that might feel like, and she does it excellently.

Reprinted from My Blog: http://ayecaptain.blogspot.com

Reader reviewed by GirlwiththeBraids

Many years into the future, biotechnology is illegal and if it stays that way, Jenna wont know what to do. One day Jenna Fox wakes up and doesnt know who she is. Someone says she is her mother, someone says he is her father. All Jenna has to look at is old home movies. Slowly, Jenna starts to figure out about her past and knows that she cant get it back; she cant fix her mistakes. She wants to begin anew and be a different Jenna but & she cant. Is someone holding her back? The voices in her head say Hurry. Hurry, Jenna. Why does she have to hurry?

The Adoration of Jenna Fox was & different. It was very emotional and I almost cried at times, but it was odd. The ideas that are brought up in the book are totally unique and everything connects with one another: the settings, the characters, and the emotions are all part of the story. Author Mary E. Pearson transported me to a different century entirely, one that doesnt even exist yet. Many feelings are repeated within the book, which I think was definitely needed to get the point across. All together, this book was unique, interesting, odd, and wacky but I still dont know if I like it. One thing is for sure, though. You wont forget it.

Reader reviewed by Adriana M.

This read was definitly engrossing and different. Jenna Fox just woke from a coma after a horrible accident. She has no memory of who she was, but she also has no memory of certain words or of how to tell by someone's facial expressions whether they are angry, sad, or confused. She can however recite Walden word for word. Slowly the story reveals that Jenna, her mother, and grandmother are actually hiding out in California because Jenna's parents used Biogel, something that basically creates artificial life, to recreate most of Jenna's new body and mind. There are rules for using Biogel (which was developed by Jenna's father who stayed behind in Boston), and they have gone way over what is the standard. As Jenna begins to learn all of these facts, she also has to deal with slowly recuperating her memories (memories that even go way back to her infancy), and coming to terms with the extremes that her parents have gone to save her. Overall I really enjoyed this book. I think it brings up many issues having to do with biological advances, medicine, and ethics in science. But it also deals with more emotional issues like other YA novels do. There are elements of love, family, and even suspense. Very well written and paced.

Reader reviewed by Amy

Jenna Fox has awaken from a coma and can't remember anything. As she slowly learns about her past, her accident, and her life now her life slowly starts coming together again until she finds a computer with her name on it, which she learns is her backup. Backup for what? Read to find out more about Jenna and the tramatic events that has taken place in her life.

Reader reviewed by stephanie

Okay, when I first read about this book, I was like, ok, this sounds interesting, I'll go get it. At first I thought that Jenna-after-the-accident wasn't really Jenna but someone else. That her "parents" replaced her with someone else so they could keep their beloved and perfect Jenna. In a way, that was true. They did replace her with something. Something that was only 10% human. When Jenna first woke up from the coma, that lasted over a year, she couldn't remember anything. As time passed, she realized what happened and she started to recall things that normal humans wouldn't recall. Specific things that had happened when she was only a baby. Things that surprised her parents, her grandmother, and most of all, herself. She didn't know why she was supposed to be alive. The accident that happened was supposed to kill her along with her two best friends. So how did she live? Why is her family keeping her a secret? What exactly happened to her two best friends? What exactly happened to her and what did her parents give to have her back? The book is written beautifully and I highly recommend this book to those who liked Double Helix by Nancy Werlin.

Reader reviewed by mearley

Set in a not too distant future, The Adoration of Jenna Fox examines issues of medical ethics, identity, family dynamics, and the existence of a soul. Jenna Fox is severely injured in a car accident. It looks as if she will not survive until her father, founder of Fox BioSystems, illegally downloads her mind into a computer and reconstructs her body with BioGel and other artificial materials. Jenna awakes from her "coma" in an apparent state of amnesia.

The brilliance of this book is how the reader gradually realizes what happened to Jenna, just as Jenna is figuring it out for herself. As the pieces fall into place, the shocking picture becomes clear, and we agonize with Jenna and her family as they need to make crucial decisions.

For such a deep book, this was surprisingly quick read. The future created by Mary E. Pearson is frighteningly believable. This book makes readers think without telling them what to think.

Thanks to yabookscentral.com for the book. I was not disappointed!

Reprinted here with author's permission.

Reader reviewed by Julie M. Prince

Getting to know characters in a book is always exciting. The funny, the smart, the sarcastic, the stubbornall those qualities we recognize from life, except magnified and without boundaries. Getting to know Jenna Fox was more intoxicating for me than exciting. I was drunk on her words and actions. She was&unusualdifferent in a way that was hard to put my finger on.

The unfolding of Jennas story is stunted at first, intentionally so. The author takes readers through the journey of a teenage girl who has recently awoken from a lengthy coma after a severe accident. As Jenna grasps at snippets of memory of her life, and as she regains words lost to her, Jenna notices that shes not the same person she was before the accident. As in, shes missing parts of herself that definitely should be in place and shes gained things that shouldnt belong.

The mystery surrounding Jenna Fox isnt too difficult for the astute reader to figure out, although the details are amazing and fascinating. But the journey of this character isnt in the events of her lifeor lives. The journey and the heart of the story is in the discovery of Jenna Fox by Jenna Fox.

Mary E. Pearson uses wordsevery wordfor impact and punch. Short, one-word sentences are prevalent and well-placed. Dark, poetic chapter headings lend to the emotional journey of the protagonist. The themes of life and love play throughout the book, and theyre turned over for examination from every angle. What is true life? What is true love? Can both be pushed too far?

Off to turn another page&.

Reader reviewed by jocelyn

Id previously enjoyed Mary Pearsons Scribbler of Dreams, but it didnt totally blow me away or anything. THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX, however, did totally blow me away. It was also so amazing that I blew off reading for English, stressing me out now, but it was entirely worth it. This is an amazingly powerful, thought-provoking, just brilliant novel.

Jenna Fox has been told that she has had an accident and was in a coma for a year. Now, shes awake, but she doesnt remember her old life at all. In fact, she had to re-learn a lot; she had to learn to smile, to walk. Shes seen home videos of her life, but shes not even around anything to trigger it. She doesnt have any of her old belongings. Her family moved from Boston to California, and she is not in contact with anyone except her parents and grandmother.

There are some holes in the story shes been told, and Jenna really starts to wonder. Not just about her life before the accident, but about the accident and what happened after. Nothing is really as it seems, but I cant give too much away. Just, trust me, this is an unbelievably fantastic book.

The writing is so captivating, lyrical prose, telling the story in just the perfect way, capturing it all, capturing the characters perfectly. The story itself unfolds slowly, full of suspense, the questions about Jenna and her life before and her life now, and the time in between the two. Mary Pearson captures humanity and human emotions so marvelously.

Aside from the beauty of how the story is told, there is the story itself. Its so very thought-provoking, raising questions about humanity, identity, and ethics. It takes place in a not-too-distant future; its certainly recognizable and familiar to us, but there have been some advances in technology and some other things that let us know its certainly the future. Its probably a within-my-lifetime future, though, and a very possible one.

At the end of this book, I cried. Not because its one of those awful depressing stories that ends with someone killing their dog and best friend and then dying in a war or something, but because there are so many emotions captured in this story, because its so terribly sad but also hopeful, for so many reasons. Its so powerful that I cant possibly capture it in this review but, trust me, read this book. I adored this novel, and I know that you will, too! It comes out in April. Pre-order your copy now! Ill also definitely be reading more of this incredibly brilliant authors backlist.

Reposted from http://teenbookreview.wordpress.com

Reader reviewed by Sara G

This book comes out in April, but I got an ARC. It came in the mail and the next day when I went to find it to read and review it, I found it missing. Turns out, my sister had found it and started reading it because it sounded so good. She finished right away (and she isn't even really a big reader) and then I started it. I couldn't put it down! It is about a girl named Jenna who wakes up from a year long coma and cannot remember anything about herself or her past. As she starts to remember things though, she ends up with more and more questions about what happened before the crash.. and more importantly, after.