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

wow, where to start with this book?!? have you ever read a book that made you want to love it, that was so honest and in your face, but it just fell short? that's what happened to me here. i really liked it - great subject, good writing, honestly written characters - but, somewhere, somehow, it just didn't come together as much as i wanted. i still really enjoyed it, but it had that potential to be even more. *sigh*our narrator, Jenna Fox, has just woken up from a coma, with no memory of her life. she doesn't recognize the people who are her parents, but through videos of her childhood, she learns that they adore her and that she has always been the perfect daughter. we learn in real time, as she learns of her past, and layer by mind boggling layer, we learn the truth of her life, from the accident that put her in the coma to the future that she can expect with her newly forming identity. "When you are perfect, is there anywhere else to go? I ache for her like she is someone else. She is. I am not the perfect Jenna Fox anymore."this is a YA dystopian novel - that is, a visionary of a futuristic society that is lacking in individual freedoms - so that gives you an idea of what to expect. any more than that and we'll be in spoiler territory, so i'll leave it at that. what i will say is that Pearson does a phenomenal job of tackling the moral dilemma of medical ethics and parental obligation. i was amazed at how she was able to create a story that unfolded delicately, both for Jenna and the reader, all in the confines of under 300 pages. the self discovery is so dense in those pages that it is difficult not to be startled at times by the profundity of it all. "Identities aren't always separate and distinct. Sometimes they are wrapped up with others. Sometimes, for a few minutes, maybe they can even be shared."the narrative is written in a mostly conversational tone, which works well for Jenna's story. she is a quick witted girl with a wry sense of humor, and she clearly isn't afraid to laugh at herself, which makes for good punchy reading. but, the chapters are interspersed with definitions (which she is learning as she goes) and some stream of consciousness type poetry. some of these worked really well and served the purpose of bringing us deeper into the story, but some just seemed disjointed and forced. the worst part for me was the ending. i won't say what happens, but i thought it was weak and unfulfilled, to say the least.like i said, i really wanted to LOVE this book and i've had such a difficult time reviewing it because i really enjoyed it, but it just didn't deliver the crashbang experience that i had expected and hoped for. normally, i think i would have just loved it and written a wonderful, glowing review, but i'm being a harsh critic here because it had such amazing potential. it fell short in a few areas that were just so disappointing. that being said, i still think everyone should read it because of the subject and characterization. i think it would make a particularly great (high school?) classroom read with some really great opportunities for discussion.

I wanted to read The Adoration of Jenna Fox because the sequel will be coming out in a week (The Fox Inheritance) and I've seen some great reviews for it, and I wasn't disappointed in my read-through of it. It's a relatively quick read for some at under 300 pages, but fills those pages with really interesting character development for Jenna that is unique to this story alone. While many stories are about 'discovering who you are', The Adoration of Jenna Fox takes this to a whole other place where Jenna has to learn who she was before she can even figure out who she will be.Jenna asks haunting questions about just how much of your 'self' is really tied up in your memories. How much can you remember or forget before you're a different person? How much of you is just the sum of your parts? The Adoration of Jenna Fox isn't shy about asking these questions, and one of the best things about this novel is that it doesn't try to answer them for you. Instead the reader is left to ponder this out for themselves, as there really is no 'right' or 'wrong' in the ending. Jenna's frequent in-between chapters moments of introspection leave lingering thoughts to trickle in later for you to think about.While I loved Jenna's character, I found some of the others rather shallow. The 'romance' that takes place in the novel is very much a side-story, and is actually rather sudden. I wish Ethan & Alyss' characters would've been fleshed out further then just 'we're not normal like everyone else is'. Much of the novel revolves around Jenna's interactions with her parents, I couldn't find it in me to genuinely feel for them. Much easier to appreciate was Jenna's interactions with her grandmother Lily who was a perfect tool to force Jenna to BE someone and not just be the person her parents think she is. Lily refuses to let Jenna just be the person her parents think she was, or the person who watches from recorded movies.Having read the summary for The Fox Inheritance beforehand, I knew some spoilers about The Adoration of Jenna Fox going in that made the story both less dramatic at the beginning, and perhaps more-so towards the end. I would definitely recommend reading it before The Fox Inheritance at the very least, and to everyone else regardless.

I didn't realise what this book was about when I started reading it, so it made it very intriguing from the beginning. This book starts with Jenna, two weeks since she woke up from an accident that had put her in a coma. She has lost her memories and is slowly regaining them, but something doesn't feel right.The narration in this book is ingenious. There isn't a personality to warm too like in standard novels, but that's because Jenna doesn't know who she is. Instead of getting to know Jenna, we are taking part in the debate on what makes a person who they are. Can we tell who she is from her memories? Is she that same person now? It was great that the way the story was told prompted those questions as much as Jenna asked them herself. Considering this is billed as a Young Adult book, Mary E. Pearson grapples with some incredibly mature questions and examines them through an exceptionally mature protagonist. I don't think at 16 I would be able to deal with the questions that Jenna contends with.This book is very much a debate about the way in which the world is heading re. technology. Specifically biomedical science. We are becoming intensively reliant on computers and technology, so it's no wonder so many films and books are depicting and exploring what life could be like when technology gets even more advanced. What I like about this book is that it explores whether it is right or not. It makes us consider that, yes it would be amazing to make these groundbreaking discoveries in medicine so that everyone can have the same if not better quality of life, but is it right to do so? Do we forfeit our humanity in the process? It is a powerful thing to consider and by the end, we still don't have an answer. After all, what is it exactly that makes us human? Our soul? What is a soul? It was staggeringly thought-provoking, which is what I adored about Mary E. Pearson's writing. With this reliance on technology and A.I rapidly becoming a reality, I think it is good to consider things like this.Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I couldn't find anything to fault about it as it is well written and it has some amazing issues and debates running through it that you can't help but take part in. I love books that make you question yourself and your moral positions, and this book does that by the bucket load.

For me The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a beautiful blend of sci-fi, teen romance, and coming of age. Questions of identity and ethics are placed under the microscope.Jenna Fox awakes from a year long coma. She learns the facts of the world outside - such as since she was last awake the US has had it's second female president elected - what she can't figure out is why she can't remember her own life prior to her accident. Why can she not walk one day and then can the other? Why can't she remember something from just before the accident but suddenly remembers a clear sharp memory from when she was an infant?The book is full of questions and it's suspenseful, all the while you'll have your suspicions but the author keeps you moving forward at Jenna's pace of discovery.The relationships between Jenna and her standoffish grandmother, barely there father and over-protective mother work are believable and fascinating.The romantic relationship she develops works with just a few key scenes - nothing over the top and therefore ever the more poignant.What is it in ourselves that sometimes makes us two people? Was Jenna never really Jenna before the accident and is this why on waking she's struggling with her identity?Highly recommend this book. I read the Kindle version as I wanted it then and there...found that version to be good. So go for whichever format you prefer.

17 year old Jenna Fox wakes from a coma and can't remember anything: who she is, her previous life, what happened to her. Her parents tell her she's been in an accident and give her videos to watch of her life, but Jenna's own questions push her in an altogether different -- and more frightening -- direction.There is a lot of good stuff in this book, especially in the first half: told through Jenna's voice, the story pulls us in immediately to a frightening scenario, and the drip-feed of clues and information is handled with pace and panache.Probing the ethics of bio-medical research, questions of identity and what makes us who and what we are, even the tensions between adolescent girls and their mothers, there are lots of provocative issues wrapped up in this story. Little things become the most chilling -- the birds in a neighbour's garden, a girl being sent to her room.The second half, however, seems to slow right down and lose its direction a little - culminating in an off-stage romance, a rather artificial climax, and a half-hearted and tidy epilogue.This is a YA book and I guess that shows in the way it probes only so far and then no further. If this has interested you, then it's worth also reading  Never Let Me Go  which operates in some of the same territory but pushes the boundaries further. Never Let Me Go

I was very intrigued when I read the synopsis for this, it didn't seem like your typical YA which has been saturated with the same stories being told over and over just with different characters and settings. The concept was great, fresh and unique. I enjoyed the story but the terrible ending ruined it for me. The ending felt so rushed and didn't leave Mr feeling satisfied at all. There was so much of the story left to tell but all we got always a couple of pages set a couple of hundred years in the future that left you with more questions. I like a book to have a thorough conclusion or set you up for a sequel. There are two more books in this series however from reviews I have read they are not focused on Jenna and her family. I'd much rather the epilogue hadn't been added and the sequel covered the next couple of hundred years. What had the potential to be a brilliant 5* read was totally let down by am ending that made it seem like the author was bored and this point and just wanted the writing process over with.

I found this book through enjoying Hunger Games and Divergent, and looking for similar (but not too similar) books this one was suggested to me. liked the concept of this book, but the execution left something lacking. The 'big surprise' was very unsubtley hinted at throughout the book. There is a good ethical question of what makes you "you", and it was this that kept me reading until the end.There could have been so much more said about her friends from her previous life, lots missed out from where the book ends and the prologue ends what could really have done with explaining or missing out entirely. Overall it was the little disappointments that I really recalled from this book, the bits that were unexplained, unexplored, or just unsubtle.