The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

Goodreads Description: "Who is Jenna Fox? Seventeen-year-old Jenna has been told that is her name. She has just awoken from a coma, they tell her, and she is still recovering from a terrible accident in which she was involved a year ago. But what happened before that? Jenna doesn't remember her life. Or does she? And are the memories really hers?

This fascinating novel represents a stunning new direction for acclaimed author Mary Pearson. Set in a near future America, it takes readers on an unforgettable journey through questions of bio-medical ethics and the nature of humanity. Mary Pearson's vividly drawn characters and masterful writing soar to a new level of sophistication."

My Review: This is a very hard book to describe, and to review. First of all, I'm not sure what to classify it as. I'd say sci-fi---but it's not REALLY a sci-fi book. I'd also say dystopian---but it's not REALLY a dystopian book. It's more like a...eerie-technology-in-the-future kind of book. Is there a name for that? I'm not sure. Anyway: The Adoration of Jenna Fox was very interesting. I first picked it up because I thought it was a dystopian book, but I soon realized that it wasn't. It's set in the near future (let's say...around 2050-ish) and it has nothing to do with government, the end of the world, or anything like that. It has more to do with advances in technology regarding humans and bodies and medicine---and how this technology can be used for good, bad...or sometimes good that can have bad with it. It took me a long time (TOO long, probably) to figure out what had happened to Jenna, and when I did, I was shocked. This book asks the question, How far is too far? regarding saving human lives...and I can honestly say that I STILL don't know the answer. I understand both sides of the argument. I identified with her parents---I can only imagine the pain that they went through, making such difficult decisions---but a part of me was also kind of repulsed at what they had done, in the end. It's hard to review this book without revealing major plot-lines. I guess I'd have to end with saying that I felt really bad for Jenna throughout this whole book, but I kind of identified with her. She went through the same Who am I? questions that a lot of people go through, only they were magnified in her case. The ending was amazing, in my opinion; I'm glad that Pearson didn't try to spin this into a moneymaking sort of trilogy and kept it a single book. My only problem was that it was kind of confusing at times, but oh well. The book raised a lot of moral and ethical questions about our world. It was, in short, a really fascinating and amazing book.

Cover: The cover is kind of bland, but it's kind of cool at the same time, in a simple way. At least it really represents what the whole book is about, so that's a good thing. I do like the glowing blue light.

Overall Grade: B+