The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson | Teen Ink

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

February 21, 2010
By jennal BRONZE, Indian Rocks Beach, Florida
jennal BRONZE, Indian Rocks Beach, Florida
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

They say she’s a miracle. Jenna Fox has been awake for two weeks and over a year of her life has vanished since the accident. They tell her to watch the videos. They think that will make her understand, make her remember. The only thing she knows for sure is her name. Jenna lives in a world where the second woman has been elected president, the twelfth planet has been named into the solar system, and the last wild polar bear has died. The only problem is, Jenna Fox doesn’t want to be a miracle.

Jenna Fox keeps on discovering more and more about her past life. Memories come back to her. Did she have friends? Where are they? Why don’t her parents ever talk about ‘the accident’? She discovers more and more about her new self that doesn’t make sense. Why does everyone know more about her than she does? Why does she only remember some things? Then finally, one small discovery starts to spiral into bigger and bigger discoveries. Soon enough, she knows more about herself than her parents could ever imagine. But whose fault is it?

Mary E. Pearson has a very unique writing style. At the end of every chapter she wrote a poem that is supposed to sum up what Jenna is feeling or thinking at the current time in the book. These poems are all written in the same style and other then by breaking up the chapters they seem to serve no real significance to the book. They are often vague, and tend to not add much depth to the chapter. Another thing Mary E. Pearson did that not many other authors attempt is adding a definition for the new emotion’s Jenna Fox learns. These definitions are always in Jenna’s perspective of the world, and add a lot of character and voice to her writing. They are not dictionary definitions and often they provide a secret insight to Jenna Fox’s mind.

Overall, The Adoration of Jenna Fox is not the best science fiction writing out there. It’s a good read if you’re not sure if you would enjoy this genre or if you’re really into reading futuristic, medical themed books. If you enjoyed books like Uglies by Scott Westerfeld or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins than this is probably a good novel for you. But most importantly, Mary E. Pearson did her job. This book makes you think about some important things; like genetic engineering, ethics, death, and self-perception. How far would you go to save someone you love?


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Hamburger said...
on Mar. 1 2010 at 6:28 am
I really liked how you described the authors writing as well as how you described the beginning. :D