The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson.
Henry Holt and Company: NY, 2008.

The Adoration of Jenna Fox is likely the best science fiction book I've read. It employs biological advances that are not too distant and sets them in almost today's world.

Jenna Fox has woken from a year long coma after a car crash which should have killed her. It did kill her best friends. She has no personal memories. She watches videos of her childhood and doesn't feel like the same person. Her devoted grandmother acts as if she is not Jenna, which starts Jenna's mind questioning. Her parents are unwilling to answer her questions, so she must search behind their backs. As she starts to know herself, she has trouble differentiating between what are true memories and what she has been told.

A neighbor and friends at her satellite school help her to learn who she is. Regarding her accident and ordinary coming of age identity and soul searching.

At the center of the book is a controversy about the use of biomedical advances. Jenna's friend Allys has lost body parts to illnesses that could no longer be prevented or alleviated by antibiotics due to over usage. Jenna's father has been at the forefront of technological breakthroughs which are not yet legal. These breakthroughs raise ethical questions. Questions about identity. Many books of this sort have a strong right or wrong tone to them. This one is more about the possibilities and the mix of questions. I would really love to say more here, but can't, because it might spoil the story. The author has done such an excellent job of building suspense-adding on bit by bit to the story.

This is a great sci fi book for those who don't think they are sci fi fans. Contemporary, realistic environment just touching on sci fi.

related-medical ethics, bioethics, biotechnology, memory, self-perception, identity, coming of age, tragic loss, familial love, cell cloning, body regeneration
RL=YA-adult

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