SUSAN S. (susieqmillsacoustics) -
Helpful Score: 4
This is a very gripping and unique tale of a world where antibiotics are no longer effective and lasting consequences have occurred. Medical technology has also advanced where organs can be preserved for long periods of time. Jenna awakes with no memory of an accident which put her in a year-long coma and no memory of her family or life before. She struggles to find her sense of self and decide who she is. I highly recommend.
Rhonda (pinkcypress) reviewed The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 86 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
"How far would you go to save someone you love?"
As a teen novel, this book works on many levels. There's the usual teen angst (trying to fit in, self-discovery, dealing with parents, falling in love). But there's also deeper levels here - what it means to be a human, what is a soul, what is the mind.
Jenna Fox is a 17 year old girl who wakes from a year+ long coma and finds herself in a world that is foreign to her. As her memory slowly returns, and as she begins to uncover some secrets her parents are keeping, she finds that she has found more questions than answers.
Can Jenna accept that sometimes there aren't answers at all?
As a teen novel, this book works on many levels. There's the usual teen angst (trying to fit in, self-discovery, dealing with parents, falling in love). But there's also deeper levels here - what it means to be a human, what is a soul, what is the mind.
Jenna Fox is a 17 year old girl who wakes from a year+ long coma and finds herself in a world that is foreign to her. As her memory slowly returns, and as she begins to uncover some secrets her parents are keeping, she finds that she has found more questions than answers.
Can Jenna accept that sometimes there aren't answers at all?
Hannah H. (Apollyn) -
Helpful Score: 1
I wasn't really sure what to expect when I started reading this book. I actually had a friend that guessed what was going on before I even got to the parts in the book. Overall it was an ok story; not something that I would normally read. If you are looking for a book with a lot of action then this is definitely not it, it's more of a "who am I?" type of book with more thought and emotion in it than anything else.
Lenka S. reviewed The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 829 more book reviews
The Adoration of Jenna Fox explores the ethics of biomedical engineering in a way that is rarely seen in YA fiction. Told from Jenna's point of view, the narrative follows her as she wakes in a world with few memories of her life before. As they come trickling back, so do the circumstances surrounding the family move to California, her parents' secrecy, her grandmother's inexplicable dislike for her, and a bevy of question surrounding the why and wherefore of what makes a person human, where the line between legality and illegality lies in the biomedical and healthcare communities, and how people can define themselves when all they thought they knew about their identity has been torn away.
There are a few other things to note. Though the book is well written it has some serious flaws. Drilling in the co-learner / co-teacher as the ideal future classroom environment is bad enough. Only a person who doesn't teach but pushes politics into the classroom would applaud for the idea that ignorant students paying to learn are teachers and teachers with diplomas paid to share knowledge are students.
Then there is the whole end of the world in environmental disasters and the evils of bio engineering killing of native species of most animals and plants is just an over kill. Old story. We will all be dead in 4 years. We are told every 4 years. Strangely every prediction coincides with election year....
The whole idea about overused antibiotics is sound and very viable subject but the hammering of the idea that an oversight by the likes of THE most corrupt paper pushing organization like the World Health Organization is needed to stop the Antibiotics abuse is just laughable.
The story is well done though in a very simplistic sort of way. It touched deep ethical issues but didn't explore them in depth in any meaningful way. There was no real conclusion to the story. A happy ever after, after debating the morals of ethics is not satisfactory. There is no twist to the story, no dramatic ending, no struggle to fight for Jenna to survive the ethic malestorm.
It is interesting read that has slow start but does draw you in. But is predictable at every turn and totally lacks meaningful end. I recommend it with a caution. Worthy read but not a keeper.
There are a few other things to note. Though the book is well written it has some serious flaws. Drilling in the co-learner / co-teacher as the ideal future classroom environment is bad enough. Only a person who doesn't teach but pushes politics into the classroom would applaud for the idea that ignorant students paying to learn are teachers and teachers with diplomas paid to share knowledge are students.
Then there is the whole end of the world in environmental disasters and the evils of bio engineering killing of native species of most animals and plants is just an over kill. Old story. We will all be dead in 4 years. We are told every 4 years. Strangely every prediction coincides with election year....
The whole idea about overused antibiotics is sound and very viable subject but the hammering of the idea that an oversight by the likes of THE most corrupt paper pushing organization like the World Health Organization is needed to stop the Antibiotics abuse is just laughable.
The story is well done though in a very simplistic sort of way. It touched deep ethical issues but didn't explore them in depth in any meaningful way. There was no real conclusion to the story. A happy ever after, after debating the morals of ethics is not satisfactory. There is no twist to the story, no dramatic ending, no struggle to fight for Jenna to survive the ethic malestorm.
It is interesting read that has slow start but does draw you in. But is predictable at every turn and totally lacks meaningful end. I recommend it with a caution. Worthy read but not a keeper.
Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 2527 more book reviews
I have been wanting to read this book forever and finally got it from the library. It was an intriguing book that brings up a ton of questions about the morality of genetic engineering and tries to answer the question of how far a parent would or should go to save their child.
Jenna wakes up from a one year coma not knowing who she is or what happened. She is told by the people who say they are her parents that she got in a terrible car accident and has been in a coma for a year. Her only link to the past is a box of videos from when she grew up. Now she has a grandmother who hates her, and parents who are afraid to let her leave the house. She needs answers to some questions. Who is she really? What really happened last year?
This book is written from Jenna's viewpoint. She is a fascinating character and it was wonderful to follow her as she started to regain her memories and piece together her story. Some of the revelatoions she makes throughout the story are seriously earth-shattering. I was absolutely enthralled by this book from the first sentence to the end of the book.
The side characters are just as engaging. All of them have secrets and are fighting their own struggles. Reading and watching all the mysteries unwind was a totally engaging experience.
The plot and topic matter are complex and make you think. This book brooches some seriously deep topics. For example how far would you go to save your child? How far should you go? How much of a person can be genetically re-engineered before they aren't human? How much of an original person needs to be left for that person to still be themselves? Should these things be regulated by individuals, the government, a separate entity?
I loved the epilogue and how it tied up all of the loose ends of the story. I just got the book The Fox Inheritance through the Amazon Vine program so I look forward to reading that book as well.
Overall just an excellent and mind-blowing story. It gives you so much to think about and was such a great read. I loved this story and think everyone should read it. It is appropriate for young adult and older. Hopefully The Fox Inheritance will be just as awesome.
Jenna wakes up from a one year coma not knowing who she is or what happened. She is told by the people who say they are her parents that she got in a terrible car accident and has been in a coma for a year. Her only link to the past is a box of videos from when she grew up. Now she has a grandmother who hates her, and parents who are afraid to let her leave the house. She needs answers to some questions. Who is she really? What really happened last year?
This book is written from Jenna's viewpoint. She is a fascinating character and it was wonderful to follow her as she started to regain her memories and piece together her story. Some of the revelatoions she makes throughout the story are seriously earth-shattering. I was absolutely enthralled by this book from the first sentence to the end of the book.
The side characters are just as engaging. All of them have secrets and are fighting their own struggles. Reading and watching all the mysteries unwind was a totally engaging experience.
The plot and topic matter are complex and make you think. This book brooches some seriously deep topics. For example how far would you go to save your child? How far should you go? How much of a person can be genetically re-engineered before they aren't human? How much of an original person needs to be left for that person to still be themselves? Should these things be regulated by individuals, the government, a separate entity?
I loved the epilogue and how it tied up all of the loose ends of the story. I just got the book The Fox Inheritance through the Amazon Vine program so I look forward to reading that book as well.
Overall just an excellent and mind-blowing story. It gives you so much to think about and was such a great read. I loved this story and think everyone should read it. It is appropriate for young adult and older. Hopefully The Fox Inheritance will be just as awesome.
Cassandra E. (rainyjane) - , reviewed The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 4 more book reviews
The Adoration of Jenna Fox explores the ethics of biomedical engineering in a way that is rarely seen in YA fiction. Told from Jenna's point of view, the narrative follows her as she wakes in a world with few memories of her life before. As they come trickling back, so do the circumstances surrounding the family move to California, her parents' secrecy, her grandmother's inexplicable dislike for her, and a bevy of question surrounding the why and wherefore of what makes a person human, where the line between legality and illegality lies in the biomedical and healthcare communities, and how people can define themselves when all they thought they knew about their identity has been torn away.
This is most appropriate for readers 10th grade and up. Advanced readers as young as 8th grade may enjoy the book, but much of the narrative's power lies in the subtext and questions of ethics, which may go over younger readers' heads. This would be particularly good as an in-class novel for group discussion or for exploration in an essay, owing to the controversial subject matter and Jenna's individual struggle with identity, with which most teens should be able to identify.
This is most appropriate for readers 10th grade and up. Advanced readers as young as 8th grade may enjoy the book, but much of the narrative's power lies in the subtext and questions of ethics, which may go over younger readers' heads. This would be particularly good as an in-class novel for group discussion or for exploration in an essay, owing to the controversial subject matter and Jenna's individual struggle with identity, with which most teens should be able to identify.
Keara C. (keara) - , reviewed The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 6 more book reviews
This book for me was a little slow to start out, and a little predictable. Oh no, she lost her memory and has to only eat certain things. Got it. Even so, near the end, the plot did thicken a bit and it was surprising. Certain aspects threw me off about the book, but that is what I get for reading outside my preferred genres. I wouldn't read it again, but I would recommend it to my friends.
Mercedes (mercedesveronica) -
I most definitely enjoyed this book! Mary E. Pearson has yet to fail me!
Jennifer W. (GeniusJen) reviewed The Adoration of Jenna Fox (Jenna Fox Chronicles, Bk 1) on + 5322 more book reviews
Reviewed by Jaglvr for TeensReadToo.com
What makes us human? How far would you go to save your child? What is ethically and morally right and wrong? These are heavy questions that the author will make the reader ponder long after the last page has been turned.
Jenna Fox has just woken up from over a year-long coma. She doesn't remember anything, but has fragments of memory that she is slowly trying to piece together. There are people there that say they are her parents, and another woman that is her grandmother. Left with the video disks of her life, she starts to watch and ponder "Who is Jenna Fox?"
There has been an accident, but no one will talk to her about the details. As she slowly heals, Jenna questions everything and starts to fill in gaps. After a little while of recovery, she pushes to go to school and begins to attend a local charter school. There she meets an odd assortment of classmates.
Alice has medical issues of her own, and starts to explain the federal ethics board to Jenna. Each person is allotted 100 lifetime points to be used for medical reasons. Alice has prosthetic limbs and explains that limb replacement is relatively low on the point scale. Other procedures would be worth much more. Dane is a neighbor but something seems off with him. When Jenna looks in his eyes, he seems empty. And then there is Ethan. He's hiding a dark secret of his own.
As Jenna discovers the world around her, the secrets and mysteries that are her life slowly start to be revealed. Remembering what Alice has explained about the lifetime points, Jenna comes to realize that there are even deeper secrets about her that she must uncover. Her parents have moved her from Boston to California. Is it to protect her from those that were involved with the accident? Or does it have more far-reaching medical and ethical implications?
Without wanting to give away the plot twists and hidden mysteries of the story, I will tell you that the issues Ms. Pearson raises will cause you to ponder how far science should be allowed to explore. As Jenna tries to discover, the reader will also be forced to wonder how much of us do we need to keep us truly human? Ms. Pearson makes the reader question if it's truly the flesh and blood that makes us human, or if there is something further inside that gives us our identity. Comparing the lack of emotion that Dane has with Jenna's unwavering questioning of everything, it shows the reader that things are not always black and white. The majority of us live in the gray area that is between the two extremes.
Read THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX to find out what it means to sacrifice everything for love and how to really be human.
What makes us human? How far would you go to save your child? What is ethically and morally right and wrong? These are heavy questions that the author will make the reader ponder long after the last page has been turned.
Jenna Fox has just woken up from over a year-long coma. She doesn't remember anything, but has fragments of memory that she is slowly trying to piece together. There are people there that say they are her parents, and another woman that is her grandmother. Left with the video disks of her life, she starts to watch and ponder "Who is Jenna Fox?"
There has been an accident, but no one will talk to her about the details. As she slowly heals, Jenna questions everything and starts to fill in gaps. After a little while of recovery, she pushes to go to school and begins to attend a local charter school. There she meets an odd assortment of classmates.
Alice has medical issues of her own, and starts to explain the federal ethics board to Jenna. Each person is allotted 100 lifetime points to be used for medical reasons. Alice has prosthetic limbs and explains that limb replacement is relatively low on the point scale. Other procedures would be worth much more. Dane is a neighbor but something seems off with him. When Jenna looks in his eyes, he seems empty. And then there is Ethan. He's hiding a dark secret of his own.
As Jenna discovers the world around her, the secrets and mysteries that are her life slowly start to be revealed. Remembering what Alice has explained about the lifetime points, Jenna comes to realize that there are even deeper secrets about her that she must uncover. Her parents have moved her from Boston to California. Is it to protect her from those that were involved with the accident? Or does it have more far-reaching medical and ethical implications?
Without wanting to give away the plot twists and hidden mysteries of the story, I will tell you that the issues Ms. Pearson raises will cause you to ponder how far science should be allowed to explore. As Jenna tries to discover, the reader will also be forced to wonder how much of us do we need to keep us truly human? Ms. Pearson makes the reader question if it's truly the flesh and blood that makes us human, or if there is something further inside that gives us our identity. Comparing the lack of emotion that Dane has with Jenna's unwavering questioning of everything, it shows the reader that things are not always black and white. The majority of us live in the gray area that is between the two extremes.
Read THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX to find out what it means to sacrifice everything for love and how to really be human.
