The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson

The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary E. Pearson.  Holt, 2008, 265 pages.

Reading Level: Young Adults, 15-18

Recommended for: ages 15-18 and up

Bottom Line: After a horrific accident, Jenna Fox discovers that she has been the subject of a bizarre science experiment, which raises profound questions for her identity.

My half-filled memory is pocked with extremes: flashes of surgical clarity paired with syrupy slow searches for basic words any four-year-old would know, moments of startling insight followed by fits of embarrassing denseness.

Jenna, age 17, awakens after an 18-month coma to find herself older in body but ageless in mind.   She remembers her infant baptism and recalls almost drowning at age four, but the wreck that killed her two best friends and rendered her comatose is a blank.  And she’s relocated, from Boston to sunny California.  Her mother, a historical restorationist, is redoing their depression-era bungalow while attempting to redo Jenna.  Her father, a world-famous research doctor, seems to be continuing his practice in Boston.  Why did they move?  And why is Jenna’s grandmother Lily living with them?  Jenna stumbles through the first half of the book struggling (along with the reader) to patch her life together—before a terrible discovery makes her doubt that she even has a life.  She’s been restored after her accident by a process that isn’t legal and may not be ethical and seems to make her more a product of her parent’s hopes—or “adoration”—than her own.  Will she ever be herself again?  And what does “herself” even mean?

The story is gripping in its own quiet way.  Sad is the youth whose parents don’t care, like Jenna’s fellow student Dane at the local alternative school.  But equally sad is the one whose parents care too much, or care in the wrong way.  Jenna isn’t sure where her ambitions begin and her parents’ ambitions leave off.  Her grandmother will come to provide some stability during the course of the story: “I’m not like your parents.  I think there are worse things than dying.”  Lily’s Catholic faith gives her a deeper perspective, Though not so well-defined, Jenna’s faith gains weight and substance during the course of the story.  The Adoration is a “literary” read, loaded with questions about personal identity and how difficult it is to tease out one’s own.   Some of the other characters could have been filled out more, but Lily and the artist-next-door, Mr. Bender, are engaging characters with a few surprises to spring.  In spite of a few bad words, it’s a novel for grownups and teens to read together, and then talk, talk, talk about.

Cautions: Language (one or two instances of the s-word, a few misuses of God’s name)

Overall Rating: 4 (out of 5)

• Worldview/Moral value: 4
• Literary value: 4.5

Categories: Young Adult, Science Fiction, Discussion Points*, Life Issues

*Discussion questions:

• Did Jenna’s parents do the right thing in reconstructing her?
• Do they idolize her?
• Is that a temptation for Christian parents as well?
• Why is Jenna angry?
• What does trying on Mr. Bender’s coat suggest about trying on another identity?
• How does Jesus show up?
• Could Psalm 139 give Jenna any insight into personhood?