Book Review: The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson

In honor of the recent release of Fox Forever, the conclusion to the Jenna Fox Chronicles, I thought I'd review the first book in the trilogy--The Adoration of Jenna Fox. My sister insisted for a long time that I read this book. Since I wasn't sure I was in to sci-fi, I hesitated. When I finally did read it, I was blown away. This books is one of my all-time favorites. Here's a summary:

Seventeen year old Jenna Fox wakes up after being in a coma for a year. She has no memory of her life before the accident that put her there. She's in a secluded house with her grandmother and mother and rarely does her dad make an appearance. Through re-told stories about her life and home videos, Jenna slowly starts to piece together who she was before she lost all her memories. But she also realizes that her parents aren't telling her everything about what happened to her. When Jenna discovers the truth--the lengths her parents went through to save her from death, she is horrified. Jenna has to learn how to cope with her new life and deal with the emotional toll of parents who loved their child too much to let go. She begins to question what love is, what it means to be human and what place bio-medicine has in the ethics of humanity. 

**I can't say how much I love Jenna Fox, the book and the girl. The emotional journey Pearson takes you on in learning just who Jenna is will make you cry more than once. It's impossible not to put yourself in Jenna's place and feel what she feels. The question of bio-medical ethics is a very real one that many authors have explored but none have done as well as Pearson. You will ask all the questions you should, like: How far is too far to save your child? What does it really mean to be human? Is it possible to love someone too much? Where do we stop in trying to play God in medicine? As a mom it was very easy to see why Jenna's parents did what they did. But getting Jenna's perspective, actually living the journey with her, took the whole situation into that gray area of right vs. wrong. This is definitely a book I recommend you read. The follow up books, The Fox Inheritance and Fox Forever were stunning as well.

Thanks for reading! As usual, feel free to comment below.