Pearson, Mary E. (2008). The adoration of Jenna Fox. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 978-0-312-59441-1.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox is a work of science fiction. Jenna Fox, a 16-year-old girl, wakes up after a year-long coma to find that she isn’t the person that she is told she should be. Her parents encourage her to watch videos that chronicle her life because, according to them, they will help her remember. However, Jenna quickly realizes that as she is getting reacquainted with herself, the images she sees don’t match with who she is becoming. While she is physically awake, she has continuous memories that awaken her only to reinforce that her parents are hiding something from her and that her body and her mind aren’t what they used to be.
The theme of restoration is seen throughout the novel. Sometimes this theme is seen in very simple terms. For example, Jenna’s mother Claire’s profession is to restore traditional brownstones to their former glory; she found great success this career in her hometown of Boston and she is finding it again in her California relocation. The theme is repeated, in a slightly deeper way, with the character of Lily, Jenna’s grandmother. Lily, a retired doctor, enjoys her hobby of gardening but her true passion lies to in creating a simpler version of plants. In her eyes, plants have been jeopardized through the years by scientific findings; she wants to restore these simple plants to their former glory. Jenna herself is constantly trying to restore herself to what she used to be. She watches videos to learn how she is expected to act, and she follows directions given to her by her mother because it is what she is supposed to do. However, Jenna constantly struggles with how she can become restored if she doesn’t believe she is the same person she used to be. The idea of restoration exists throughout the book, sometimes in subtle ways and sometimes not, but readers are left with the idea that as we seek restoration we must also deal with the history that created something to be what it is.
The genre of science fiction challenges readers to imagine how the world can change in the future and the role technology will play down the road. The time period for this piece of fiction is undetermined, yet we know that many medical advances have been made. A substance exists, Bio Gel, that can preserve bodies and organs for years by enabling the cells of the liquid to become loaded with information about its need and learn to specialize in that need. The American government has caught up with the alarming trends in medicine by creating the Federal Science Ethics Board that police the use of technology and allowing point values for all procedures; each person, young or old, healthy or sick, is granted one hundred points in medical work for a lifetime. Bio Gel threatens what the government has declared as being ethical. The questions raised in Mary Pearson’s novel make us wondering how much fiction from this novel is possible, and if it isn’t possible now – when?
One unique quality found in this book is the use of both prose and poetry. As one flips through the book you notice that there are gray pages interspersed throughout the book. The text on these pages is written in free verse poetry and creates a drastic contrast to the prose used throughout the book. Initially readers wonder why there are white pages and gray pages or text in prose or in poetry. Then as one moves through the novel, we come to the understanding that these pages represent the deepest, most difficult thoughts Jenna has. These thoughts are a gray area for her because they are not ones that she is safe to share with other people. The dichotomy created by this contrast is a great example of literature that breaks rules and is worth noticing. It is this unexpected change in the pages that create a stark difference with the rest of the novel. Readers are allowed to get to know the protagonist in an honest, real way.
In the beginning of the novel, Jenna appears as a brooding, slightly annoying character, but readers get over that quickly as questions continue to build in their mind. Why is Jenna’s mother acting so strangely around her daughter and why is Lily so disengaged with her once highly valued granddaughter? What role will the medical technologies of the time play in the novel? The strength of this novel lies in that readers continue to ask questions throughout the novel. In the beginning, we wonder how the story will progress but our questions morph into questioning what we believe is possible and what is ethical. There are many science fiction novels that challenge teens to think about the medical advances we make everyday, but it is in this novel that we have to think about how far is too far. We are left to wonder what we would do to preserve and restore our loved ones.
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