ĭespite her parents' efforts to shelter her from the truth as long - and as much - as they can, Jenna slowly pieces it together, though most of her knowledge seems to come from a couple of incidents more than from her incessant speculations (and I wonder.why doesn't she, at any point, questions her complete lack of scars?). Jenna consulting the dictionary is, however, an effective device that allows the reader to 1) explore key-words and rekindle their (multiple) meanings 2) experience the world on Jenna's own terms. Though Jenna states she can't remember a thing about her past, and she often muses about words and their meaning - to the point she has to look for them in a dictionary - her narrative is, of course, clear and rich, or there would be no book. The novel alternates chapters of short, keen, insightful sentences with autobiographical pieces of poetry. But little said parents realize that the discs - with the aid of some incidents - will help Jenna uncover not only her memories, but also the truth they were saving for much later. She has been given DVDs to watch, where her parents seem to have recorded pretty much her whole life (which is creepy, it goes without saying). Also, they have relocated from Boston to California, and Jenna's father is rarely at home. Jenna's grandma, on the other hand, sounds distant and strangely resentful, for reasons the girl can't understand. We get acquainted with a 17 year old Jenna, who apparently got out of a coma a couple of weeks before and is slowly being fed facts and memories from her own past by her mother. But under this quiet surface, something huge is boiling nevertheless. There aren't any conspiracies or rebel groups or the likes.

Everyday life is definitely average, and DVDs with vocal commands are pretty much the most state-of-the-art device we encounter - except the Big Thing around which the novel revolves. The book is set in a future where certain branches of technology have advanced a lot, but this future is obviously not so far from our present. Also, please note this isn't a dystopian, or at least it barely fits the definition. Because while fitting said pattern, Pearson came up with a personal, imaginative, disturbing twist on it. So, you may ask, why should I read yet another book that follows that pattern? Well, because this one is good ).

Whatever the reason, they're simply not themselves anymore. Parents and doctors do their best to convince them that everything's OK, and it's only a matter of time before they remember (.just to realize that no, not a single thing is OK).

As a rule, they can't remember a single thing from their prior-to-accident life, or just very little. What can I say in my defence - once in a while, it happens ).Īwaking-from-coma girls (and, very rarely, boys) are a common topic in YA lit. Review: Note: this is not, technically, an 'offbeat' book.

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