Mar 21

Bookstew

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
By Allie Costa

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson is a stunning, fascinating novel. This story, which openly explores the concept of identity, will stay on your mind for a long time.

Jenna was left comatose after a tragic accident. One year later, she awakens to a life she can't recall, a body she doesn't recognize, two parents and a grandmother she doesn't really know, and a house she can't leave. Her parents want her to stay at home in order to make full recovery and avoid a relapse. Their smiles are cautious, wary; her grandmother's is sad, almost bitter.

When Jenna watches home movies, she thinks of herself as two people. She knows she was a dancer, a daughter, a student, a friend, and that she was happy, but the most of this knowledge comes from outside sources rather than her own memories. She does not want to rely on what the videos show and what her family tells her - she wants to know herself.

Bits and pieces of her past begin tug at the edges of her mind, but they are not always happy and rarely are they clear. If anything, these blurry scenes and feelings only make her more confused about what happened to her, with her, around her. With the help of others - some forthcoming and some reluctant - things begin to clear up. The edges of her mind are still jagged and raw. Tidbits scraping there only serve to open up old wounds and leave new scars.

Wanting to know who she was, why she is the way she is, and what happened the night of the accident, Jenna pushes her parents' buttons as well as her own physical and mental limits. Her arms, hands, legs and feet, which once were "perfect," don't look, feel, or move the way they used to, her physical changes being as obvious and frustrating to her as her mental blocks. Though she is at first scared and tentative, Jenna keeps trying to get to the bottom of things until she gets through to others and dares to walk a new path.

Are the details of our lives who we are, or is it owning those details that makes the difference?

This book brings up many questions: How much can you really trust your memories - and if you lose them, can you get them back? Can you get yourself back?

People often refer to the five senses, meaning touch, taste, sight, sound, smell. But what about the sense of self? Doesn't that rely on other senses as well, like body awareness, balance, pain, and even temperature? How can and do you use sense memory to (re)construct your sense of self?

Maybe that is all any life is composed of, trivia that eventually adds up to a person, and maybe I just don't have enough of it yet to be a whole one.

This is one of the best stories I've read in months.

My Life: The Musical by Maryrose Wood
By Allie Costa

When I heard Maryrose Wood's next novel would be titled My Life: The Musical, I thought it might be a fictional backstage pass, which followed the lives of a teenager who was actually in a musical. Months later, I discovered that the story is about two best friends who follow a Broadway musical.

Emily and Philip are obsessed with Aurora, a fictional musical that they see every weekend. They first met and bonded at a performance, making the show almost an invisible friend that helps tie them together. A few years later, the rumor mill grinds and sprinkles the teens with worry that their beloved show is about to close. Determined to find out if the rumors are true and uncover the identity of its mysterious writer, Emily and Philip accidentally find out some things about each other, which could unexpectedly test their friendship.

As a musical theatre performer who has yet to appear on Broadway myself, much less take in a show there, this book allowed me to live vicariously through the characters of Emily and Philip. Inspired in part by the author's own work as a lyricist, librettist, and performer, the story will speak to musical actors and aficionados as well as those bright-eyed city dwellers who appreciate the music and theatres that surround them. If only this book came with a soundtrack!

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