Book: Memoirs of a Teenage AmnesiacAuthor: Gabrielle Zevin
Audience: Teen
In a Nutshell: Lose your memory, find yourself
When she wakes up after her accident and head injury, Naomi has lost the last four years of her life. She can't remember how to drive, or where her new house is. Her best friend Will, their co-editing of the school yearbook, her boyfriend Ace, even her parents' divorce are all missing from her memory. And from some of the things she's learning, the person she was isn't someone she wants to be anymore. For one, there's the mysterious bad boy who first came to her aid, someone the Old Naomi would never associate with, but whom she is drawn to. There's the popular kids she eats lunch with by virtue of the fact that she's Ace's girlfriend, but she doesn't really like them, and they obviously don't think much of her. While she's waiting and hoping her memory will return, Naomi gets a chance not many people do: an excuse to start over, to reinvent herself.
A very good, often funny, book. It's divided into three parts: I was, I am, I will. Zevin has some great similes in here. I forgot to mark the exact page, but to paraphrase: "he looked confused and a little frightened, like Bambi after his mother gets shot." A great look at doubled-edged treasure and burden of memory and personal history. It can make us who we are, but also sometimes trap us there.
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