Product Details
Memoirs Of A Teenage Amnesiac

Memoirs Of A Teenage Amnesiac
By Gabrielle Zevin

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Product Description

If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss. She wouldn’t have had to go back for the yearbook camera, and she wouldn’t have hit her head on the steps. She wouldn’t have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She certainly would have remembered her boyfriend, Ace. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with him in the first place. She would understand why her best friend, Will, keeps calling her “Chief.” She’d know about her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. She never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even fuzzier future, who tells her he once wanted to kiss her. She wouldn’t have wanted to kiss him back.
 
But Naomi picked heads.

 After her remarkable debut, Gabrielle Zevin has crafted an imaginative second novel all about love and second chances.
 
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #212970 in Books
  • Published on: 2007-09-20
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: 1.00" h x 6.08" w x 8.48" l, .97 pounds
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 271 pages

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile
Characterization is especially well done in this captivating story of Naomi, a teenager who loses her memory after a bad fall. Caitlin Greer captures the tone and timbre of a young person in the process of finding herself--and discovering that shes not the person she thought she was. Revelations of Naomis life--current and past--resonate in Greers voice. Greers performance perfectly reveals the authors latest exploration of the ethereal planes of human existence. Going beyond what is physically present, Zevin again pushes the envelope in depicting her characters psyche. Although the dialogue is not typical teen language, and the characters are mature beyond their years, both story and narration are compelling. D.L.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Contemporary realism, set askew, is the silver streak of Zevin, whose Elsewhere (2005) depicted a teen's experiences in the afterlife. This equally sensitive, joyful novel, her second for YAs, tackles the slippery nature of human identity, deceptively tucked within a plot familiar from TV soaps. After high-school junior Naomi conks her head, she can't remember anything that happened since sixth grade. She is by turns mystified and startled by evidence of her present life, from the birth-control pills in her bedside table to her parents' astonishing, rancorous split. Eventually, the memories return, leaving Naomi questioning the basis of a new, intense romance, and wondering which of her two lives, present or former, represents her most authentic self. The amnesia device could have been more convincingly played, but Zevin writes revealingly about emotions and relationships. Especially vivid is the Hepburn-Tracy bond Naomi shares with yearbook co-chief Will, whom she wounds with her lurching self-reinvention even as she discovers deeper feelings: "I had thought the way I felt about Will was just a room, but it had turned out to be a mansion." Pulled by the heart-bruising love story, readers will pause to contemplate irresistible questions: If the past were a blank slate, what would you become? Does the search for one's truest identity necessarily mean rejecting all that has gone before? Mattson, Jennifer

Review

"Zevin is completely convincing on the intensity of early passion and the way it can evaporate in the rays of something new, and she has a light touch with the deceptively shallow anguish of adolescence."—New York Times Book Review
 
"Zevin is just a great writer. . . . [She] gets all the details right."
—The San Francisco Chronicle
 
“Sensitive, joyful . . . Pulled by the heart-bruising love story, readers will stop to contemplate irresistible questions.”—Starred, Booklist
 
"A quiet exploration of identity and self-realization that is simultaneously thought provoking and entertaining."—VOYA

 

“Unique . . . Will be well received by teens.”—Kirkus Reviews

 

“Honest and complex characterization grounds a thoughtful, suspenseful examination of memory and identity.” —The Horn Book

 

“Zevin cooks up an entertaining love story . . . teens will identify with her vulnerability and her heightened feelings of alienation. And fans of psychological dramas won't want to put this book down.” —Publishers Weekly

 

"A compelling read with intelligent dialogue that’s also touching and funny."—School Library Journal
 
"I would definitely recommend this book to my high school students, especially teen girls."—The ALAN Review
 
"Zevin blends romance, changing friendships, and familial dysfunction with themes of chance, loss, and choice, and the result is a quiet exploration of identity and self-realization." —VOYA

 

“A good read.”—Kathy Taber, Kids Ink Children’s Bookstore, Indianapolis, IN

 

“This book seems to be really accurate about how teens think . . . very refreshing and a great read!” —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader

 

“Zevin, already a great author, has outdone herself.” —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader

 

"Zevin is a smooth and subtle stylist, creating particularly interesting characters here." — Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

 

“This was a memorable book. Naomi was a likable, realistic character.” —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader

 

“This book was hard to put down.” —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader

 

"It conveys a sense of normal teenage pressures, but also presents a unique story." —A YALSA YA Galley Teen Reader