Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Gabrielle Zevin

Published 2007

271 Pages

Rating: B

Sometimes a girl needs to lose.

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.

(taken from back of book)

I had read Zevin’s first book, Elsewhere, find Briana’s review for that here. So I was intriguied to read this book written by her. It seemed very interesting, and the story was something that would catch my attention anytime. Its about a girl who forgets everything from the past four years and doesn’t understand the life she lived before the accident. I honestly don’t know what I would do if that happened to me! I’d be freaked out!

Naomi was the best friend of Will. The girlfriend of Ace Zuckermen, the jock. Co-editor of her high school yearbook. And the daughter of her parents, her divorced parents. But now Naomi doesn’t know what her life is all about. She doesn’t remember the last four years of her life. She doesn’t remember meeting Will and becoming best friends with him. She doesn’t remember ever having feelings for Ace. She doesn’t remember why she has any interest in the yearbook. And she definitely doesn’t remember her parents splitting up. As she tries to put back the pieces of her old life, she deals with family, friends, school and love. Losing your memory from the past four years has its toll, and Naomi is wondering why her old life ever made her happy.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is a book that captures your interest right from the start. It could be more exciting and more thrilling, but I think it is a good story. It'd be interesting to lose your memory and have to start over again.

-Arielle.

Question:: If you had lost your memory but could choose to remember one thing, what would you want to remember?

-does that make sense? Ha.

P.S. I start my sophomore year of college tomorrow, so I am not sure how often I will be able to post stuff, but I know I will try and read as many books as I can! And hopefully I will have the will-power to write reviews on them. :)