Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

by Gabrielle Zevin

Book Overview

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...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0374349460
• ISBN13: 9780374349462
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 14 to 18 years
• Grade Range: Grade 9 to Postsecondary

Customer Reviews

A review of Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

There are several reviews that sum the book up very well, so I won't take a lot of time doing it. The short version is that high school junior Naomi Porter takes a fall down her school's stairs and the resulting bump causes her to lose the past four years' worth of memories. The book is divided into three sections, pertaining to Naomi's memories (or lack thereof), her attitude towards life, and her relationships with Ace (her boyfriend), James (the enigmatic and exquisite brooding guy that discovers her on the stairs), and Will (her best friend who supposedly knows everything about her). The tone and style of this story felt so perfect. I wish I could write like this. None of the characters were far beyond belief, and Zevin creates a story where you can feel for each character, even the jerks. Yes, it's a love story, but it's more a story about remembering and forgetting people, relationships, and yourself. It doesn't hammer any messages home, but gives you a year of Naomi's life and how she reconciles herself with her past and makes choices for how she'll live her life. It's beautiful and funny and sweet and sad. I think that's something all books should try to be. I don't know that I'm really doing the book justice, so I'll just say that you should go out and read this book! On a side note, one of the characters deals with depression. This was probably one of the hardest parts of the book to read. Zevin does such an excellent job of showing that transitions from "normal" as this character stops taking medication. You feel badly for Naomi, who puts herself in a fairly dangerous situation, as well as this character, who seems to be falling apart while desperately trying to keep things together. I really appreciate the way that Zevin handles this part of her story.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

In this book, Naomi Porter falls down a flight of stairs and hits her head. After the fall, she can't remember anything since sixth grade. She can't remember her best friend, her boyfriend, or her parent's divorce. This book was definitely written in an intriguing way. From the very beginning, I was hooked. Gabrielle Zevin mixes in the perfect amount of mystery and romance throughout, and I thought that it was an enjoyable, yet thought-provoking book. The character descriptions were flawless, and I was kept guessing until the end. I wasn't sure what Zevin would bring to the story, because I was slightly disappointed with Elsewhere when I read it, but she pulled this book all off in an easy way that makes this novel a quick and easy read, but one that will not soon be forgotten.

Richie's Picks: MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC

"The first thing he did was kiss me. On the lips. And he didn't ask my permission either. "I couldn't recall him ever having kissed me before. "I actually couldn't recall anyone ever having kissed me before. "So, in a way, this was my first kiss." It's summertime, but Naomi Page Porter had been at school, meeting with her best friend. The pair are the incoming co-editors of their high school's award-winning yearbook. Remembering, belatedly, that they'd left the school's $4,000 camera sitting out, Naomi had gone back into the school to grab it. Running out, she had tripped on the steps. Fortunately, Naomi saved the camera. Unfortunately, she had landed on her head. MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC begins with Naomi regaining consciousness on the way to the hospital. She is released after an extended stay. Fortunately, her cognitive skills are perfectly normal. Unfortunately, she does not remember any personal information from the past four years. Naomi doesn't recall such major changes in her life as the development of her body, the messy divorce of her parents, her moving to a new house with her father, that her mother has since had another daughter, her experiences in high school, her friends or, even, whether she has a boyfriend. Naomi is, thus, in the unique and bizarre position of examining her own life from the point of view of a complete outsider. "I went through the drawers of my nightstand. The most interesting thing I found was a plastic compact containing birth control pills, which meant I was either a) having sex with someone (!?!), or b) on the pill for some other reason. The second most interesting thing I found was a leather diary. This might have beat the birth control pills for the official title of Most Interesting Thing in Naomi's Nightstand, had it not been a food diary detailing every single thing I'd eaten for the past six months. Sample entry: August 4 1 Bagel with Cream Cheese, 350 Calories 18 Mini Pretzels, 150 Calories 2 Diet Cokes, 0 Calories 1 Banana, 90 Calories 7 Reese's Pieces, 28 Calories GRAND TOTAL 618 Calories [smiley face] "Every entry after that was the same way. Page after page of it. Sometimes there would be a [frown face] if I thought I had eaten too much, or a [neutral face] if I was neither here nor there about my eating for the day. It went all the way until the day before my injury. I tried to toss the useless artifact in the trash, but I missed. I felt disgusted. I mean, really, what sort of person keeps a food diary? "I wondered if the former Naomi Porter had been, in all likelihood, a complete and total jerk, someone that I probably wouldn't have ever wanted to know." Gabrielle Zevin takes this terrific premise and crafts an entertaining and thought-provoking story that avoids the cheap laughs. Instead, we get to really know the characters in her life and see, along with Naomi, the shades of gray in each of them. It is certainly a tale that could inspire readers to try and examine their o

A Book You Won't Soon Forget

It's a great thing to get to know a character as you read about them in a book. It's a phenomenal thing to get to know a character as they get to know themselves. Such is the case in this book, "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac", written by Gabrielle Zevin, a writer who has a rare talent. The protagonist, a teenager named Naomi, becomes a victim of (as the title says) amnesia, following an unlucky even involving a camera, coffee, and steps. Naomi, even without her memories, is a fully fleshed out character, making it a joy to see her explore the newness of a life that was once so commonplace to her, to see everything she does different, to see how her amnesia changes every single relationship in her teenage life. The story is well-crafted in that its structure mirrors life more than the rising action model of a story. Some plot lines climax, and some just fade away like a forgotten memory; which, by the way, is a large theme in this story. What we have here is not the definitive life story of Naomi Porter, but simply a year in the life of a likable, complex, and flawed character who is going through a rough--yet she's not at all angsty/brooding about it--time. Nothing in this book is forced, though the touching and relatable moments are as plenty as usage of magic in a Harry Potter book. Much like Zevin's previous novel, "Elsewhere", this book has a permanent place on my small shelf of favorites. However, unlike "Elsewhere", I was so swept up in the story that this book has become the first novel in God-knows-how-long that I finished in a single day. This is a book that a reader can truly, truly love. 10/10 Classic.

Courtesy of Teens Read Too

When sixteen-year-old Naomi Porter takes a header down the front steps of Thomas Purdue Country Day School, she loses a lot more than her pride. Although she remembers the ride in the ambulance to the hospital with James Larkin, and recalls that her blood ended up on his shirt, and even remembers that he assured the ambulance driver that he was her boyfriend, she's having a really hard time remembering anything prior to that. Anything, say, that happened in the last four years. Awake and alert in the hospital with her dad by her side, Naomi knows that something's wrong. She knows her name, and she knows where she is. What she doesn't quite understand is that the last tangible memory she has happened when she was twelve. She can tell by the way her body feels that she's not twelve any longer. And then comes the first of many shockers: her parents are divorced. Oh, and her mother is remarried to her high school sweetheart, and they have a toddler named Chloe, who happens to be her half-sister. And she has a boyfriend named Ace, who conveniently enough is away at tennis camp. And her best friend, William "Coach" Landsman, is also the co-editor of the school paper, The Phoenix, a position she shares. And on and on the list goes, until all Naomi wants to do is scream. In the course of a few minutes and one bump on the head, Naomi has lost four years worth of memories. She still knows she's adopted, she recalls her life up until the age of twelve, but everything between seventh grade and her current position as a junior in high school is a blank slate. For some, she's a girl to be pitied. For others, she's just another teen looking for attention. For herself, and her father, and her best friend, and her boyfriend, and the boy she begins to fall in love with, she's something else entirely -- an enigma, a girl without a past who must forge ahead to make her own future. I truly enjoyed MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC. The tone of the story is a perfectly balanced mix of humor, seriousness, and the search for identity. There are moments that are sad, and even downright heartbreaking, mixed with scenes of hilarity. Ms. Zevin, the author of one of my favorite books ever, Elsewhere, has penned another story that will leave you wondering and thinking long after you turn the final page. Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"