Name: Shannon Fisher's review of Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
Item: Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac
Rating: 4
Author: Shannon Fisher

Gabrielle Zevin

After a nasty fall, Naomi realizes that she has no memory of the last four years and finds herself reassessing every aspect of her life.

Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac

chiling belnavis

very easy read. really liked the ending. 

Shannon Fisher

Ivy X

The ending was so sweet. This whole book was really interesting because it makes you wonder: "are you really who you want to be? Are you really who you are right now? What would happen if it became a clean slate?" 
And it was really nice to see how she went on with her life even after remembering. I enjoyed this book.

When Naomi tries to piece back the fragments of the last three and a half years of her life, she discovers she has a boyfriend she can't remember, her mother and father are divorced, she and her mother have fallen out, and she has a group of friends she's just not sure she likes any more. A quirky, humorous novel about reinventing yourself, from the author of Elsewhere.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Flavia Louise

Solid 4 stars
I didn't really know what this book was going into it aka I thought this was a book about a girl suffering from dementia. But it wasn't and it was really quite great at what it was, as the back cover says; a love story.

Toni Turner

I read this in the RV because Tatum lent it from the library. 
I loved this beginning and the end of this novel more than the middle bits but the middle bits were so important. I think I enjoyed the main character but not the love interest..like at all. 
I love Gabrielle Zevin.
I need to reread this. But i just remember that feeling I had at the end was one of those smiley endings where it ended how I needed it to end and I loved it a lot. 
Not that prick she dated in the middle though hated him.

Dina

My opinion on this book is slightly divided, hence me going for 3 stars here.

Okay, so this is the story of a girl who hits her head and loses all her memories from the past 4 years.

The book is divided in 3 parts: I was, I am, and I will.

Now, don't get me wrong, I can understand how losing years worth of memories can mess someone up and leave them confused, angry and frustrated. I would be too if I were in the main character's shoes, I'm sure. However, I don't think that should serve as an excuse for all the things she does, thinks or says, or how she keeps hurting the people who are only trying to help her.

Basically, the negative side of this book to me is the way the main character acts in 2/3 of the book. She made me want to climb walls like no other, and I almost threw my book at a certain point. I decided it was better to put it down a bit and cool down first. By the end of the book, I thought she still has a lot to make up for. She was unnecessarily rude, and I hate how we'd see how she was thinking this awful thing, but what she'd actually say to those people would be a slightly softer version of it, as if we're supposed to pat her on the back and congratulate her for not speaking her mind uncensored, as if that somehow makes it any better.

As for the other characters, I really liked Will and I could easily relate to him. I also liked how he would sometimes say what was on my mind in some parts of the book, especially when he pointed out how much of a selfish bitch the main character was being.

James was a bit of a mystery for me at first. I didn't really know how to feel about him. In the end, I think I'm okay with him. He's good.

Also Ace. He seemed a bit... shallow and too pushy I think in the beginning, but when he was lying down on Naomi's bedroom floor, I realized that I probably felt that way because I didn't know much about him, because the main character or the author didn't try to uncover more sides of him throughout the story. I think what they had back then was something real, even though you don't always get that feeling when they talk about it in the beginning, and I feel good about him at the end of the story.

Now for the plot itself... I don't agree with so many of the things the main character does and how she refuses to see things that are right there in front of her simply because she wants to be in control of her life. A little help wouldn't have made her lose that control, in my opinion. I think she is too impulsive and I absolutely hated the way she sometimes treated Will.

I like how she slowly changed and got better. Speaking of which, the character development was good, but I think waiting 2/3 of the story to start working on that may be pushing it a little bit. If I wasn't the kind of person who hates leaving books unfinished, I might have given up halfway through, with the way she was pissing me off.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the ending. I think it was perfect for the story given the circumstances. Giving it a definite good or bad ending wouldn't have felt right. The main character didn't deserve any more or any less than what she got. The ending is probably what made me give it 3 stars instead of 2. Sure, it is an open ending, so you ought to expect some loose ends, but again, I think in order to have a good or bad closed ending, the story would've needed more development first.

Angelyna Mintz 

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 get all his inside jokes, and maybe he wouldn't be so frustrated with her for forgetting things she can't possibly remember. She'd know about her mom's new family. She'd know about her dad's fiancée. She wouldn't have to spend her junior year relearning all the French she supposedly knew already. 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.

A Novel

Samantha Seney

had trouble reading it at first because it's not exactly my genre but it dragged me in really fast. It even made me cry at some parts! it was an amazing book.

* first finished reading on March 21, 2011

chiling belnavis &
Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

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chiling belnavis &Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

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chiling belnavis &
Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin