Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac: A Novel

by Gabrielle Zevin

Overview

From the author of Elsewhere and the Birthright trilogy, Gabrielle Zevin's Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is an imaginative YA novel all about love and second chances.

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.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac is a 2008 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781429956291
Publisher:	Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date:	06/23/2009
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	162,683
Lexile:	720L (what's this?)
File size:	326 KB
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Gabrielle Zevin is the New York Times and internationally best-selling author of several critically acclaimed novels, including The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, which is now a motion picture, and Young Jane Young. Her most recent novel is Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, one of the best books of the year, according to the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Entertainment Weekly, the Atlantic, Oprah Daily, Slate, NPR, the Hollywood Reporter, and many other outlets. Her novels have been translated into forty languages. She lives in Los Angeles.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

October 24, 1977

Place of Birth:

Poughkeepsie, New York

Education:

A.B. in English and American Literature, Harvard College, 2000

Website:

http://www.fsgkidsbooks.com/elsewhere

Read an Excerpt

From Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

"Are you Ace?" I asked, remembering what James had said about my having a boyfriend.

Will removed his black rectangular-framed glasses and wiped them on his pants, which were gray wool like James's had been. I would later learn that removing his glasses was something Will did when embarrassed, as if not seeing something clearly could in some way distance him from an awkward situation. "No, I most definitely am not," he said. "Ace's about six inches taller than me. And also, he's your boyfriend." A second later, Will's eyes flashed something mischievous. "Okay, so this is deeply wrong. I want it on the record that you are acknowledging that this is deeply wrong before I even say it."

"Fine. It's wrong," I said.

"Deeply -"

"Deeply wrong."

"Good." Will nodded. "I feel so much better that you don't remember him either. By the by, your man's a dolt not to come."

"Dolt?" Who used dolt?

"Tool. No offense."

"Leave. Right now," I said in a mock stern tone. "You go too far insulting Ace . . . What's his last name?"

"Zuckerman."

"Right. Zuckerman. Yeah, I'm really outraged about you insulting the boyfriend I don't remember anyway."

"You might be later and if that's the case, I take it all back. Visiting hours only started a minute ago, so he'll probably still come," Will said, by way of encouragement I suppose. "If it were my girlfriend, I would have been waiting outside before visiting hours."

Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

The book opens with Naomi in an ambulance with amnesia. As Naomi is discovering who she is, so are you: as she is now, who she has been in the past, and who she wants to be. Focus on some of the things she discovers about her life over the last few years: some of them feel right, such as her friendship with Will; some startle her, such as her mother's remarriage; some mystify her, such as her relationship with Ace.
1. Build a profile of Naomi pre-amnesia.
2. Describe some of the "watershed" moments for Naomi--times when she does not act like the girl she was--for example, when she cuts her hair or quits yearbook. How are the actions defining who she will become?
3. Amnesia gives not only Naomi a second chance but also others in her life. Pick a character and examine how Naomi's amnesia affects his/her life.
4. Why is the fact that Naomi is an orphan important? How does the author weave this theme throughout the story?
5. Explore the symbolism of Naomi's being found as a baby in a typewriter case. How else are typewriters and books relevant to her story?
6. Photography is a recurring motif. How does it enrich the story?
7. Discuss the role of music throughout the book.
8. Compare and contrast Naomi and James.

9. Examine the scene in which Naomi's memory returns. Why is it significant that it is the French word for camera that seems to open the floodgates? Why are the two memories Naomi recounts--and the individuals they involve--pivotal?
10. Read the prologue again. Speculate: Would Naomi have made some of the same choices/charges if she had not experienced amnesia?
11. What would you do with a second chance?

Editorial Reviews

In her imaginative second novel, an unusual love story, the highly acclaimed author of Elsewhere offers a unique exploration of teenage identity and self-discovery. The heroine, a teen who is forced to re-invent herself and reconstruct her life after she suffers a head injury that leaves her with a four-year memory loss, grapples with many issues teens will find familiar: romance, changing friendships, and a dysfunctional family. But this teen’s amnesia gives her the perspective to see herself and others clearly for the very first time. At times funny and always thought provoking, this tale effectively touches upon themes of chance, loss, and choice, in a moving story readers won’t soon forget.

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.
—The New York Times

Polly Shulman

Departing from the science fiction premise of Elsewhere, Zevin cooks up an entertaining love story out of what her narrator calls "chance, gravity and a dash of head trauma." As the novel opens, 16-year-old Naomi has fallen down a flight of stairs and lost all memory of the past four years. She doesn't remember her parents' divorce (not to mention her mother's remarriage, her half-sister and her father's recent engagement to a tango dancer). Her best friend, Will, with whom she co-edits the school yearbook, and Ace, her tennis-player boyfriend, seem like strangers. What Naomi does remember is James, the first person she saw after her accident. The image of the boy-who helped her to the hospital and stayed to make sure she was all right-lingers as she tries to sort out her past and her feelings. Well-defined characters and convincing narration camouflage the Lifetime-movie premise and the inevitability of every plot turn (no one will doubt which characters will become romantically involved and who will end up together). Naomi, adopted in infancy from a Russian orphanage, can summon up more than enough hidden emotional depths to counterweight the slicker aspects of the 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. Ages 14-up. (Sept.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Zevin constructs a unique take on the teenage question of "Who Am I?" New York City sophomore Naomi Porter must re-invent herself, re-construct her life and undergo a re-birth on her journey back from a head injury that leaves her with nine stitches and a memory loss spanning the four years since sixth grade. She struggles to adjust to her high school's caste system and to comprehend the roles of four males in her life. Ace, the tennis jock, is her forgotten boyfriend. Will, her yearbook co-editor, doubles as her best friend, and then there's the hauntingly intriguing James, her new crush. Her father, the fourth guy, loses her trust when Naomi discovers her parents are divorced and he plans to remarry. Rather than listing her many amnesia problems, Zevin deftly reveals Naomi's dilemma with concise phrasing. " ‘Hello,' I greeted myself. ‘I'm Naomi.' The girl in the mirror didn't seem convinced." This unusual love story has only a few lapses and will be well received by teens intrigued by the concept. (Fiction. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

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.” —The New York Times Book Review

“Sensitive, joyful . . . Pulled by the heart-bruising love story, readers will stop to contemplate irresistible questions.” —Booklist, Starred Review

“Zevin is just a great writer. . . . [She] gets all the details right.” —The San Francisco Chronicle

“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 that is simultaneously thought provoking and entertaining.” —Voice of Youth Advocates

“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

“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.” —The 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

From the Publisher