08 June 2007 MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC by Gabrielle Zevin, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, September 2007, ISBN: 0-374-34946-0; Audio CDs by Listening Library, ISBN: 0739359711

"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 own lives and choices objectively.

Any reader who has ever looked back at what they've done and has wished for a "do-over" will be intrigued by the situation into which Naomi Porter falls headfirst.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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