Tolog Review: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
by Gabrielle Zevin
reviewed by Amy Altman 

Have you ever felt like you’ve had a senior moment? As for most of us we soon remember what we thought we forgot. But this is not the case for Naomi Porter. Naomi is a junior in high school when she trips on a flight of stairs and goes tumbling down to the bottom. This was not the usual outcome of a fall… a simple cut that later heals into a scar. Naomi suffered from this fall; brain loss of the last five years of her life. In the novel, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin, Naomi tries to piece together the last five years of her life with the help of family and friends, while at the same time trying to figure out what is her new identity.

It all started with one innocent trip and immediately she was found on the floor, unconscious. She was awakened by an ambulance and the ringing of a siren. She was rushed to the hospital and found out that she suffered from amnesia. The doctors were of little to no help. Later that day, Naomi asks her Dad where Mom was and sadly he returned with “we got divorced a year ago”. More of these questions popped into her head later in the book like “why are there birth control pills in my drawer?”, “I have a boyfriend?”, and “who are these people I am hanging out with?”

As a reader it is hard to imagine what Naomi is going through. It’s almost like the game “twenty-one questions”. She asks the questions and hopefully the person will truthfully fill her in on what happened in those five years. For instance, when Naomi and her Father were driving home from the hospital, Naomi asked: “Where are we going?”. She has been living in the same city for most of her life and had little memory. Naomi felt like she was in a stranger’s car, but according to her Dad it was her “favorite” car. Furthermore, she also felt like she was in a stranger’s house.

Reading this book made me frustrated because I felt like there would be no solution. It was irritating that the Doctors left Naomi with more questions than answers and in the end Naomi can never remember everything from the last five years. She will always be left with a half-decade of her life full of questionable memories. On a positive note, I do recommend this novel if you enjoy literature that makes you feel emotions parallel to the character, and a plot that is captivating with many twists and turns!