Book Review: Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

I rated it 5 out of 5 stars.

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 her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. 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.

Review: This was a reread of one of my high school faves that survived my move to Seattle (I gave away almost about all of my books). Even about 5-6 years later, I still loved this one. I was shocked when I looked it up on Goodreads. How could the rating be 3.71? It was 5 all the way for me.

Here's the thing, you don't know what to expect when you pick up the book. You don't really know how the story's going to turn out. Because of that, I enjoyed it immensely. You get to know this main character as she discovers herself which I found really interesting. Zevin also does an amazing job at characterization and illustrating their flaws. Especially with James. I have to say, he was the pivotal point of the novel for me, even though he was only in one third of the book (Zevin, you should do a book with James as a MC, I'm curious to know how he'd end up).

I didn't agree with the ending, but then again it isn't my story. I still respected the writing and saw the logic of how it came to be. The pacing throughout was excellent. I read it all in one sitting (both times I read it), and I wouldn't mind reading it all over again.