Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

First read: May 2014Second read: August 2021I suppose it's true that you should re-read one of your favorite books to get out of a reading slump. It wasn't as impactful as the first time but that's to be expected as I read it a long time ago and my tastes were a bit different back then. I didn't remember the main character being this unlikeable, I did wonder for a little while why I liked it so much back then but, at the same time, I re-read it in one sitting and I was able to truly disconnect and get immersed in a story for the first time in a long while. I guess I'm still counting this one as a favorite.

Naomi was kind of frustrating in parts of the book and I didn't like the ending much but the story as a whole was a fun journey and I liked the basic plot.

I didnt like it much. To me was the quit boring.

I literally kept myself from writing a review right after I finished because I didn't want to be biased by that feeling that sometimes takes us by the ankles and drowns us when we have just finished a book.
So, the thing is: I really like Gabrielle Zevin. I absolutely love AJ Fikry, as annoying and unlovable as he is, and I am perfectly okay with self centered flimsy teenage Naomi.
Naomi Porter is a teenager who fell down the stairs and forgot the last four years of her life - during which a lot has happened, from her parents' divorce to her dating a jock, moving and being part of a club she has no recollection of taking any interest in.
Throughout the book, you do hate her a bit: she can be quite a bitch. But come on, unless you are 16 yourself, you know perfectly well that sometimes people are horrid, and it's part of their growing up. Sometimes she's horrid with other people's permission, and THAT I actually think should be stopped (ie, with her mom or her friends). But again, we all have been there. And the attempts at trying to be an adult are moving, just because even if she doesn't know that, we as the readers should understand that these poorly portrayed resources are all she has, warts and all.
To sum up, if you didn't understand all the ramblings, if you keep your judgment to yourself and remember it's freaking YA, it's cute and worth reading. I think she did a better job with AJ, but I may have been biased by the fact that it all happened in Paradise, I mean, in a bookstore.

Before you read my review you should be forewarned that it is based off an Advanced Reader's Copy and some things may have changed and/or been fixed.

This book definitely had its moments of brilliance. One of the things I enjoyed the most was that it was realistic in the relationships and development of the characters. They were all flawed in their own ways and sometimes they try to make excuses for themselves but not one of them sees giving up on others as the ultimate solution to their problems. What I mean is, that they don't give up on trying to improve the relationship they have with the people in their lives. It's also not one those you-know-everything-will-turn-out-alright type of books. It's unputdownable in the sense that you don't know what's going to happen but you want to know till the point where you could easily finish the novel in one sitting.

The writing was one of the issues I couldn't get past while reading the book because in the beginning it was really bland which sort of correlated with the main character's predicament and main theme of the book but it didn't excuse its distant tone. Also there were hints that the main character, Naomi, was talking to the read in the “I was” portion of the novel as if telling her story about the on-set of her amnesia. However, there was no real mention of it later on in the latter two portions of the book. And in the general middle portion of the book, there was a point where I seriously considered just skimming the rest of the book because the plot was boring me and I wasn't fully immersed in the romantic relationship Naomi and James shared.

Overall, I'd say this was a just a tad bit more than a decent read and ultimately give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

C+

It was a nice read, but it was missing something. I didn't really connect with Naomi either.

As the book went on, I cared less and less for Naomi. She didn't seem 17, but much younger and less mature - but then, even when I was 17, I can't stand most girls that age. She used her amnesia for very selfish reasons and never seemed to want to know much about her past, not because she was scared, but because it would get in the way of her selfish goals she set for herself after her accident. She used it to manipulate people that seemed only to be trying to help her. How she treated Will and her parents was disgusting. I can only assume she had this personality type - both before and after the accident - because she was given so much freedom as a child. How she was towards her mother, adoptive or not, and how her mother just let it go was so mind-blowingly unrealistic I couldn't believe it.
The main reason I finished this book is that Zevin is an excellent wordsmith and I did want to know how the story ended, even if I had stopped caring about Naomi long before I reached the half-way point. I would have much rather read a story about James' past or Will in general - they were much more interesting, though also not entirely believable, characters.

It was so good(:
I felt like I was slowly getting to know Naomi throughout the whole, which is perfect!