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Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
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Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
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Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
Audiobook6 hours

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Written by Gabrielle Zevin

Narrated by Caitlin Greer

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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.

After her remarkable debut, Gabrielle Zevin has crafted an imaginative second novel all about love and second chances.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateSep 11, 2007
ISBN9780739359723
Unavailable
Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac
Author

Gabrielle Zevin

Gabrielle lives in New York City. She is the author of one other book for young adults, Elsewhere, as well as an adult book, Margarettown. Gabrielle is also the author of the screenplay for the film Conversations With Other Women, starring Helena Bonham Carter.

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Reviews for Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac

Rating: 3.769347314112291 out of 5 stars
4/5

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Find this review and more at On The Shelf!Well, here I am still catching up on some of my older reviews. I was on 3rd shift for the entire month of April, which really threw off my days! I couldn’t keep up with what day it was since I was at work on 2 different days. Tomorrow was today and today was yesterday, I’d think it was Tuesday, but really it was Friday; it was a jumbled mess when it came to when it actually was. I decided I like my M-F schedule much better than the alternating 12 hr workdays for 3rd. Anyway, here is my next catch up review!This book was really well written and one of the most realistic reads when it comes to amnesia. Naomi was an interesting character, when we meet her, it’s right before the accident has happened and her personality is different than before the accident, so we don’t get to know how she was before hand really unless somebody was talking about how she was before. I really liked Will. He was fun and funny, plus he knew Naomi the best of anybody and was really there for her, though there were points where Naomi wasn’t fair to him and some other people, but I can imagine 4 years of lost memory can really be quite stressful.There is a lot of stuff that happens to her while she has amnesia and a lot of questions she must ask herself and decide on what she wants since she doesn’t know what she wanted before since she can’t remember it. She makes several mistakes and almost loses people she is close to. Her life becomes a crazy ride for a girl who is missing a big chunk of memory. The story was a bit on the slower side, but I liked the way everything ended. It wasn’t an incredibly amazing story, but it was still enjoyable.Well-written, on the slow side, realistic, good characters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The story line was going really well.. until the complete mix of relationships, feelings etc. otherwise, I enjoyed the book. I definately love the advice the father gave at the wedding.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Love this book!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sad and wonderful
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I started out really liking Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac. The plot line, having an amnesiac main character, is not a new one, but it is always interesting to see how the author will reconcile the two halves (pre- and post-amnesia) of the character. Naomi's story takes place over a ten month period, starting with when she got amnesia. While there were engaging moments in the book, I felt the character development was lacking and also never really saw a change or growth in Naomi like I would have hoped. After making a few initial changes, Naomi's life seems stagnant. Even after her memory comes back, she doesn't veer much from the path she was on . The story seemed more centered around her romantic relationships than with anything else. I would think in a situation like this, having a boyfriend would take a back seat to the hoards of other issues. While her parents are present in the novel, her dad's parenting style is very laxed and I found that hard to believe, especially since she suffered from a medical trauma. Overall, an enjoyable read, but I didn't find much depth in it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I found a few things disturbing here, for instance how much Naomi's dad let her get away with, but mostly it was a very interesting story, with several characters who entranced me, and with some amazingly graceful & provocative metaphors:

    I thought about... making up with him, but.... Our fight didn't even have a scab yet, and in my mind he'd said worse things to me than I had to him."

    I like the little things thrown in, like how one of Naomi's friends is a lesbian who is in love with another girl who is bi and has the attitude that "it's high school; I don't have to marry anyone." And how the bitchy girl is beautiful & popular, and messed-up, *and* probably strong enough straighten herself out before it's too late.

    My only complaint, really, is that it was a bit too short. So many interesting side-stories and we see only glimpses of them. I don't like series, but I could see myself reading other books set in this same community, so we could read Brianna's story, and Ace's, and Chloe's...."
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When Naomi falls down the school stairs and bangs her head, she loses all memories of the last 4 years. She doesn't remember her friends, or that her parents have divorced. She doesn't know why her best friend calls her "Chief" of why she used to love working on yearbook. She breaks up with her boyfriend, and starts dating someone with a history of issues. Then her memory comes back.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This book was pretty intriguing, its hard to help but wonder what it would be like to take a look at yourself from an almost outside perspective, to get a fresh start and be able to be a whole new person. This is what Naomi gets to do since she lost her memory in an accident, can't remember the last four years of her life, and realises that maybe she doesn't want to remember the person she had become.

    Its a great book, with some interesting characters and a great plot to back it up.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was good, but could've been better. Quick read...can't really go wrong with a romantic amnesia storyline...
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An interesting variation on the theme of the teenage finding herself. Memoirs examines how much of our personality and behaviour is determined by the expectations of others and the desire to be liked.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When Naomi falls down the school stairs and bangs her head, she loses all memories of the last 4 years. She doesn't remember her friends, or that her parents have divorced. She doesn't know why her best friend calls her "Chief" of why she used to love working on yearbook. She breaks up with her boyfriend, and starts dating someone with a history of issues. Then her memory comes back.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A book about losing, reinventing, and finding yourself. Wonderful.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Another winner by Gabrielle Zevin.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have to admit that I read some of the reviews before writing my own. I finished the book in pretty quick order, because it was a quick read but I'm not sure I liked it all that much.

    After reading some of the reviews I understand why I did not like it as much as I thought I would. It left me with many unanswered questions. For example, how does Naomi reconcile with her mother without any discussion about it? I really did not get a sense that Naomi was such a bitch before her accident, but the people she hung out with as a result of her boyfriend Ace were really mean to her. She seemed to get over James pretty quickly which seemed unrealistic considering how madly in love with him she was.

    Interesting premise, kind of falls flat.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
     What would you do if you lost all of your memories? Would you try and become your old self? Or, would you try and be someone completely different? Well, 17 year old Naomi Porter lost four years of her memories. She forgot her best friend Will, her parents divorce due to her mother's affair, and her boyfriend Ace. It all began when Naomi picked heads on a coin toss. A coin toss to determine who would go and get the yearbook camera. If Naomi had picked tails, she would have won the coin toss and recall all her memories, but she didn’t. She wouldn’t have woken up in an ambulance with amnesia. She might even have remembered why she fell in love with Ace in the first place. She would understand why her best friend, keeps calling her “Chief.” She’d know about her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. But, she never would have met James, the boy with the questionable past and the even more questionable future. He found her and rode down to the hospital with her. Soon, the “new” Naomi will discover what its like to be a real teenager again while getting lost in some drama with boys. I don’t want to give too much away, but the accident forces Naomi to rebuild her identity and discover her true passions while dealing with a broken family, a best friend she no longer knows and a mysterious boy she wishes she knew better.My favorite character of the book was Naomi. She lost the last four years of her memory, yet she remains a pretty cool customer. She was forced to deal with some heartbreaking "new" memories and goes on a journey to find her true self. She's popular, but does she like being popular? She's got a nice boyfriend, but what if she doesn't want to kiss him anymore? She's a fantastic tennis player, but what if she wants to try out for a play? Naomi isn't afraid of shattering everyone's expectations of who she should be, and I personally adore that quality in everyone!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Great book, fast read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Read on January 29, 2011Would you like the people your friends with now if you lost your memory? This is the story of a teenager that loses any memory she had of the last four years. I'm really impressed with what I've read from this author so far, hopefully there's more to come!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A perfect Saturday-afternoon read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I quite enjoyed this one. I thought the idea of the story was excellent, and I haven't read anything like it before. Naomi was very irritating at parts, and came across as very selfish as she was stringing along three guys at once. Will was my favourite character, and he was developed really well. I'm giving it four stars because it really pulled me in from start to finish, but at the same time, I wasn't fond of the main character, nor did I like reading it from her perspective. It was a good read, and lived up to my expectations.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Fun book that kept me reading, although nothing remarkable.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I finally admit that I judge books by their covers. I do and I did in the case of Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, which I find really strange since even now I'm not exactly sure what it is about this cover that I like. Maybe it's because it's one of the few female geared books I've seen recently without a long haired girl on the front. But I did judge it worthy of a read, even without actually reading the blurb. I mean the title is a bit self explanatory, isn't it?Zevin has a great sense of pacing, and I really felt that just as I was getting a bit tired of something, she moved the story forward. There seemed to be three separate stories going on for Naomi. There's her missing memories of her family, which is pretty much the exact opposite of what little life she can remember. It's heartbreaking to feel her going through her parents divorce, mom's remarriage and the birth of a baby sister instantly. The second story involves her friendship with Will. I felt that there was a bit too much obviousness to this, but it didn't feel forced. She makes choices that Will doesn't understand, but she still makes them. I liked that she didn't give in just because he kept saying she never would have done that.The third story was about her discovery of James. This is the story line that really drew me in. There was an honesty to James that I felt Naomi wanted to have herself, yet was scared to. Even thought she was completely redefining herself, she was doing it more just to not be what everyone else kept telling her she was. James new what he was and was attempting to make real changes, even if he was more messed up than Naomi was. On story alone I would have given this a five, but I found that a lot of the dialogue felt off. For the first two chapters I kept thinking the book was taking place in England, and even throughout the rest of the book the idea kept coming back to me. Maybe people on the East coast really do talk that way, but I just didn't feel like the vocabulary was natural for American teens (when was the last time you heard a seventeen-year-old boy refer to another as a chap?). I will however definitely look for more from Zevin.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I finally finished! Wahoo! This has been my backpack book, which means it never leaves my backpack so that I always have something to read when I’m early to class or class gets canceled, etc… Anyway, that also means that it takes me eons to finish. I’ve been reading this one for months! I liked this book, it was good, but I had thought I was going to love this book. I liked it right from the get go and thought it would only get better but instead it just went downhill from there.The whole story is pretty anti-climatic. The most exciting part is the beginning and after that you just follow Naomi through her daily life as she struggles with her feelings and coming to terms with not being able to remember her past.Honestly, Naomi drove me crazy. I understand she just lost her memory and all that, which must be extremely frustrating but she acted like such a baby afterwards. She used her memory loss as an excuse for everything. Another thing about Naomi that got on my nerves was how fast she jumped from guy to guy. She always had someone waiting in the wings for her, which was just really annoying and unrealistic.The best character in this book was Will, Naomi’s best friend. Will is quirky, confident, dedicated and sweet. He’s editor of the school yearbook, which is pretty much his whole life. I don’t know if yearbooks are really this big of a deal in high school or not but it seemed pretty insane to me! He loves music and is always making Naomi mixed CDs for every occasion, which I thought was really cute.Besides the few main characters, the rest of them fell flat. Ace, Alice, and Yvette, were all underdeveloped and stereotypical.I’m still excited to read Zevin’s newest book All These Things I’ve Done. Hopefully it will have more developed and complex characters and be a bit more exciting!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    “memoirs of a teenage amnesiac” by Garielle Zevin is a story about a 17 year old girl who falls down a flight a stairs and suffers a head trauma. Naomi is the main character and because of the head trauma she “loses” the past four years of her life. This story is told from her point of view and begs the reader to ask themselves that if they lost the past four years, would they be the same person?In this story the focus is mostly on Will (aka Coach) who is Naomi’s best friend, Ace who is her boyfriend, James who is the bad boy, and Naomi’s dad. As Naomi tries to reconstruct the past four years of her life, she finds that she didn’t necessarily like the person that she was. As a reader, I find that I didn’t particularly like the person Naomi was before the accident. She is portrayed as a spoiled popular girl who is primarily focused on herself. Since her accident, Naomi has essentially become the opposite. Since her last memories were of sixth grade, she is amazed at how much has changed in the interim. Her mother is remarried with a daughter (when did her folks get divorced?), her dad has a girlfriend (does Naomi like her or not), she is dating the athlete (really, what did she see in him), and what exactly is her relationship to her best friend, Will. As we go with Naomi on this journey, we learn along with her what type of girl she was and what type of girl she wants to be. This was a good YA book. The title immediately caught my attention and drew me in. Ms. Zevin does a good job with her characters and capturing what it might be like as a teenager in high school. There were a couple of moments that were a little far-fetched such as when Naomi is left on a beach for 5 hours without any idea when her boyfriend (who said he would be back in an hour) will return. When he does, she isn’t mad. I don’t know many people who wouldn’t be furious if that happened to them.Overall this was a fun read. I felt that the author did a good job and that teens and adults alike would enjoy this story.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Ms. Zevin visited our school in October, and so of course I was intrigued to read a book from an author I had met in real life! This book is funny and smart, and both the protagonist, Naomi, and her buddy Ace are likable characters. The story is engaging and I couldn't wait to find out how it would end.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Thoughtful book, with some depth to it. Do memories affect who we are at any given moment? Sure, but people have the chance to change too. High school girl does quite a few irresponsible things, though!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Gone. All your memory's past the sixth grade wiped out of your head. Your moms afair, her baby, your parents divorce, your best friend and even your boyfriend. Image just opening your eyes on a flight of concrete stairs with all your memories wiped out of this is what it was like for Niomi after falling down a flight of stairs and getting amnesia. What would life be like without your memory's? Well poor Niomi has to discover that on her own.Memoirs of a teenage amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin was a decent book. The long and extended humor kept the light on when reading this book. The big problem is, is that this light was pretty dim and somewhere in the distance. The humor kept this book alive and so did the boyfriend drama. This book felt like a Steven king novel that's how long it took myself to push page after page. There was no "real plot" behind this book just a mix of events all really non related to each other. The writing its self is decent but that fact it was no real fun to read is not OK. I recommend this book to someone that likes dry humor, and babble.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    When Naomi falls down the stairs at school and suffers a serious head injury, the past four years of her life are erased from her memory and she has to learn everything from those years all over again, including some personal shocking details she soon discovers. Naomi learns many details about herself pre-amnesia that she doesn’t like. Vowing to be different now, she finds herself on the path to self-discovery and along the way learns the true meaning of love and friendship. But if and when she gets her memory back, will those ideals be able to withstand the unbelievable things she remembers from before the accident? Or will she have to then make a compromise between who she was and who she is now?This book truly touched me and opened my eyes to many things that people take for granted presently. Through a willfully blooming plot line that opens your mind wider and wider to the meaning of personal self and identity, and the author’s use of character development to demonstrate how through new opportunities one can shape their own future life for either the better or the worse, Zevin gives us a moving novel that really makes the reader think and question their own life and the choices he or she makes.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
     Naomi is having a hard high school year. Ever since she hit her head and got amnesia, things haven’t been the same. She has to re-learn French, try to desperately figure out Will’s inside jokes, and try to see why she ever liked her boyfriend.This book is interesting at first, with a lively start and some good humor in the beginning. But as the book goes on, the middle drags and she can’t seem to figure out what she wants. The characters personality changes a little bit, but they still are able to portray a good story. Other than the middle to mid ending of the book, the story was good.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Above all, mine is a love story.And like most love stories, this one involves chance, gravity, a dash of head trauma.Following this opening, Zevin's novel follows Naomi who, after falling down the front steps of her high school, develops retrograde amnesia and loses the past four years of her life. Now she's left to rediscover why she's dating her boyfriend, the basis of her relationship with her best friend, Will, and where exactly James, the new guy, who found her after she fell, fits in. In the process she attempts to find her own identity and decide if she wants to be the girl she was before she fell down the stairs.Zevin's novel sucked me in quickly. From the opening lines that charmed me to her delightfully well-drawn characters, I was captured. Naomi is a normal 17 year-old girl in unusual circumstances and I found the way she dealt with her situation compelling. She doesn't always make the best decisions but the character comes from a realistic place that makes her mistakes forgivable. And while Naomi could be irritating, her best friend, Will is a fabulous character. A bit of an oddball, his obsession with making mixes and burning them to CD charmed me entirely.Zevin handles her themes well and despite the slightly unusual premise of the novel, her characters are entirely realistic. A well-done YA novel exploring the issue of identity and what makes us us.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This story is about a high-school junior, Naomi, who after falling down a flight of stairs, loses the past four years of her memory. The reader goes through Naomi's ups and downs of discovering who she is, with all the drama any American high school.I liked this book even though it was slightly predictable -- does anyone ever become amnesiac and not become a "better" person than they were? -- but Zevin hits on a point that I think everyone can relate to: would it be better if you could just forget the past? Naomi struggles with this question, while surrounded by her colorful peers. The supporting characters were a titch stereotypical--the jocks, the drama kids, the yearbooks staff--but there were a few that I liked, particulary Will, Naomi's best friend. I would recommend this to 7th graders and up.