Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Some books you stay up reading till 3 A.M. because you love them and don’t want to put them down. For others, you’ve spent half the book yelling at the protagonist for being dumb, and (for the sake of your sanity) you need to know what happens next. Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac was the latter. Not that that’s a bad thing.

The book raises intriguing questions on identity: If you lost recollection of the last five years, how would you view your current lifestyle?

After falling down the stairs, Naomi loses all her memories from after the sixth grade. Enter an irresistible, rebellious boy who finds her. Throw in a jock boyfriend, parental divorce, a best friend loyal to the point of idiocy, and the ingredients seem very predictable (and perhaps slightly nauseating if you, like me, have consumed enormously more than the healthy amount of YA Fiction). Yet, we keep returning to this genre because we can’t get enough of the awkward, heartwarming teen romance—which you’ll find no dearth of here.

Ultimately, this book won’t change your life, but who even cares. Give it a shot if you want to drown your sorrows in some cliché YA! –Review by Ritu B. ’24

For those who enjoyed this book, Ritu has recommended Crazy Rich Asians for you to check out!

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