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 get all his inside jokes, and maybe he wouldn’t be so frustrated with her for forgetting things she can’t possibly remember. She’d know about her mom’s new family. She’d know about her dad’s fiancée. She wouldn’t have to spend her junior year relearning all the French she supposedly knew already. 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.
It all started with a coin toss. Naomi picked heads and now she can’t remember the past four years of her life. Well there was a little bit more to the accident than the coin toss, there is the part about falling down the stairs head first, but the coin toss was the ultimate downfall.
She doesn’t remember her best friend Will, she doesn’t remember her boyfriend Ace, she doesn’t remember her parents divorce, but she does remember James the boy who found her after the accident.
Everyone tries to tell Naomi the kind of person that she is, but she isn’t sure that she wants to go back to being that person. Did she really like working on the yearbook staff with Will? Was she even in love with Ace? Now that Naomi has a second chance, will she be able to find the courage to take it?
This is my first time reading Zevin and I really enjoyed her writing. I’m looking forward to reading Elsewhere another one of her books. As for Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, I loved Naomi’s search into her identity and her self realization. This book was not only thought provoking but also entertaining. The characters were well rounded and helped balance the story. The themes were mostly serious but again it was balanced with humor. I loved this story and I recommend it as a great read!
