Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
Reviewed by Stephanie Best
Fifteen year old, Amelia, and her mother, Kate, were all each other had. Amelia shared everything with Kate. That is, until the day she was “tapped” by the Magpies, an exclusive club only the select few were admitted into. Reluctantly, Amelia agrees to join, and her life is changed forever. Within weeks, she is found dead. According to the police, she jumped off her school’s roof committing suicide. In her clouded grief, Kate accepts this, until one day getting an anonymous text saying that Amelia didn't jump. Kate begins to realize that perhaps this text isn't just a cruel joke. Through the process Kate find out shocking things about her daughter and the people she knew. But with everyone telling Kate different stories, and continually gaining more questions than answers, will she be able to find out what really happened to Amelia?
I rated Reconstructing Amelia four stars because I thought the story was
interesting, and I enjoyed trying to figure out how it was going to end as the
story went along. I did not, however, like the fact that the story changed
between characters, as well as time periods. More than once I was confused and
would have to go back and figure out when it was happening. I do think that
multiple views help give dramatic irony for the readers, but I thought
sometimes it could add to the confusion. Overall I enjoyed the book. The genre
is quite common so I think anyone that enjoys murder mysteries would enjoy this
book.
4 comments:
Nice job! Thought I would share my review as well.
4.0 out of 5 stars No matter what she might think, a mother doesn't really "know" everything about her teenaged daughter.
Amelia Baron, aged 15, seemed to have everything going for her -- at least that's what most of the adults in her life thought. So how did she end up dead after falling from the roof of a school building? Single mother, Kate, is stunned when she is told of her daughter's death: was it suicide or was Amelia pushed? The police have termed it an "impulsive suicide" because Amelia was caught plagiarizing on an English paper.
Grieving Kate is finally ready to try to go back to work when she gets a text message from a blocked caller: Amelia didn't jump.
This message drives Kate to delve into Amelia's life -- her text messages, Facebook, emails, phone logs, computer documents -- to attempt to figure out what happened in those last weeks before the tragedy. Kate "reconstructs" the life of a daughter she loved and pieces together a story that touches on many topics important to parents and teens.
The novel is not listed as "Young Adult" but it is being marketed to teens in promotional materials I've seen. Subjects in the book include sexuality, sexting, bullying, suicide, cutting, sex, blogging -- you name it. The book also focuses on a private school (Grace Hall) with clubs that reminded me of many others in that genre including "Pretty Little Liars", "The Sixes", "The Raising", "Mean Girls" and "Testimony". I read it in a couple of hours last evening because I wanted to see how the author would handle all these issues and explain how Amelia died.
I recommend you read it because everyone else is going to be doing so!
An emotional and mystery seeming book, that would probably leave me wanting to keep reading to figure out what exactly happened! A little similar to Thirteen Reasons Why to me, but in a different way obviously. It's amazing what a parent would go through for their child, and I hope to find time to read this book, so can see just how she does this, and what she finds out.
I actually did end up reading this for our book club meeting, and accurate to my previous comment, I absolutely loved this book! Thrilling you with the drama, intensity of emotions portrayed by the characters, and relatable struggles of a teenager, this book was honestly hard to put down. Showing both Amelia, and her mother Kate's perspectives was heart wrenching and a good way to show what happened on Botha ides of the story, something you don't get often in books. I also thoroughly enjoyed how they used social media, such as Facebook statuses and DMs to capture Amelia's relationships with the other characters throughout the novel. A super captivating story, I definitely would've given it four, if not five, stars as well!
This book was really good, I agree with you're review. I think Amelia was relatable for some people. I also really liked how the author used social media to make it more relatable. This book had an surprising plot twist!
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