Title: Reconstructing
Amelia
Author: Kimberly
McCreight
Publisher: Simon
& Schuster
Publication Date: April
1, 2013
Genres: New Adult,
Crime Thriller
Reviewed by: Angie
Edwards
My rating: 5/5
SUMMARY
Stressed single mother and law partner Kate is
in the meeting of her career when she is interrupted by a telephone call to say
that her teenaged daughter Amelia has been suspended from her exclusive
Brooklyn prep school for cheating on an exam. Torn between her head and her
heart, she eventually arrives at St Grace's over an hour late, to be greeted by
sirens wailing and ambulance lights blazing. Her daughter has jumped off the
roof of the school, apparently in shame of being caught.
A grieving Kate can't accept that her daughter would kill herself: it was just the two of them and Amelia would never leave her alone like this. And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia's private world, into her journals, her email account and into the mind of a troubled young girl.
Then Kate receives an anonymous text saying simply: AMELIA DIDN'T JUMP. Is someone playing with her or has she been right all along?
A grieving Kate can't accept that her daughter would kill herself: it was just the two of them and Amelia would never leave her alone like this. And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia's private world, into her journals, her email account and into the mind of a troubled young girl.
Then Kate receives an anonymous text saying simply: AMELIA DIDN'T JUMP. Is someone playing with her or has she been right all along?
REVIEW
Well, color me impressed and tip me over with a
feather, but I absolutely loved loved loved
this book! It’s not my usual read exactly, but then again, what is? My book
tastes are as wide as my taste in music. But I digress. Anyway, initially I was
planning on rating this novel four stars, but after crying myself through the
phenomenal ending that completely caught me off guard, this book no doubt
deserves a solid five-star rating. I genuinely thought I had the ending figured
out, but I was oh so wrong.
The one thing about Reconstructing Amelia that makes it a vastly different book from
any other, is that you know beforehand what’s going to happen at the end, and no matter
how differently you wish it would turn out for Amelia, you know it won’t and
there’s absolutely zero you can do about it. The inevitable conclusion ensures
that the suspense keeps on building until you think you can’t take anymore. So,
right from the start you know how the story is going to end, but you don’t
exactly know the why and the exact specifics as to the how, and thus from page
one the reader takes this journey with Amelia and her mother, Kate, to figure
out what exactly went down in the last moments of Amelia’s existence.
Right, so mostly this is a question of whodunnit, but
to get to that answer we have to get to know Amelia first. That is done not
only from her mother’s point of view while she works her way through Amelia’s
emails, text messages, and what not, but also by seeing the world through
Amelia’s own eyes. The chapters from Amelia’s point of view were the ones I
liked best because straight-A student Amelia tells us about her friendship with
her odd bff Sylvia, her life at school, her first love, and most importantly, how
and why she got involved with the most vicious group of girls at school. The
discoveries her mother and Detective Lew makes about Amelia’s life doesn’t
offer any new insight the reader hasn’t already gained from Amelia herself, but
to see it from her mother’s perspective gives the story an entirely different
depth and dimension. I honestly didn’t connect with Amelia’s mother, no matter
how hard I tried, but I had so much sympathy with her for losing her only child
and I wanted her to discover the truth. Amelia on the other hand I loved. She’s
so real and the more I got to know her, the more I hoped the ending of the book
would change even though I knew it wouldn’t. That is the beauty of this story
and I believe the secret of its success. It’s that it creates this situation
which you know what the outcome is going to be, but you’re powerless to change
it. I’ve never read anything like this before. It just goes to show what money,
manipulation and influence can do…and it’s outright frightening. What the
Maggies – this secret club of girls – did to Amelia is shocking! What’s even
more frightening is that these kids aren’t the only culprits. The entire plot
is built on a complex web of lies, secrets, blackmailing and exploitation.
Have you ever watched the movies Cruel Intentions and The Craft? It’s
that times a hundred. It’s Mean Girls
meets the teen version of the tv series, Revenge.
This is a powerful story with an
intricately constructed plot that will keep you guessing, and then leave you
shocked at the revelation when everything comes together at its finale. The
relationship between Amelia and her workaholic mother is fresh and original,
which just made everything so much more heartbreaking in the end. Did Amelia
commit suicide (because she certainly had enough reason to) or was she pushed
from the school’s roof? All I can say is that you’ll be surprised at the
answer. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed the aforementioned movies
and tv series, and to older readers in the YA spectrum upwards. Any parent who
fears losing their child should read this. If you enjoyed the complexities of
Gillian Flynn’s novel, Gone Girl,
then you definitely also want to read this book. I’m happy I read Reconstructing Amelia and I’m looking
forward to more books by this author!
READ more REVIEWS
Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly
McCreight has over 3100 reviews on Goodreads. Read it here.
PURCHASE LINKS
ABOUT the AUTHOR
Kimberly McCreight attended Vassar
College and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
After working as a litigation associate at some of New York City’s biggest law
firms, she left the practice of law to write full-time. Her work has appeared
in such publications as Antietam Review,
Oxford Magazine, and Babble. She lives in Park Slope,
Brooklyn, with her husband and two daughters.
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