Reconstructing Amelia Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00BW7OTCU | Format: PDF
Reconstructing Amelia Description
When Kate, single mother and law firm partner, gets an urgent phone call summoning her to her daughter's exclusive private school, she's shocked. Amelia has been suspended for cheating, something that would be completely out of character for her over-achieving, well-behaved daughter.
Kate rushes to Grace Hall, but what she finds when she finally arrives is beyond comprehension. Her daughter is dead.
Despondent over having been caught cheating, Amelia has jumped from the school's roof in an act of impulsive suicide. At least that's the story Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. In a state of shock and overcome by grief, Kate tries to come to grips with this life-shattering news. Then she gets an anonymous text: Amelia didn't jump.
The moment she sees that message, Kate knows in her heart it's true. Clearly Amelia had secrets, and a life Kate knew nothing about. Wracked by guilt, Kate is determined to find out what those secrets were and who could have hated her daughter enough to kill. She searches through Amelia's emails, texts, and Facebook updates, piecing together the last troubled days of her daughter's life.
Reconstructing Amelia is a stunning debut pause-resistor that brilliantly explores the secret world of teenagers, their clandestine first loves, hidden friendships, and the dangerous cruelty that can spill over into acts of terrible betrayal.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 12 hours and 15 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: HarperAudio
- Audible.com Release Date: April 2, 2013
- Whispersync for Voice: Ready
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00BW7OTCU
Reconstructing Amelia reminds me of another book I loved "Sister". In both cases, we have a heart-breaking tale of a woman who will do whatever it takes to get to the truth of a love-ones so called suicide. In this case, single mother Kate Baron cannot believe that her high achiever/perfect 15 year old daughter Amelia jumped from the roof of her New York private school. Kate harbors guilt about the long hours she works at her prestigious law firm. Kate believes that the bond she had with Amelia was strong and that the time they spend together was quality.
Reconstructing Amelia swings back and forth between alternating chapters; Kate in the present and Amelia approximately 1 month before her death to slowly reveal what happened on the roof. We quickly learn that both Kate and Amelia had secrets that are also revealed through snippets from Amelia's E-mail/face-book page and a scathing school gossip blog. Amelia had recently been pegged to join an elitist all girls club at school. As a pledging, Amanda becomes enamored with one if its founding members, Dylan, and makes an enemy of another vindictive club member, Zadie. Amelia's secretive/time consuming membership in this club called the Magpies also causes tension between her self-centered boy/crazy best friend Sylvia. "Reconstructing Amelia" is reminiscent of Donna Tartt's "The Secret History". It tackles very relevant subjects such as emotional bullying, teen-age isolation, autism, and sexuality. Amelia was a believable and likable teen-ager. Kate's guilt and regret were palpable as she slowly begins to uncover the many facets she did not know of her daughters life.
Reconstructing Amelia is a well written story about cruel teen-age behavior and a coming-of- age story.
I was drawn to this book by the publicity comparing it to last year's "Gone Girl." That book was an intricately plotted mystery with stunning twists that were completely unexpected and that actually made sense. It was also extremely well-written, told through the distinctive voices of at least three separate characters. This book doesn't even come close. The author packs in a large number of subplots and mini-mysteries, leading the reader to anticipate a clever and unifying resolution that will tie all the loose threads together in a surprising and satisfying manner. No such luck. Without giving spoilers, I think I can safely say that many (most?) of the subplots in the book are resolved in ways that appear wholly arbitrary and have no connection to the central mystery of what happened to Amelia. The resolution of one of the mysteries (involving the author of a particularly vicious school gossip blog) ultimately turns on a character's wholly implausible motivation that is casually tossed off in a single sentence. Also, unlike "Gone Girl," the two narrators (and just about every other character) speak with utterly interchangeable voices; the author's attempt to create a distinctive 15-year-old's narrative voice largely consists of throwing in the word "like" a lot.
Particularly disturbing to me was the poor editing of this book, which is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors. (I read the Kindle version, so I don't know if the same mistakes appear in the print edition.) The author's bio tells us that she attended Vassar College and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
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