(42)Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Monday, May 20, 2013

Reconstructing Amelia 

Publication Date: April 2, 2013
Pages: 382


Kate Baron has it all.  She is a very successful Manhattan attorney and has a beautiful daughter, teenager, Amelia.  Her world is rocked when she gets a call from her daughter's exclusive prep-school, Grace Hall, Amelia was accused of plagiarizing a paper, she is being suspended, they demand Kate's appearance immediately. Unfortunately immediately doesn't fit with Kate's busy schedule and when she finally arrives at Grace Hall she finds an horrific scene, Amelia allegedly jumped from the roof of the building.

Kate is barely existing in the days after Amelia's death.  She decides to go back to work sooner than expected, much to the surprise of everyone, but she is desperate to take her mind of the fact that she is now truly alone in this world.  Kate thinks that she is doing "fine" until she receives a text from a blocked number. "Amelia didn't jump".  That one text sends Kate on a journey into the dark, terrifying world that her daughter lived in at Grace Hall.  Through Amelia's text records, emails, and computer Kate reconstructs Amelia's life and finds a world of secret clubs, hazing, bullying, and more.  Did she ever really know her daughter at all? And did Amelia  jump? Or was she pushed?

Reconstructing Amelia is one of those page turners that have a new twist at every turn.  It is so good , but you are torn on which way to feel.   On the one hand your heart aches for Kate at losing her daughter, her heartache and regret resonates with every page.  But on the other hand, you can't help but feel some anger towards Kate for not being more involved in her daughter's life.  Especially when you know that Amelia would have given anything to tell her mother what is going on in her world.  It is heartbreaking,utterly heartbreaking. No matter what their relationship, by the end of the book you are side by side with Kate - desperate to know what happened to Amelia.

Bottom line, Reconstructing Amelia, is going to be this Summer's "must read" novel that everyone is talking about.  It is rare to find such an engrossing novel that will leaving you guessing until the very end, but Reconstructing Amelia will do that for you.  Give it a read & let me know what you think!

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