snark-notes:
Book Review: Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly...
Book Review: Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreightAmelia Baron is a smart, ambitious, well-rounded teenage girl attending one of the best prep schools in Brooklyn. She has also just died in an apparent suicide. Her mother, Kate, has to believe it because the police say it’s so. But then she gets the text “She didn’t jump” and that is something that Kate believes. So now she’s chasing down leads with a new detective to figure out who her daughter was and what lead to her death.
Reconstructing Amelia is a can’t-put-it-down thriller that’s told in combination by Kate, Amelia, Amelia’s chat logs, and Amelia’s Facebook page. Kate narrates what happens after Amelia dies, while Amelia narrates everything leading up to it. It’s frequently mentioned within the same breath as Gone Girl, and I can see why. They’re both intense thrillers with frequent plot reveals and a nearly endless amount of questions.
However, this is also not Gone Girl. This is not the story of a marriage between two scumbags. This is the story between a mother and daughter who love each other endlessly and can’t always communicate when they need to.
As the plot unfolds, we learn a lot about Amelia while she learns it about herself: she joins a secret club at school and more importantly, she realizes her sexuality. She’s gay. And it’s refreshing because Amelia doesn’t fight the realization and she doesn’t really want to hide it. It’s just a series of unfortunate events that don’t allow her to tell her mother or her best friend.
While Kate and Amelia’s story progresses, we get a lot of questions. What was Amelia doing? Who killed her? Who is her father? Who is her random Internet friend, Ben? All of the questions are answered in time, but your guess can change from chapter to chapter.
It’s a quick read, but a delight from start to finish. A lot of people seemed disappointed in the ending, but I found it to be realistic, which is all I asked for.
I would recommend this book to people who love mysteries and thrillers (including books like Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train), along with people who want to read about two flawed and compelling female protagonists.
I gave it a 4/5 on my Goodreads account which translates to “I really liked it.”
