Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreightMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this books straight through without stopping, so...literally, I couldn't put this book down. However, It wasn't that this book was extremely well written, but the plot was definitely above average, and the topic engaging.
I've noticed that some readers gave this book a low rating since all the characters were unlikeable. I totally agree with the unlikeable characters part. Everyone in the books seemed to be a liar, a cheater, influenced greatly by how others view them, and weak at making the right decisions. However, I still think the author should still receive credit for creating such terrible characters. They are annoying yet believable; unlikeable yet memorable. A few years from now, I could probably still remember some of the characters in this book. They reminded me of some unpleasant people in real life.
The book begins with Kate Baron, a successful lawyer and single Mother, receiving a call from her daughter's private school notifying her of her daughter Amelia's suspension, and asking her to pick up her daughter. It came as a surprise for her since Amelia is an achiever and well behave student. If not counting all the extra hours she spends work, Kate also have a very close relationship with Amelia and spends enough time together. However, when Kate arrived at the high school, Amelia was dead. Knowing how she mostly put her work before her only daughter’s needs, Kate was heartbroken.
A few months after the incident, Kate received an anonymous text telling her that Amelia did not kill herself. She embarked on a journey to find the truth for herself and her daughter. The things that she discovered were all unpleasant with lots and lots of betrayal and lies. The discoveries did not only involve secrets of Amelia, but also those of Amelia's best friend, classmates, teachers, and even long buried secrets of Kate herself. Having a teenage daughter myself made me broke out in cold sweats a few times, and wanted to grab a brick and kill someone at other times during the reading of this story. High school is way too cruel for teenagers to handle alone.
The organization of this book needs a little getting used to, especially for "older" readers like myself. The chapters include texts, Facebook posts, letters, a blog called Gracefully, entries from Kate’s old journals, and two POVs: Kate and Amelia. The chapters also jump back and forth in time from before to after Amelia’s death, and from Kate’s journal. It was particularly difficult to tell which time of her life Kate was talking about. I learned to differentiate her POV by looking at the year on the first page of her chapters. Once we get over this hurdle, the story will become so much easier to read.
Although some of the pranks were quite impossible to be planned by 15 year-olds girls but more of the style of a professional criminal, and the logic of the story left me with a quite few questions (For example: Amelia was narrating up to the last minute of her life), this book was quite an fast and enjoyable read.
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