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Kate is in the middle of the biggest meeting of her career when she gets the telephone call from Grace Hall, her daughter's exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Amelia has been suspended, effective immediately, and Kate must come get her daughter now. But Kate's stress over leaving work quickly turns to panic when she arrives at the school and finds it surrounded by police officers, fire trucks, and an ambulance. By then it's already too late for Amelia. And for Kate. An academic overachiever despondent over getting caught cheating has jumped to her death. At least that is the story Grace Hall tells Kate. And clouded as she is by her guilt and grief, it is the one she forces herself to believe. Until she gets an anonymous text: She didn't jump. The novel is about secret first loves, old friendships, and an all-girls club steeped in tradition. But, most of all, it's the story of how far a mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she couldn't save.… (more)
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The story is told from a rotating point-of-view. We see it from Kate’s side, Amelia’s and even a catty blog called gRaCeFULLY. There are emails, texts and personal thoughts combined to have the feel of a slow-burning thriller. It’s a mean-girls style novel that delves deeper into the subjects of bullying and how technology is used in that sense.
**SPOILERS**
- There were a few things that bugged me about the book. Listening to it on audio was frustrating because you have to hear every single individual time stamp and to/from for every text. I would recommend reading a hard copy.
- It really bugged me that Ben was Amelia’s father. That relationship was wildly inappropriate and with all the horrible things she was going through and confiding in him, he should have told Kate what was going on.
- When they finally revealed the author of the gRaCeFULLY blog it just wasn’t believable in my opinion.
- Sylvia, the best friend, drove me nuts though. The fact that the author kept reminding the readers why the main character was friends with her is not a good sign.
**SPOILERS OVER**
I really loved the relationship between Amelia and her mother. It felt realistic, both the struggles and the strengths gave a layer of depth to the characters. I also thought that the final reveal at the end made sense in the context of the story and was a satisfying ending.
BOTTOM LINE: Fast paced and interesting, read this one when you want something to keep you on your toes. Some of the finer details fell flat for me, but I was definitely entertained throughout the book.
I have to begin by saying that I really regret reading a glowing review in Entertainment Weekly about this book. That review raved about this book and compared it to Gone Girl (a book that I loved). So I was expecting something amazing when I started to read Reconstructing Amelia, filled with mind blowing twists and turns.
My mind was not blown, and for the most part, I felt like all the twists and turns were fairly predictable. There was one point at the end where I thought I was reading a soap opera, and a few things seemed implausible. Yet at other times, it felt so real. Too real. Especially for me, a mother of two daughters who will someday be two teenage daughters living in this scary world. I don't know how much of the stuff that happens in this book happens in real life, as I am no longer a teenager. And I don't want to know!
I really did enjoy reading it. I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I hadn't started the book with overly high expectations. It is a great story and a page turner, and I stayed up late reading to finish the story. While it is a story about teenagers, I'm not sure that this is really a book for teenagers. I think it is best for a mature teen audience, as there is some language and sexual content that may not be appropriate for everyone.
The way this story is told is excellent. I loved the shifting points of view between Kate in the present and Amelia in the past, with pertinent Facebook and text messages inserted at appropriate points in the story. It worked beautifully to tell this story set in our modern world of social media.
I also enjoyed seeing both sides of the mother/daughter relationship between Kate and Amelia. Again, this hit home with me as I have girls of my own. I loved being able to see Kate's point of view of a conversation, and then later find out what Amelia thought about the same conversation.
To conclude, this is a highly readable book with enough mystery in it to keep you turning pages, even if it is not as surprising as it proclaims to be.
Kate Baron, a single mother and busy lawyer, has not noticed anything particularly awry with her daughter with whom she has always been close, so when she receives a call from the small,
Until Kate receives a text - "Amelia didn't jump".
Reconstructing Amelia is told through the point of view of Kate, as she recalls her relationship with her daughter and investigates the events leading up to her death, and Amelia, whose story also involves texts and Facebook status updates. Moving between the past and the present, in the environs of Park Slope in New York, we become privy to a score of tangled secrets.
As Kate unravels the events that contributed to her daughter's death she discovers, within Amelia's digital landscape, an elite clique's hazing dares, a secret love affair and friendships complicated by petty jealousies, power plays and hidden identities. McCreight skillfully delves into the private world of a modern day teenager negotiating self discovery and independence. Amelia is a well developed character whose thoughts and behaviours are credible, teenagers will be able to relate to her, while parents will no doubt recognise their own daughters in her.
Kate must also confront her own culpability in the choices she has made as Amelia's mother and reconsider her perception of her relationship with her daughter. I think McCreight is sympathetic to the simple truth that teenagers rarely share their inner lives with their parents and Kate, despite her flaws, is a sympathetic character.
It came as a surprise to me that I found Reconstructing Amelia such a page turner but this engaging novel was a fast read with an intriguing cast and storyline. Reconstructing Amelia is an impressive debut from an author to watch.
But then Kate gets a text message from a blocked number that reads, She didn’t jump. Kate immediately contacts the police and the case is reopened. Now Kate will learn things about her daughter — things she never would have thought Amelia could be involved in — if she wants to find out what really happened to her.
All of the characters in this book are very strong and believable. Kate is your typical over-worked single mother, who, though constantly busy at work, deeply cares for her daughter. The loss of Amelia is palpable, and I really felt for her. I was even more captivated by Amelia. She was so effervescent and likable. Even though I knew from the synopsis that she would die, I wanted her to be okay. Her story is very engaging and a little heartbreaking.
The rest of the characters all serve their purpose, and while I felt, at times, that maybe there were too many things going on, it all worked out in the end. There were characters I adored and felt for, and there were some (mainly the evil-wench Zadie) that I truly despised.
The book is perfectly paced, and even though I knew Amelia was dead, there is still a lot of hope in the text. The story alternates between Facebook statuses and text messages from Amelia, blog entries from a Gossip Girl type school blog as well as third-person narrative from Kate’s perspective and first-person accounts from Amelia. This is what kind of threw me. Amelia dies within the first few chapters of the book and by the time we hear from her, she has already passed. It seemed a bit weird that we were hearing a first-person account from a dead girl. It worked, and it definitely made me feel closer to Amelia, but it nagged at me a bit.
Also, as I said before, there were times when I felt there was almost too much going on. It all works, and the author handles everything with precision, I just felt like I was at the edge of being overwhelmed a lot. Then again, that is exactly what Kate was feeling, so maybe that was the author’s intent.
In the end, I really liked this book. In fact, I ordered a hardcover copy the minute I finished reading. While this is considered Adult fiction, 75 – 80% of the book is told from Amelia’s perspective, which gives it more of a YA feel. I highly recommend this one to adults and teens alike. Not only is there a good mystery wrapped between the pages, but there is a lot here in terms of bullying (some of it quite vicious), friendship and mother/daughter bonds. Some of the subject matter and language is a little tough, so I would recommend it to more mature teens. This is one to definitely put on your summer reading list.
I've noticed that some readers gave this book a low rating since all
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.
The story begins with Kate Baron, a single mother and attorney, receiving a call from her daughter Amelia's exclusive private school, saying that Amelia had plagiarized her latest English essay. Kate can't believe that her intelligent daughter would have done something like this, so she heads to the school to sort everything out. By the time she gets there, however, she finds that Amelia has fallen to her death from the school roof in an apparent act of suicide.
Several months after Amelia's death, Kate receives a text message saying "Amelia didn't jump," confirming what she already knew in her heart - that Amelia didn't commit suicide. As Kate begins her own investigation into Amelia's death, she realizes just how many secrets her daughter had, and how she barely knew her daughter at all. This is a thrilling and intense mystery, but it's also a poignant story of high school hazing, love, sexuality, and friendship.
One of this book's biggest accomplishments is how well the author was able to recreate the teenage experience. The story may take place at a privileged high school, but the uncertainty, fear, and frustration are definitively universal for anyone who went to an American high school. It certainly brought back powerful memories for me, although I actually haven't been out of high school long enough to realistically forget much. The inclusion of the text messages & Facebook posts also go a long way towards making this feel contemporary and realistic, but never dumbed down. That in itself is a huge accomplishment.
The structure of the story is interesting, as it cuts back and forth between flashbacks and the present day, and includes excerpts from text messages, Facebook statuses, and a mysterious gossip-based blog centered around the high school. As a result, the reader is put in Kate's position by having to piece together the mystery using small scraps of information. This makes the book incredibly fast-paced and readable...I finished this one approximately 24 hours after I first started reading. This is a page-turner of the highest order.
As I mentioned before, this comparison to Gillian Flynn should be taken with a tiny grain of salt, as Reconstructing Amelia never quite reaches the levels of shock and revulsion that Gone Girl or Sharp Objects seem to manage. But this isn't a downside of the book, just a comment on how the story itself is a bit different. However, there are still plenty of unlikeable characters worthy of the reader's intense dislike, and this portrait of the confused and manipulated high school student is extremely powerful.
Recommended for: fans of Gillian Flynn, teenagers looking for relatable yet more mature reading material, and readers looking for a thrilling novel more complex than the average bestselling thriller.
Readalikes: Okay, Gillian Flynn's the obvious go-to author. If you enjoy well-crafted, dark mysteries and unlikeable characters, you can't go wrong with any of her three novels. Gone Girl is the most popular (and the most recent), but Sharp Objects and Dark Places are exceptional as well.
In the Woods by Tana French. This is definitely much more of a straight-up mystery, but it's exceptionally dark, creates both likeable and unlikeable characters, and reveals bits and pieces of the mystery through flashbacks interspersed in the main narrative. Plus, In the Woods is written with a definite literary style in mind, and the psychological profiles of the characters are remarkably astute.
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult. This book places less emphasis on the darkness of human nature than it does on the moral and ethical issues surrounding school violence, but it accurately portrays the life of a downtrodden and manipulated high school student, pieces together the characters' mysterious backstory through flashbacks, and keeps the reader turning pages well into the night.
Single mom, Kate has worked hard to get where she is...a partner in a high powered law firm, she works day and night. She receives a phone call at work one day informing her that she needs to come pick up Amelia. Amelia's been accused of cheating on an English assignment, the very last
Kate is devastated and goes through the motions of burying her only child.
On her first attempted day back at work, Kate receives a text message that says:
"Amelia didn't jump." (49)
and then another:
"Amelia didn't jump. You know it and I know it." (51)
From that point on, Kate knows that she must find out what really happened to her daughter...no matter how many stones she has to overturn, no matter how many embarrassing truths come out, no matter how many toes she has to step on, no matter how much sadness it brings.
She has to know.
For Amelia.
What I Liked
No doubt that the kids in this book are deplorable...but McCreight sheds light on an even bigger problem as far as I'm concerned...some parents. And, I'm not talking about the single parents who work hard for a living, and may or may not spend enough time with their children. I'm talking about the ones who can't seem to grow up, the ones who spend their adult lives acting as if they themselves are still in high school.
I also liked that McCreight chose for Amelia to be a good kid...I think a lot of parents like to sit around on their high horses, congratulating themselves at every opportunity on their ability to raise children who haven't gotten into trouble, all the while almost "nah, nanny boo booing" the parents whose children have made a bad decision or two.
"Well, if so and so hadn't been doing such and such with you know who, then he/she wouldn't have ended up there and wouldn't have been abducted, raped, killed, etc." "Not that it's his/her fault, of course, but if only..."
I swear it makes me want to scream WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes so and so is actually completely innocent and STILL gets caught up in the dangerous stuff. These people obviously haven't spent much time with teenagers these days.
And, Girls?
Girls are MEAN...and I don't mean pull your pigtails mean...I mean throw you to the ground, stomp all over you, leave you there bleeding to death mean and never even think about you after they walk away (figuratively as well as literally in some cases).
Wake up, people.
Kate questioned her parenting almost continuously and I was right there with her. I think most of us do the very same thing. Even the parents of children who go on to lead long, successful, fulfilling lives still can reach back in time and find at least a few situations they wish they had done differently. Kate was a good parent, and I think deep down she really knew it, but she was still willing to throw her self under the bus at every turn if necessary.
Kate's grief - believable, heartbreaking, made my heart beat very fast at times, made me want to pound my fists more than once at the absolute ridiculousness of it all. I wanted to bust into the school and just start punching people. Adults, of course...I would never punch a kid...the kids I would take across my lap and whip their butts bc that's what many of them had missed out on more times than not. And, I'm not actually blaming the kids here...certainly they are responsible...but I've already said it pretty clearly above, the parents, the adults, the teachers, the headmaster, the secretary...all of them need to be punched. And hard.
I think I'm still a little angry?
Format - alternating perspectives as well as text message format, school gossip blog posts, emails, Facebook status updates and responses for Amelia. I'm gonna be honest here...this format sucked me in quickly and sucked me in so deep that by pg. 98, I skipped ahead to the end to find out what the heck was going to happen, who was who, who was at fault, you name it...I skipped ahead to find it. That's how much suspense is provided by McCreight's weaving in and out of Amelia and Kate's story. I literally couldn't take it...I had to know. The text messages in particular added a truly ominous feeling to the story.
The references to great literature...particularly Virginia Woolf, both titles, themes as well as quotes.
What I Didn't Like
Adele - one word: pathetic
Jeremy, spineless; Daniel, the snake; Zadie, needs to be locked up; Mrs. Pearl, the "b" word; and Liv, stupid.
I wish I could tell you why I "didn't like"/hated these characters...but I can't.
I can tell you though that almost hated these characters as much as Gone Girl characters.
The Author
Overall Recommendation
Whether your kids attend private or public, city or rural schools, some semblance of the "clubs" system is in power. And, what probably enables it to survive is the power it gleans from adults placed within the system who also play the game. There's some language here, nothing like Gone Girl, but appropriate language for this particular setting unfortunately. If all moms could read this book and realize that even if their little angel would never possibly be caught up in this kind of tangled web, sometimes their actions, judging, attitudes, and ignorance end up perpetuating the tragedy that other people's children have to endure.
And, one child's death is one too many.
We are all responsible.
Using a traditional narrative mixed with blog posts, facebook pages, and texts, McCreight creates an interesting mult-layered, multi-voiced story that slowly "reconstructs" the weeks leading up to Amelia's death. The story and overall execution is strong but would have benefited from stronger editing. Some sentences are a bit clunky and repetitive and some ideas are over emphasized or repeated (how great a person Amelia is, how great a Mom Kate is, etc.) as to become less than realistic.
Amelia Baron, aged 15, seemed to have everything going for her -- at least that's what most of the adults in her life thought. So how did she end up dead after falling from the
Grieving Kate is finally ready to try to go back to work when she gets a text message from a blocked caller: Amelia didn't jump.
This message drives Kate to delve into Amelia's life -- her text messages, Facebook, emails, phone logs, computer documents -- to attempt to figure out what happened in those last weeks before the tragedy. Kate "reconstructs" the life of a daughter she loved and pieces together a story that touches on many topics important to parents and teens.
The novel is not listed as "Young Adult" but it is being marketed to teens in promotional materials I've seen. Subjects in the book include sexuality, sexting, bullying, suicide, cutting, sex, blogging -- you name it. The book also focuses on a private school (Grace Hall) with clubs that reminded me of many others in that genre including "Pretty Little Liars", "The Sixes", "The Raising", "Mean Girls" and "Testimony". I read it in a couple of hours last evening because I wanted to see how the author would handle all these issues and explain how Amelia died.
I recommend you read it because everyone else is going to be doing so!
Ms. McCreight uses Kate to speak for all working mothers and their never-ending debates regarding work life and motherhood. Her struggles to find the right balance, opting for quality weekend time over being home at regular hours on week nights, the reliance of a nanny, and time-saving methods, are familiar to any mother looking to assuage the guilt associated with missing a child’s concert or game because of a business trip or meeting. Of course, that guilt is nothing compared to the blame she feels at not arriving at Grace Hall sooner. Through Kate, working mothers also get to live out their biggest fears – that something would happen to their children, and their presence could have prevented it. By making Kate so relatable, drawing on familiar maternal instincts and warring needs, there is an increased urgency behind her need to discover the truth, as if a reader is urging Kate forward to help prevent something similar from happening to one’s own children.
As powerful as the emotional content is, and as utterly sympathetic as Kate is in her anguish and desperation, there are a few issues with the book that may cause a reader some heartache. First, while Kate is emotionally sympathetic, her life of privilege will distant some readers/working mothers who are working because they have to do so rather than because they want to work. Kate’s nanny, housecleaner, Amelia’s private school education, her Brooklyn brownstone, Kate’s parents – everything about Kate and Amelia screams money. While earning enough money to afford such luxuries is always wonderful, it does cause the tiniest bit of friction between Kate and the reader, as a reader knows that such luxuries come at a price. All working mothers make sacrifices, either in career or in family, but it seems as if Kate’s sacrifices to this point are fairly miniscule until she loses her daughter.
The other issue readers might find in the novel is the fact that Kate assists the police with their investigation, as in she not only tags along at visits to potential suspects but gets involved in the questioning and collection of evidence. Her indignation when she is finally told she has to stop is understandable, but one cannot help but wonder why she was allowed to be an active participant in the first place. Granted, her participation helps with the narrative and creates more tension as she fits to control her frustration and desperation. However, it just is not very realistic and dilutes the message as it makes her no different from the other mothers she meets.
However emotional Kate’s search is, Amelia’s story is the one that will draw readers the most. Through various Facebook posts, text messages, and first-person narrative, one gets to know Amelia quite well, through all her doubts, fears, triumphs, and failures. Amelia becomes the daughter the reader wishes she had, since she really is a good girl with the whole world ahead of her, making her loss that much more tragic. The secret club situation at Grace Hall may be stereotypical, but it is an effective one as Amelia’s experiences in the club remind female readers how tough it is to be a teenage girl in any age but confirm that the advent of social media and the use of cell phones have made girl-on-girl bullying even more psychologically sadistic than it used to be. The unveiling of the truth, not through Kate’s discoveries but through Amelia’s eyes, serve to highlight the peer pressure she faces as well as the complex world of teens that parents can never completely understand, and Amelia’s last scene is absolutely haunting in its honesty and innocence.
Since the story is told from two different perspectives, the ability to distinguish between the two voices is key to making Reconstructing Amelia a successful audiobook. Thankfully, Khristine Hvam is more than up to the challenge. She manages to convey Kate’s business-like professionalism and contrast that with the more emotionally fraught teenage voice of her daughter. She also takes her narration one step further by intoning into each of her characters that nasally, valley girl-like inflection that permeates today’s younger generation’s speech patterns. Listening to Ms. Hvam’s Magpies really is like listening to a gaggle of teenagers. Her male voices are equally impressive, as she drops her voice just enough to sound masculine and differentiate between the various male characters without sounding completely false or strained. Overall, hers is a satisfying performance that does much to enhance the context of Amelia’s last few weeks.
Reconstructing Amelia may not be as completely shocking as last year’s It book, Gone Girl, but it definitely brings its own surprises. Ms. McCreight uses the dual narration to great effect, as she highlights Kate’s emotional fragility with Amelia’s self-discovery. Her overall message is equally timely given the emphasis on ending bullying that has increased in schools around the country. Kate and Amelia are both strong, remarkable women, and readers will empathize with them both from the very beginning. The tragic loss of Amelia and its underlying reasons are eye-opening and will make readers hug their children just a bit tighter at night in an effort to protect them longer.
In the end, it wasn't a revelation, but it was a damn good story and an enjoyable book to read. Sad and true to the times. It only increased the fear I already have of facing my kids' teenage years in this new digital age.
To sum up, I'd say this book was a very satisfying cross between Law and Order, Veronica Mars and Gossip Girl. A perfect escapist read. Sounds good, right?
Kate Baron is a single mother to Amelia and a partner in a law firm. Her job keeps her incredibly busy, but when she receives a telephone call from her daughter's exclusive private school, she has to cut her day short. Amelia has been
Kate is on autopilot, dealing with the funeral and trying to come to terms with the fact that Amelia is gone when she receives an anonymous text - "Amelia didn't jump."
Kate never believed her daughter would kill herself and now she sets out to prove it. She 'reconstructs' Amelia's life from journals, text messages, Facebook entries, emails and the school's gossip blog. McCreight unravels Amelia's life in alternate chapters from Kate's viewpoint and that of Amelia herself.
Reconstructing Amelia is frightening in that it echos many of today's headlines - bullying deaths to be specific. This isn't an easy read/listen - my heart broke for Kate and I just wanted to grab Amelia and protect her. And it made me very afraid for anyone with a teenage daughter. McCreight's plotting keeps us guessing with many red herrings and twists along the way.
I did choose to listen to this book - Kristine Hvam was the reader and she was excellent. She has a very versatile voice - easily portraying teenage tones and switching to the adult characters effortlessly. The teen voices were particularly effective. Listen to an excerpt of Reconstructing Amelia.
Although not listed as YA fiction, I can see Reconstructing Amelia as a crossover title. And it would spark much discussion between mothers and daughters or in book clubs. A reading guide is available. Nicole Kidman has signed on to produce and star in an HBO film of Reconstructing Amelia.
EDIT: after thinking about this for a couple of days, I've decided the book just doesn't quite work.
SPOILER ALERT
It makes no sense to me that Liv wrote the gRaCeFULLY newsletter. It just doesn't ring true, and was never explained. Also, Sylvia's behavior when Kate first went to visit it her (stating that she hated Amelia) doesn't sit with her genuine distress as Amelia started to fall. It seems unlikely that someone guilty enough to send a text saying "Amelia didn't jump" would also be angry enough to still hate her former best friend so intensely.
This could have gone either way if it was too much about the emotions of a mom who has lost her child. But the flashbacks that show what happened to Amelia,leading up to the events of her death are filled with twists and turns. McCreight manages to balance the heartbreak with the mystery perfectly. It took me only two sittings to devour this book. You won't be disappointed!