"Filled with twists and turns, RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA will have you guessing until the end."
Reviewed by Lynn Cunningham
Posted June 2, 2013
Women's Fiction Contemporary
Kate Baron is a single mother of a teenage daughter as well
as an attorney with a high powered law firm. Life may not be
perfect but it's not bad, either. However, life has a way of
playing tricks on you and having the last laugh when you
least expect it. This moment comes to Kate in the form of a
tragedy that takes her daughter's life.
So unexpected is this event that Kate simply cannot seem to
take it in and recover from it. Just when she feels as if
she's never going to be sane again, she gets a text from a
blocked number that takes her on a mind bending journey into
her daughter, Amelia's, life in the short weeks prior to her
death. What she finds while on this twisting path will
forever alter her and what she thinks she knows about
herself as well as her daughter.
Told in various forms of text messages, Facebook posts and
first and third person, RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA moves from the
present to the past to the present again. Readers get to
know Amelia as the story progresses and by the end; there
are no lingering questions as to what actually happened. The
journey of getting to that point, however, is a very
disturbing and intense one.
I was instantly caught up in the lives of Kate and Amelia.
Their pain became mine. There were moments in this book that
I wanted to scream at both of them. They were on different
paths, certainly, but the one thing that held them together
is the love they had for each other.
The twists and turns in RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA are like none
that you've ever experienced in a story. Nothing is ever as
it seems and, at times, it seems as if Kate may have simply
fallen down a Rabbit Hole. But she perseveres on her mission
to find out exactly what happened to Amelia on that fateful
day. As a mother, nothing can stop her from digging as
deeply as she has to in order to find the answers, even if
she may not be ready for what they are.
RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA is an absorbing story and draws you
into its pages. Be forewarned that you may want to start
reading it when you have a lot of free time because once you
begin; it's a very difficult book to put down for any
reason.
SUMMARY
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 Amelia 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 e-
mails, texts, and Facebook updates, piecing together the
last troubled days of her daughter's life. Reconstructing Amelia is a stunning debut page-turner 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.
What do you think about this review?
Comments
No comments posted.
Registered users may leave comments.
Log in or register now!
|
© 2003-2024 off-the-edge.net
all rights reserved Privacy Policy