Reconstructing Amelia

by Kimberly McCreight

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

Bullying
Verb

"Use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone), typically to force him or her to do what one wants"

Don't be a statistic.

In Reconstructing Amelia, fifteen year-old Amelia Baron supposedly committed suicide by throwing herself off a school building. Her mother, obviously hysterical with grief, disbelieving that her daughter could do such a thing looks for answers to discover what really happened to her daughter. Particularly after receiving an anonymous text saying "Amelia didn't jump."

Catchy huh?

Reconstructing Amelia immediately grabbed my attention but the theme of bullying even more.

Amelia, against better judgement is invited to join the Magpies, a high school sorority. Amelia desperately wants to be accepted with the lead "Maggies" threatening her if she lets them down.

I found this interesting, with bullying leading to suicide becoming a recent epidemic, it did make me wonder if the text was a ruse; but as I got deeper into the novel I realize that wasn't the case.

Reconstructing Amelia, is told by two voices, Amelia herself and her mother Kate. By flip-flipping in this manner the reader got a panorama of events. Through Amelia, a look at her slow descent into madness and feeling of hopelessness, making it just plausible enough the she could have done it but those girls were so mean that they must have done it. Through Kate, we see a naive mother who thought she knew her BFF daughter, but at every corner realizing how little she did.

The last fifty pages had me riveted. Each door Kate opened had me believing that they killed Amelia (because by this time I'd thrown the suicide idea off the roof) When the truth was revealed, as shocked as I was, I realized I'd thought it all along, just as Kate thought her daughter didn't, couldn't kill herself.

Reconstructing Amelia is like a campfire story, which must be told slowly for maximum effect with the lights turned low. This is how I felt while reading this story, I wanted to read slowly and digest each word like a s'mores but it was just too good, and I devoured it.