Reconstructing Amelia

Vacation also meant a ton of time to read.  I am not the best little traveler you would meet so when I am on the road, if I'm not driving, I am reading.  It's the only way.

My first book of the vacation trip was one that I found thanks to Buzzfeed.and the list 14 Books to Read Before They Hit the Big Screen.  The title intrigued me.  The story is about a mother coming to terms with the death of her child. . .who apparently committed suicide after being accused of cheating on an English assignment.

But there was so much more to what happened to Amelia.  Her mother, Kate,  had to try to wrap her brain around how this happened to her daughter.  And then the texts came "She didn't jump."  Suddenly Kate is thrown into something much larger. . .and has to face up to her own shortcomings as well.

It was very well written with only a few oddities that made me think "huh?" in particular when dealing with some of the digital trail left behind by Amelia.  But overall, this was a book that left me thinking for days after I finished it.  In fact, it was intense enough that I had to pause before even trying to pick up another book to read.  It's more than just the issue of Kate unraveling what happened to Amelia.  It was also because Amelia in the story is the same as as one of my children.  It made me think about how difficult the teen years can be for kids, even the ones that talk to their parents all the time.  It was the same kind of "intense, make you think about it for a while books" as Jodi Picoult's Nineteen Minutes (which really ought to be required reading for parents and teens).

I give two huge thumbs up for Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight.  It is her debut novel and frankly I am looking forward to more from Ms. McCreight.