Upon finishing Reconstructing Amelia, I described it in a text message to a teacher friend as a crazy trash can of a novel that most high school students would probably love. Kimberly McCreight includes one of everything it takes to make a page turner – a possible suicide, some mean girls, a neglectful parent, a bit of lesbian love, a creepy teacher, a jealous best friend, a secret sisterhood and some lurid text messages. The novel alternates between third person chapters in the present that focus on Kate, the mother, and first person past tense chapters narrated by her 15 year old daughter, Amelia, who has presumably jumped from the roof of her New York private school. Through emails, blog posts, and investigations, Amelia’s life and death is reconstructed.
I have to admit, I plowed through this novel. It held my interest even as I shook my head at its unlikely twists and turns. It reminded me of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, to which it has been compared, along with Jodi Picoult and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl which I have not read. I know many teenage girls that would call this a perfect beach read. For my adult friends – by all means, read it if you still miss lunchroom drama.
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