REVIEW: RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA by Kimberley McCreight

Title: Reconstructing Amelia
Author: Kimberley McCreight
Series: -
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, YA
Publisher: HarperCollins
Release: 2013
Source: Audiobook
Pages: 382

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BLURB:
A stunning debut novel in which a single mother reconstructs her teenaged daughter's life, sifting through her emails, texts, and social media to piece together the shocking truth about the last days of her life.

Litigation lawyer and harried single mother Kate Baron is stunned when her daughter's exclusive private school in Park Slope, Brooklyn, calls with disturbing news: her intelligent, high-achieving fifteen-year-old daughter, Amelia, has been caught cheating.

Kate can't believe that Amelia, an ambitious, levelheaded girl who's never been in trouble would do something like that. But by the time she arrives at Grace Hall, Kate's faced with far more devastating news. Amelia is dead.

Seemingly unable to cope with what she'd done, a despondent Amelia has jumped from the school's roof in an act of "spontaneous" suicide. At least that's the story Grace Hall and the police tell Kate. And overwhelmed as she is by her own guilt and shattered by grief, it is the story that Kate believes until she gets the anonymous text:

She didn't jump.

Sifting through Amelia's emails, text messages, social media postings, and cell phone logs, Kate is determined to learn the heartbreaking truth about why Amelia was on Grace Hall's roof that day-and why she died.

Told in alternating voices, Reconstructing Amelia is a story of secrets and lies, of love and betrayal, of trusted friends and vicious bullies. It's about how well a parent ever really knows a child and how far one mother will go to vindicate the memory of a daughter whose life she could not save.

EXPECTATIONS: I have absolutely no idea whatsoever how this book ended up on my Goodreads TBR and then on my December TBR. Magic. Just magic.

THE WORLD: Nothing really special. The simple world like you and I know it. The book concentrates pretty much on high school teenagers so yeah...welcome back to high school!

CHARACTERS: So the book is titled Reconstructing Amelia and our main character well maybe second main character Amelia is dead. Her single mother Kate is trying to figure out what happened. That is pretty much the plot. But because Kate is looking for answers we get a lot of flashbacks to when Amelia was alive and so in a way we get to know them both. But make no mistake, Amelia is dead. Now having that out of the way let's start with Amelia. She is just your typical high school teenagers. A loner with only one real friend which is debatable and raised by a single mom who is never at home. So when she gets invited to be a member of secret club Amelia goes all the way. Now I am not in high school and I haven't been for a bit now so I dare say I see thinks for what they are. Amelia is lonely that is for sure but she is just another stupid girl who does anything to be liked and be popular. I never liked Amelia and frankly I don't even pity her. I don't say she got what she deserved by really, a girl who is as arrogant as Amelia and thinks she is super smart and above all...and does all these stupid things like posting pornographic photos on internet for likes, bullying other kids and making fun of teachers just to impress girls in the secret club? Yeah right, no thank you. I mean okay she kinda thinks she is in love with a girl called Dillon who is part of this secret club so she justifies all as in she does it because Dillon would not like her otherwise but really if you need to do such things just for somebody to like you...yeah I see you girl and I don't see much worth my attention. Then we have Kate. Mother of the year. So she is a single mom, a super good lawyer who spends all her time at word. Well at least that's what we are told. In truth Kate is whinny and well I don't know. She did not even know who was Amelia's father. I mean seriously! And then the worst friend award goes to....Silvia. Oh wow my dear readers just wow. I know high school is full of drama and fake people but this...the way this bitch was treating Amelia and then how Amelia justifies her behaviour...seriously such people should be smacked in a face and lock away. This supposed friendship was the best abusive relationship representation ever!

ROMANCE: So Amelia and Dillon start a thing. Well sorry I did not buy it. It was just so fake. Amelia being all whinny and Dillon just not giving a damn. Basically this Dillon chick goes all I love you on Amelia but when Amelia is bullied in school Dillon does nothing. Amelia sends a letter to Dillon pouring her heard out and Dillon makes it public so everybody can read it and laugh. Really? Another best example of abusive relationship.

GOOD: I liked how Amelia's father was reaching out for her. I think it was a very unique and smart way to do it.

BAD: This whole book is just about abusive relationships and bullying and in the end there is no 'it is bad' or 'it is wrong'. It just ends with  finding out what happened to Amelia. That's it. And so many psychos. You get to think if this a real representation of high school? I mean wow, how did nobody else die there?

OVERALL: This was not a healthy read. I mean it did have an interesting idea but the way it was done and the amount of bullying and abuse...I felt exhausted after reading it.

What do you think about RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA?