#cracked spine

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Cracked Spine Book Club: Reconstructing Amelia

Here, Now – Don’t believe the hype that compares this book to GONE GIRL, but Kimberly McCreight’s RECONSTRUCTING AMELIA is an enjoyable crime “thriller” that details a mother’s search for answers regarding her daughter’s fatal plunge from the roof of her school.

Here’s a bit of the official synopsis from McCreight’s official website:

“Kate’s in the middle of the biggest meeting of her career when she gets the telephone call from Grace Hall, her daughter’s exclusive Park Slope private school. Amelia has been suspended, effective immediately, though the school refuses to say why, at least by telephone. They will say only that Kate must come get her daughter and she must come now.

An academic overachiever despondent over getting caught cheating jumps to her death. Impulsive suicide, tragic and awful, but far more common than anyone realizes. At least that’s the story Grace Hall tells Kate. And clouded as she is by her guilt and grief, it is the one that she believes. That is, until she gets an anonymous text : She didn’t jump.

Told from Kate and Amelia’s alternating points of view, as well as Amelia’s e-mails, texts and Facebook posts, Reconstructing Amelia, tells the story of why Amelia was on Grace Hall’s roof that day. And how she ended up plunging to her death.”

The story is told from both Kate and Amelia’s point of view, using online posts, texts and emails. Kate uses her daughter’s online activities to  ”reconstruct” a timeline of events leading up to Amelia’s death, while also revealing a slew of possible reasons why she may have chose to kiss concrete at at a high rate of speed – and the horrifying possibility that she did not go over the edge willingly. As most parents would be if they had access to all of their teen’s text messages, Kate realizes she was absolutely clueless about the daughter she thought she knew, and the life she was living.

Because of this breadcrumb method of introducing revelations, McCreight does a pretty decent job of keeping the reader guessing as to what actually happened to Amelia on the roof that day, mainly because of the numerous red herrings she introduces. The possible suspects have a wide variety of motives, including revenge, shaming, hazing, jealousy, bullying, and even sexual orientation. All the things that can make teenage life hell.

I did have some issues with the book. Minor ones include the feeling that McCreight pussed out in regards to some of the hot-topic issues she introduces. Social media and bullying are prevalent throughout the book. This may be because McCreight’s intentions were not to make any thought-provoking commentary on these subjects, but I did feel it was a missed opportunity.

Major issues included Kate and Amelia not acting anywhere near as smart as you are repeatedly told they are, and a police investigation that is as grounded in reality as a Law & Order episode. I don’t normally scream in disbelief when dealing with police procedures or court proceedings in books that are not claiming to be steeped in realism – but come on, there is no way a detective investigating a teenager’s possible murder is going to drag the mother with him as he investigates possible suspects.

However, even with some of these stumbling blocks, I did enjoy the book. McCreight did a good job keeping things interesting enough that you do want to know what really happened  to Amelia. Also, it does touch on subjects we feature on the site almost daily, especially teens sharing everything online and, even more so, bullying in schools. While it doesn’t even attempt to offer any possible solutions to those issues, it does make you wonder what, exactly, is your teen’s life really like once they walk out the front door.