September Book Club Book Review {Reconstructing Amelia}

I know.

We are well into October and I am just now getting around to reviewing our September This Misfit Mama Book Club pick, Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight. I just wanted to give enough of a safe zone after our live meet up for anyone still reading to finish.

And now that October is halfway over and we are onto our next book, I feel like it's safe to post my review. And "wow", is all I have to say about this book.

I started reading it on September 13 and read about 12% of the way through. The next night, I found myself completely unable to put the book down, staying up until 2:00 AM to finish it. That is 2:00 AM Tuesday morning. When my alarm goes off at 5:30 AM. I was TIRED the next day, but it was completely and totally worth it lack of sleep.

A brief breakdown:

Kate Baron is a successful lawyer and a single mom to Amelia, a sophomore at an exclusive private school. Kate gets a phone call during an important meeting that Amelia, a well-behaved, by-the-rules teenager, has been suspended for cheating and she needs to be picked up immediately. By the time Kate gets to the school, the worst has happened. Amelia has jumped off the roof of the school, which the police and school have deemed "impulsive suicide."

As Kate grapples with the grief of losing her only child, she one day receives a text message informing her that Amelia did not jump. And thus this text message sets off a series of events in which Kate must thread together strands of her daughter's life--the daughter she thought she knew so well--to find out what ultimately happened to her.

You guys. This book was NUTS. In a completely good, can't-put-down, can't-turn-the-pages-fast-enough kind of way. Kimberly McCreight does an excellent job (in my opinion) of bringing across Kate's grief and desperation for the truth, Amelia's vulberability, inter-weaving storylines, characters, and backstories, and jumps back and forth between different points of view at the perfect times.

Yes, we get Kate's point of view from the day Amelia dies and on, and Amelia's point of view in the weeks leading up to her death. Intermixed are snippets of text messages, Facebook posts, blogs and emails. At first I thought this format would be way too choppy and kind of overdone, but I found it really added an element to this book that really drove home just how twisty and turny this story is ("twisty" and "turny"...you are welcome for the made up words).

The burn is slow, and the gut checks still hurt even if you could guess they were coming.

The only downside I'll give this book is that some of the events throughout the plot left me scratching my head a little bit, even in the name of suspending belief for the sake of a really good story.

Ultimately, it's a story of a mother who did as much as she could and felt it was still not enough, with some secrets of her own. The lonely, confused teenager and her yearning to find a sense of belonging and acceptance from her peers. A story about the troubles that teenagers these days face--bullying, the dangers of social media, the "mean girls."

And it's all wrapped up in this endeavor to discover Amelia, with an ending I knew would probably be predictable, but was still not at all what I was expecting.

As a mom, I could feel Kate's pain. I could not imagine losing my daughter, ever. My heart broke for her throughout the book. And to be honest, it aboslutely scared the crap out of me when it came to downright horrible teenage girls can be--and my daughter is only in Pre-K. Especially with their evil teengae girl shenanigans powered by the excess of social media. I thank my lucky stars that Facebook was NOT a thing when I was in high school, and I pray my own daughter never ever experiences such horror at the hands of a peer.

I can see this novel being a catalyst for discussion between parents and teens on the more mature end to handle the storyline about the dangers of social media, harrassment, and bullying.

Overall rating: 4.5/5.0 stars.

In October we are taking on Brene Brown's "Daring Greatly", which is proving to be quite an enlightening and eye opening read. It's not too late to join us! We'll be reading throughout the rest of the month with a Google Hangout discussion on Monday, November 9. It's a great way to discuss some thought-provoking stuff, meet new faces, and join up a great community from the comfort of your own home with a glass a wine. Click here for more info and to sign up!