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Reconstructing Amelia  By  cover art

Reconstructing Amelia

By: Kimberly McCreight
Narrated by: Kate Harper, Jane Collingwood, Jamie Parker, Harper Marshall
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Publisher's summary

Do you really want to know what’s going on inside your daughter’s head? Single mother Kate Baron is in the meeting of her career when she is interrupted by a telephone call. Her daughter Amelia has just been suspended from her exclusive school. When Kate eventually arrives an hour later, she hears the news that no mother ever wants to hear.

A grieving Kate can't accept that her daughter would kill herself. But she soon discovers she didn't know Amelia quite as well as she thought. Then Kate receives an anonymous text saying simply: Amelia didn’t jump. And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia's private world, into her journals, her email account and into the mind of a troubled young girl.

©2013 Kimberly McCreight (P)2013 W F Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"Like Gone Girl, this seamlessly marries a crime story with a relationship drama. And like Gone Girl it should be hailed as one of the best books of the year." ( Entertainment weekly)
"A very clever, menacing novel that will make you rightly wary of damaged teenage girls." ( Daily Mail)

What listeners say about Reconstructing Amelia

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A Beautiful Tragic Mystery

A unique and unusual mystery told through a combination of "normal" third person POV as well as the various modern means of communication (text message, Facebook status) to unravel what really did happen to the titular character, Amelia.

The book is well written and uncommon in its approach and execution, and perhaps perfectly executed for the unusual blend of storytelling methods. Most characters - the ones deepest to the narrative - are well fleshed out, and motives and methods are believable. Overall, the novel is excellent.

Why, then, am I only giving it four stars?

Perhaps the most beautiful and most damning aspect of this novel is Amelia herself, who is perhaps more the protagonist than her mother who is trying to reconstruct the events surrounding Amelia's death. Amelia is so perfectly written, so captivating a character, that her death is more tragic for unraveling who she was. The author did a fantastic job here, and it's ultimately why I can't give the book five stars. Ms. McCreight repeatedly uses the phrase from multiple perspectives that the world is a little darker for Amelia's death, and her writing backs that up demonstratively.

I cannot give the book five stars because I did not love it, because in the end - from the outset - the character that was the most beautiful, most captivating, most perfect in her imperfection is dead. And nothing will change that, which is the tragedy of the book, and makes the execution of the book so flawless.

Allow me to repeat that - this book is so flawlessly executed that I cannot love it, because it drives home the tragedy of the death of the titular character.

Truly, a spectacular listen, and highly recommended to see how well Amelia is crafted, as well as the rest of her world. But also a frustrating listen, because the more you read and understand the characters, the more you understand the true tragedy framing the book.

The narration was excellent

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4 people found this helpful

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Amazing end twist

The plot twist at the end is totally worth the wait. Narrated very well!!Enjoyed it

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