Summary of Reconstructing Amelia: by Kimberly McCreight | Includes Analysis

By Instaread Summaries

Summary of Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight | Includes Analysis

 

Preview:

Chapter 1

A blogger reveals what the staff of Grace Hall High School did during summer break and makes fun of them. The writer says students should buckle up for an exciting year.<

• Language: English
• Publisher: Instaread, Inc
• Release date: May 19, 2016
• ISBN: 9781683782605

Book preview

Overview

Reconstructing Amelia begins with a blog entry addressing an audience of students. The blogger makes fun of the staff and several of the students of Grace Hall, the private school that Amelia attends. Kate is a successful lawyer and single mother of one daughter, Amelia. Amelia is fifteen years old. Kate is in an important meeting when she gets called out for a phone call from Amelia’s school. Amelia has been suspended, and the dean of students tells her that she cannot give the reason for the suspension over the phone. Because she has to take the train from New York to Brooklyn, it takes Kate over an hour to arrive at the school to pick up Amelia. To her horror, Kate learns that Amelia has jumped from the roof of the school because she was suspended for cheating.

The novel shifts between the past and present focusing upon the events in Amelia’s life leading up to her death, and her mother’s relentless search for the truth after her death. Amelia spends much of her time in the weeks before her death texting a friend named Ben. She and Ben met online, and Amelia is anxious to meet Ben in person because they get along so well. From the beginning, Ben is very honest about the fact that he is gay, so there is no romantic connection between the two.

Amelia’s best friend is Sylvia. The two have been best friends since they were five years old. Sylvia has become increasingly boy crazy over the years, and currently believes she is in love with her new boyfriend, Ian. There are prestigious clubs at Grace Hall for the popular kids, but Sylvia and Amelia have vowed to never join one, even if they are invited to join. They believe the clubs are ridiculous and do not think the hazing that goes on is right. When Amelia is invited to join the Magpies, she fails to tell Sylvia about it. She joins because she is intrigued by a girl named Dylan Crosby, who seems to be one of the club leaders. Amelia and Dylan are attracted to each other and begin a relationship. Zadie, the ruthless leader of the Magpies, seems to hate Amelia more and more as she and Dylan grow closer. Amelia learns that being part of the club means doing some things she otherwise would have never done, and she starts getting in trouble at school. The headmaster, Phillip Woodhouse, suspects the Magpies are putting her up to some the things she is doing, and he warns her about them. Phillip worries that the Magpies are dangerous, and that