Book Review- Kimberly McCreight's Reconstructing Amelia

Like Gone Girl?  With fingers crossed, I bought into the hype and took a copy of Kimberly McCreight's, Reconstructing Amelia, on our summer vacation. 

PLOT - Kate is a high powered attorney and her daughter, Amelia, is a star student at Grace Hall, a prestigious private high school. Their world is rocked when Kate gets a phone call telling her that Amelia has been caught cheating and has been suspended. When Kate arrives at Grace Hall, she finds the school surrounded by police and learns that Amelia had died. Ruled a suicide, the official report states that Amelia jumped off of the school's roof in despair. Kate's suspicions of foul-play are heightened when she receives a mysterious text message saying "She Didn't Jump". What really happened to Amelia? Can any parent ever really know their child?

LIKE - Reconstructing Amelia is a tightly plotted murder mystery with compelling characters. Keeping it interesting is theme of a parent never quite knowing their children and how children, especially teenagers, lead very private lives. McCreight reveals her story by bouncing between Kate post-death and Amelia pre-death, which was a smart way to handle the pacing and plot. Reconstructing Amelia is a page turner. 

DISLIKE - Gone Girl this is not. Although to be fair, I think it's difficult when comparisons are made, especially to a best seller like Gone Girl. With the comparison, I kept anticipating a shocking twist, which didn't happen. It's a bit like The Sixth Sense and watching other M. Night Shyamalan films. When you expect or even demand a good story twist, the bar is set too high. Possibly without the Gone Girl comparisons, I would have enjoyed Reconstructing Amelia more.

The teenage text messages grew old fast. I realize that this was an important part of setting up Amelia's world, but it was still grating. I found it difficult to care for Amelia, although I think that McCreight did a solid job at getting into a teen mindset.

RECOMMEND - Maybe. Reconstructing Amelia is a fast read and a decent mystery. The hype killed it for me, but I suspect that I would have been more favorable to it, if I had gone in without preconceived notions. This is probably a good novel for anyone struggling with a teenager. 

Book Review- Stephanie Clifford's Everybody Rise

Scheming socialites in NYC? Yes, please. Thank you to St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of Stephanie Clifford's Everybody Rise, in exchange for an honest review. 

PLOT -  Twenty-six year old, Evelyn Beegan is under a great deal of pressure. The daughter of a  very successful lawyer and socialite mother, Evelyn grew up in privilege. Unfortunately, she is the product of new money and although it afforded her luxuries like prep school and a mansion, it didn't guarantee her acceptance in the old money social circles. When Evelyn's father becomes the subject of a grand jury investigation, their family could lose it all. Evelyn's mother pressures her to solidify her place in society before their dirty laundry is aired or worse, before their money runs out. Evelyn uses her prep school connections to wedge herself into NYC Society circa 2006, a world of immense wealth and free spending. A world careening towards the financial collapse of 2008.  

LIKE - Everybody Rise is a beautiful train wreck. Evelyn's behavior reads like a horror novel. Her social climbing actions include racking up massive credit card debit, cheating on her boyfriend, and eventually, theft. Evelyn's actions and attitude are so cringe-worthy, that I felt my stomach sour and I wish that I could have reached through the book and screamed "Don't do it!". My visceral reaction is proof that Clifford has crafted a story and characters that left me affected. 

On a basic level, it was entertaining to glimpse into the lives of the mega wealthy. The characters are like something out of Gossip Girl. However, the story goes deeper to poke at what our society values. This isn't a slight against the wealthy, it jabs at all economic classes, as so many people struggle with the idea of nothing ever being enough. We are a consumer culture, just some people have more to throw towards consumption.  Evelyn's values are deeply misguided and she must realize that money and status do not necessarily mean happiness. Will Evelyn be able to dig herself out of her very deep hole?

DISLIKE- Evelyn was extremely rounded with crystal clear motives. However, I found her family dynamic to be missing information. At the beginning of the story, her father is an arrogant jerk. He's unkind to both his wife and daughter. At the end of the story, he is facing jail time and seems to shift to be more sensitive and in-tune with his family. There was a missing element for me. I wanted to know why they put up with him being a jerk? I imagined that it was his job that changed his attitude, but for clarity, it would have been nice to have a scene showing the family as a happy unit, before wealth and status impacted their lives.

I thought that maybe Evelyn's mother, created a shift in her father. Her mother is a shameless social climber, thinking nothing at lying and creating a false background to get ahead. Her mother's behavior was certainly a big motivation behind Evelyn's actions, but it also probably created a change in her father, who had a modest upbringing. The dynamic with Evelyn's parents was extremely interesting and I wish that it had been given greater weight and exploration. 

RECOMMEND - Yes. I thoroughly enjoyed Everybody Rise, even if it was a stressful read. My stomach still hurts thinking about it! My issues with Evelyn's family did not make a huge impact on my recommending this book. Clifford is a very engaging writer and this story is timely with our societies focus on self. Everybody Rise will make you rethink your priorities. 

Book Review- Peter Nichols' The Rocks

Continuing with my trend of theming my vacation reads to my vacation, I picked Peter Nichols' novel The Rocks, because of its Mallorca setting. We visited Mallorca as I was in the middle of The Rocks and it was a truly magical island, a perfect world for Nichols' story.

PLOT - The Rocks begins with the mysterious death of long time local Mallorca residents, Gerald and Lulu. Former spouses, Gerald, an author and farmer and Lulu, the proprietor of a popular boutique hotel, had not spoken to each other in the decades prior to their death. Their unrelated, adult children, Luc and Aegina, come together to identify the bodies and handle their parents estates. 

Luc, Lulu's son, was whisked away from his mother's bohemian lifestyle and raised by his father in France. As a child, he spent summers with his mother in Mallorca, where he played with Gerald's daughter, Aegina. Aegina and Luc created a relationship beyond the tension between their parents. Now with their parents dead, Luc and Aegina have the opportunity to refresh their relationship.

The Rocks, flashes back to reveal the story of Gerald and Lulu's failed romance that carries a secret creating repercussions for future generations.

LIKE - In contrast to its blissful setting, The Rocks is a hard hitting novel. It's filled with dark turns and painful admissions. I just never quite saw where it was heading, which kept me in suspense. In particular, there are two scenes of violence that were hard to stomach, yet absolutely key to the story. It was shocking.

There were many characters that seemed to think that they could get away with immoral behavior, behavior that resulted in direct harm towards other characters. Characters that feel they are above the law. This created an interesting dynamic between those who felt power and those who felt powerless. It was a theme that popped up throughout the story in a variety of ways, not always expected or conventional. I enjoyed that Nichols was often able to catch me off-guard.

DISLIKE - Admittedly, the story was uneven in its ability to grab my interest. The pacing was occasionally sluggish and I often caught my mind wandering. When it was dynamic, it was spot on, but there was a lot of build to those moments.

RECOMMEND - Maybe. Nichols writes beautifully and there is much to praise in The Rocks. However, in the greater scheme of favorite reads in 2015, The Rocks doesn't rate.