Overbuilt

I really wanted to title this blog post "An Awful Book" but I did it to myself,  once again, falling for the ads and reviews in the NYT's book review.  Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight is no We Have to Talk About Kevin.  Kevin broke through family taboos, not so much for having raised a high school shooter, but for honestly having the mother narrator bare her soul and all her emotions.  Kate, the mother of Amelia, postures.

I can just envision this book being added to the agenda laden high school reading list to convey the not too subtle messages:  it's okay to be gay; cliques and bullying in school are bad, even deadly; families headed by lawyer-mothers are conflicted; women who are not sure who the father of their child is suffer; private schools are run by Dickensian monsters and conspicuous consumption parent boards of directors; it's okay to be late or cut class as long as you are with your best friend; etc. etc.

I don't think there is a chapter without forced fed messages directed at the reader, chicks of all ages.  I'm left feeling McCreight herself has a lot of issues to work our family-wise and career-wise herself, nothwithstanding her acknowledgements to husband and daughters.  Her portrayal of Amelia suggests paranoia, almost anyone could have killed her ... yes this is a modern moral play murder mystery.  Zero points.