Reconstructing Amelia Discussion Questions

I love doing discussion questions about a book. This one is all from Reconstructing Amelia

So with this discussion post there are multiple questions within the questions so I’ll be answering them all separately but they’ll still be a part of the original question order.

This should have been posted about 4/5 months ago when I actually read the book.

1. What is Amelia's relationship like with her mother? 
- It is very distant it seems like because of Kate’s job. She feels isolated from her mum. She wants to be open with her but feels like because of her mum’s job, and the hours she works that she can’t talk to her.

Why doesn't she share more with Kate?
- I think because she is a teenager and teenagers really don’t share that much with their parents. But on the other hand her mum is always working and when Amelia is trying to tell her things such as about the semester in Paris her mother doesn’t want to listen.

Why are adolescents often so reluctant to talk to their parents about the events in their lives--especially problems they are having with friends?
- With the whole friends thing I think it’s because they think that their parents won’t understand.


2. Describe Amelia. Is she a typical teenager? 
- I think she is a typical teenager of time because of social media, but she is also like most teenagers who want to fit in somewhere and belong somewhere where she might not necessarily fit in.

Talk about her friendship with Sylvia. What drew the girls together? 
- It’s because they are different then the other girls. They have each other.

What about her relationships with Zadie and Dylan? 
- I think the friendship between the three is very toxic, even without Amelia, Zadie and Dylan’s friendship doesn’t seem like a true friendship that would happen without the magpies.

What made her feel so close to her Internet friend, Ben?
- He was the male version of who Amelia was, cleaver, gay etc. I think she felt close to him because she could talk to him about things that she couldn’t talk to her mum about, or Sylvia or any magpie.


3. Might Amelia's situation have been different if she'd had a larger family around her? 
- It’s easy to think like that, but there are so many different pros and cons about knowing extended family that may have impacted her in many ways good and bad.

What if that family had been larger, but more filled with conflict?
- That’s always a risk. You can’t have a lot of people family or friends who all get along perfectly.


4. Is Kate a good mother?
- I wouldn’t say she’s a good or bad mother. She was a mother of a teenage girl who needed guidance from her mum.

She believes she knows her daughter well, but does she?
- Do any parents know their child that well as a teenager

What does she discover about Amelia that surprises her?
- What hasn’t surprised her, that Amelia was gay, that she had a sister who had the same condition as her but with something different within that condition, that she cheated on a paper, that she was talking to Ben, there are so many things that Kate didn’t know about Amelia.

What does she discover that confirms her deepest beliefs about Amelia and their relationship?
- That she really didn’t know that much about Amelia. Sure she knew about simple things such as her grades, or her favourite foods, but she wasn’t willing to stop and actually talk to her about what’s going on, or about things Amelia was willing to talk to her about.


5. What kind of a support network does Kate have to rely on?
- She is relying on Lew a lot

Does she bear any blame for the events that occur?
- I think she has some blame on her. She worked to much and never listened to Amelia. And as a teenager that’s all they want is their parents to listen sometimes.

Is there any way she could have prevented the tragedy?
- I don’t think she could have prevented it. I think she could’ve listened to Amelia more

What about Grace Hall--how much, if any, responsibility does the school bear for Amelia's death?
- I think they should take some blame. I mean Amelia’s death was on their property



6. Why is being popular so important in adolescence?
- They want to be liked by everyone because it validates who they are as a person and gives them confidence to be out of their comfort zone.

Has the Internet and social networking added to the pressures teenagers must cope with?
- It’s the fact that people can be hidden behind a screen name, and you can use a fake name is the biggest problem with social media.


7. What impact does class play in the story?
- I don’t think class really played that much into it. Sure everyone in the book is at at nice school, the parents have a nice job, but they aren’t really integrating with people who are at a regular high school, or with people who don’t have jobs as lawyers.

What about sexuality--Amelia's recognition of her own desires?
- I think as a teenager you start realizing more about your feelings, both romantically and about yourself. Sexuality isn’t a class thing, or a race thing, it’s something your born with as as you grow up you start to understand yourself

What about Amelia's need to be perfect--her drive to be a good student?
- I think she wanted to get her mum’s attention for the most part. She sees her mum as this high flyer, who had no time for her,


8. Why does such a smart girl like Amelia fall into the trap of the secret clubs?
- I think it’s because she wants to show the other girls she can be like them. Or they can try and be like her. Maybe she wants to try something new and not always be this perfect smart person

Why isn't she more suspicious of the Magpies and the boys around them?
- Because she wants to feel like she fits in with the other girls

How did her keeping the secret about the Maggies impact her relationship with Sylvia?
- It made her more closed off in some ways that when Amelia realized that she was gay, she couldn’t open up right away to Sylvia

Why are some children cruel to others?
- I think it’s down to environment, to parenting, to wanting to fit in with other people who you can idolize, and down to it being easier to be anonymous when doing it. Reconstructing Amelia is a great example of that.



9. How far should parents go to monitor their child's life?
- Its a difficult one because you want them to have some freedom but you want to control everything. I think to have an open communication with them and be honest is the best way. Don’t try and hide things from them, you don’t have to tell them everything but at least have the decency to talk to them.

Do children have a right to privacy the way adults do?
- It’s hard because as children, teenagers you want to have privacy like adults do, but then your a child and your parents know what’s right. Personally I think when a child is old enough to where they start keeping secrets is when parents should be more open



Does social media make us too connected? What is your opinion of social media--do you think it's a positive development or an erosion of who we are and how we interact?
- The whole point of social media is to keep us connected with each other, I think it’s a great tool if you want to keep in contact with friends and family if you live overseas from where you were born and lived for a while, but it can be used to harm and hurt other people,



10. How does the author ratchet up the suspense in the story?
- I think Kimberly did a really good job of pointing you away from what happened and who was with Amelia when she died.

What clues does she provide to point you toward the truth--or away from it?
- It was easy to think that it was something to do with the Magpies or Amelia being on her own. I never for a second imagined it to be anyone else.


11. Bullying is a major topic across the media and throughout society. Do you believe it is a serious issue, or do you think it's a phase that all children go through?
- It’s both. When I was younger we didn’t have social media like we do now.

How has the rise of the Internet contributed to the severity of bullying and to our awareness of it?
- It’s easier to use social media, and electronics to spread bullying. Social media is forever changing and evolving that it’s easier to do.

Can we decrease the incidents of bullying?
- In this day and age there is no way of stopping bullying. It’s changed a lot over the years with the increase of social media, and the fact that it’s at your fingertips and is forever evolving. You can talk about it, spread awareness but there will always be elements of bullying around.

How do we learn to stand up to mean people?
- I think if we don’t let what they say bother us is a good place to start. It’s hard doing that especially as a teenager but if you start small and not let something bother you as time goes on it will become easier.
- Also I think if we know the truth about a situation than what other have to say isn’t really relevant


12. Does Kate get closure when she discovers the truth?
- I would like to think she has closure but I think it will take time.

Where do you think she will go from here?
- I would like her to do something around her experience with loosing Amelia, and how things that affected both her and Amelia can harm those around them without realizing it.

13. What inspired you or your group to choose Reconstructing Amelia?
I’ve always wanted to read the book. It was like Hate List where I seemed to be drawn to it for some reason, but because I budget my money (sometimes not very well) I waited until I saw it cheaper then it normally is.

Did it meet your expectations?
It met something that I was looking for. Though I don’t know what it was. I think because I wanted to read it and did it met something I was looking for.

Is it an accurate representation of modern parenting and growing up in twenty-first century America?
Kind of, I mean teenagers don’t really talk to their parents that much, and some will join clubs, and feel like they are isolated, and maybe even bullied, but also I would have expected more social media postings, and that sort of thing


What did you take away from reading the book?
I took away from the book that sometimes parents should stop and listen to their kids more.