Friday, August 24, 2012

Review: Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield

Tags: young adult, contemporary, death, murder, small town

Summary

Becca is on the brink of leaving her suffocatingly small town—just one summer to go before college—when the appearance of a dead girl’s body shocks everyone. As the claustrophobic community of Bridgeton attempts to figure out the meaning of this death and its impact on them, Becca finds herself clinging to her old life—her old job, her high school boyfriend—scared to see herself in Amelia Anne’s fate.

Review

AMELIA ANNE IS DEAD AND GONE is not really a book that wants you to like it. From the uncomfortable opening sex scene to the way Becca’s plotline ends up intersecting with that of Amelia Anne’s death, it’s like you’re forcibly pressed close to the story and its ugliness, so that every blemish is magnified. If you’re the kind of reader who likes this no-gloss dissection of flawed characters and setting, then great! It wasn’t my type of read, but I can see why other will find this winning.

Say goodbye to your romantic conception of the American small town. Bridgeton is vicious and claustrophobic, its bright spots—such as stars at night and a swimming hole—marred by the harsh reality of tensions between locals and summer residents, people’s desperate desire to escape its black hole gravity. As someone who definitely has a romantic conception of the American small town, AMELIA ANNE’s depiction nearly made me cry, it was so unforgiving. It’s the same with the characters. They gossip and slander and take sides and make poor decisions and say terrible things to one another. But Kat Rosenfield does not apologize for reality—and nor should she. Even I have to respect her for that.

That being said, if you’re the kind of reader who likes a certain amount of happiness in your books, AMELIA ANNE might not deliver. Becca, the protagonist, is not particularly likable: she denies the harshness of reality by retreating within herself, and forgives her boyfriend for his really very heartless act. While in theory I can understand her reactions—she’s on the brink of leaving Bridgeton, exciting but also terrified, when Amelia Anne’s shocking death sends her reeling and petrifies her—I don’t think they were explained as well as they could have been in the book.

In addition, I found the prose too “pretty” in an unoriginal sort of way. Unfortunately I don’t have the book on hand to find examples, but passages that I could tell were supposed to be insightful or beautiful instead left me unmoved. I like turns of phrase that surprise me, a la Beth Kephart or Cath Crowley, but if you’ve read your fair share of lit-er-uh-chur, you’re going to realize that you’ve seen all the similes and metaphors here before.

I wanted AMELIA ANNE IS DEAD AND GONE to be emotionally and literarily earth-shattering, but it wasn’t for me. However, I can bet there’s an avid audience for this book. For those who prefer their YA lit darker and without supernatural delusions of luv, check this out.

Similar Authors
Anna Jarzab
Nova Ren Suma
Kirsten Hubbard

Cover discussion: The muted, desaturated colors match the mood of this book.

Dutton Juvenile / July 5, 2012 / Hardcover / 304pp. / $17.99

Copy received for review from publisher.

8 comments:

  1. Hello!

    Well, it doesn't really sound like the book I'd read, but good that you enjoyed it! :)

    http://thespaceofagerman.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds interesting in the way it presents small town life and its harsher realities. I don't know that I'm particularly enamored to read it though.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why are you romantic about the American small town?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am totally not a city person, and I've long been enamored by Anne of Green Gables-like story settings, where a townful of eccentric characters gets carefully and lovingly described. I've often wanted to live in a small town, which I guess is what I mean by romanticizing it!

      Delete
  4. steph! you're creeping me out with this review. it sounds like my kind of read but i haven't read a dark book in so long that i'm a little anxious! lovely review :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oooh, fantastic review, Steph. I've read only a few for this novel, but this is definitely going to be the one that sticks.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ahh your review of this is everything I thought but couldn't quite put into words! The prose for this was actually a strong point for me but I totally get what you mean about it being unoriginal because although it was 'pretty', it never quite moved me.

    ReplyDelete

Hello! I'm so excited to read what you have to say. Due to high amounts of spam, I'm forced to disabled anonymous comments for the time being. Sorry for any inconvenience this causes, and I hope you can understand and still appreciate the content here!

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...