Review Detail

3.5 4

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone

Young Adult Fiction 188

Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone is a treat to read.

July 08, 2013 (Updated: July 08, 2013)

Overall rating

4.7

Plot

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Characters

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Writing Style

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Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)

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One of the most stunningly written and understated books I have read these holidays, Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield is a sweeping portrait of small town life, murder, and growing up.

A coming of age story told through the unraveling summer of one young woman’s death and another’s attempt to escape her small town life.

There’s something so special about this book. Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone is a haunting portrait of transition. That strange and pivotal moment in a young person’s life when they are changing from teenagers to adults;It’s a moment everyone experiences, but not everyone can describe. Rosenfield has captured it perfectly — and elevated her story through the unraveling of a deadly mystery.

Amelia Anne is Dead and Goneis captivating, compelling, and luxuriously written.

Good Points

Every aspect of this novel soars: characters, mood, setting. Rosenfield’s writing is so exquisite and beautiful, it is almost painful to read; painfully beautiful. It was a unique reading experience: to be so swept up in the story, I’d be rushing along to find out what happens next — yet going back, re-reading pages and passages just to admire the beauty of Rosenfield’s phrasing and description.

It’s rare for a book to captivate me so completely, but Amelia Anne is Dead and Gone has joined a short but significant personal list that also includes The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky and Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.