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bookwad 's review for:
Amelia Unabridged
by Ashley Schumacher
This book is 290 pages long and I have 30 annotations. They’re broken up into categories: angst, favorite scenes, quotes I want to remember, and the love story. While the love story is almost my favorite part, it’s not the most important part. Not really. I found this book by chance alone when browsing Amazon and I ordered it right after it was released, but it took me two months to get around to reading it. (A tragedy, truly.)
Amelia lives in books, and her friend, Jenna, ventures into all of these worlds with her. They’re thick as thieves, the best of friends, and they’re on the cusp of beginning college when Amelia is left bereft in a sea of loss when Jenna is killed. I did not expect to get choked up when Jenna died because I knew it was coming. Yet, it hurt so badly. I lost a friend that was incredibly important to me a few years ago in what can only be called a freak accident involving car, and maybe that’s why I felt this so clearly. It’s like a lance through my heart, the best kind. The reminder that I can still feel, which I believe Amelia is partially in search of through this story.
When a rare edition of the first novel written by N. E. Endsley arrives after Jenna’s death, it sets off a series of events where Amelia travels to Michigan from Texas, to this bookstore where the book originated from. Even more jarring, she meets the author Nolan, and nothing else is what she plans.
As someone who has an intense, irrational fear of the inevitable and losing those I love, this book should have left me sad. It left me hopeful. It’s just… I don’t know how to word it. I loved this book, and I’m so glad I picked up this debut on a whim. I can’t wait for her to write another book so I can preorder before it’s released.
I think this book is perfectly made for readers, for writers (or for that mix of both), and for dreamers. It’s been a really long time since I’ve thought about my friend without sorrow tainting all of it, but I thought of V through this entire book, and I think that made it so much more personal to me.
Jenna is gone, and the loss runs so deep that I think I may wake up in a few weeks and remember how it felt to read that line. But Jenna is so alive in the pages of this novel, you’ll never forget her.
Nolan is a relatable character for me. He suffers from panic attacks, and that is something I can heavily relate to. He’s a romantic, even if he didn’t expect himself to be (or maybe he did), and he bares himself when he’s scared to be vulnerable.
Alex is the best friend anyone could have, and Nolan is lucky.
Wally, the dog, reminds me of my mastiff mix to a T, and I loved that lighthouse scene so much. You know the one.
Val is fucking great.
I love Jenna’s parents, and how they have always taken Amelia in, but do so more after Jenna’s death. Though Mark’s heart is in the right place, I think he struggles the most with the overprotectiveness that follows after losing a child.
I love the symbolism of whales in this novel. I love whales. I love orcas. (Yeah, Nolan, I know they belong to the dolphin family.)
Here are some of my favorite lines. Super spoilers.
“Let me do this for you,” Nolan says. “Please. Let me give you stories.”
“It made me want to write something else that would make you look like that.”
Amelia lives in books, and her friend, Jenna, ventures into all of these worlds with her. They’re thick as thieves, the best of friends, and they’re on the cusp of beginning college when Amelia is left bereft in a sea of loss when Jenna is killed. I did not expect to get choked up when Jenna died because I knew it was coming. Yet, it hurt so badly. I lost a friend that was incredibly important to me a few years ago in what can only be called a freak accident involving car, and maybe that’s why I felt this so clearly. It’s like a lance through my heart, the best kind. The reminder that I can still feel, which I believe Amelia is partially in search of through this story.
When a rare edition of the first novel written by N. E. Endsley arrives after Jenna’s death, it sets off a series of events where Amelia travels to Michigan from Texas, to this bookstore where the book originated from. Even more jarring, she meets the author Nolan, and nothing else is what she plans.
As someone who has an intense, irrational fear of the inevitable and losing those I love, this book should have left me sad. It left me hopeful. It’s just… I don’t know how to word it. I loved this book, and I’m so glad I picked up this debut on a whim. I can’t wait for her to write another book so I can preorder before it’s released.
I think this book is perfectly made for readers, for writers (or for that mix of both), and for dreamers. It’s been a really long time since I’ve thought about my friend without sorrow tainting all of it, but I thought of V through this entire book, and I think that made it so much more personal to me.
Jenna is gone, and the loss runs so deep that I think I may wake up in a few weeks and remember how it felt to read that line. But Jenna is so alive in the pages of this novel, you’ll never forget her.
Nolan is a relatable character for me. He suffers from panic attacks, and that is something I can heavily relate to. He’s a romantic, even if he didn’t expect himself to be (or maybe he did), and he bares himself when he’s scared to be vulnerable.
Alex is the best friend anyone could have, and Nolan is lucky.
Wally, the dog, reminds me of my mastiff mix to a T, and I loved that lighthouse scene so much. You know the one.
Val is fucking great.
I love Jenna’s parents, and how they have always taken Amelia in, but do so more after Jenna’s death. Though Mark’s heart is in the right place, I think he struggles the most with the overprotectiveness that follows after losing a child.
I love the symbolism of whales in this novel. I love whales. I love orcas. (Yeah, Nolan, I know they belong to the dolphin family.)
Here are some of my favorite lines. Super spoilers.
Spoiler
“I love her,” Nolan whispers and my heart stops. “I know it’s too soon, and unrealistic, and stupid, but I love Amelia Griffin, and if she will let me love her - in whatever way she wants to - we could tell each other stories forever. Of pictures and whales and...anything you want, Amelia.”“Let me do this for you,” Nolan says. “Please. Let me give you stories.”
“It made me want to write something else that would make you look like that.”