Reconstructing Amelia

- By Kimberly McCreight

Amelia, a bright student is caught cheating on an English paper and is suspended from school. Kate, her mother, a lawyer by profession, gets a call to pick her up from school in the middle of her work day, without any explanation. While she gets to the school an hour later than the appointed time, she is in for a nasty shock, that Amelia committed suicide. Kate is devastated with the police investigation closing the case as suicide, despite having her doubts. And when she tries to swallow the pain and re-enter her work, she gets a text on her cellphone, that Amelia did not commit suicide. Though she initially thinks it to be a sick joke, she begins to reconstruct Amelia and the many facets of a teenage daughter she thought she knew.

The central plot of the story begins with the question of why is Amelia dead?! While the mystery is traced through the texts, mails, phone calls, Facebook updates, school blog, many subplots are thrown in the gauntlet. New characters are introduced into the story, unfolding the last few days of Amelia’s life. The novel progresses with alternating point of views, primarily, from Amelia, a POV of past and Kate, a POV in the present tracing back Amelia. The characters are not overly developed. It seemed like they entered and exited with voice of their own, stating their case. For me, personally, that left me feeling a little alienated in the novel, as though I am a by stander watching a play that is too fast to fully get into it. The story gives a peep window into the lives of high school students, the teenage choices and their repercussions, the friendships and the lies interwoven into the daily fabric of life, the insensitivity of the bullies, the desperate need to belong, the constant struggle between right and wrong, the need to follow the crowd for the fear of rejection – the typical teenage drama comes through effectively in the novel. The bullying goes into a new level, but the reasoning behind it sells the story short of its charm. And despite the suspense, the ending was not a punch in the gut, but more like a logical conclusion, with a lot of sadness for all concerned.

The author, Kimberly McCreight, with her debut novel, puts a compelling case to the conclusion, with enough twists in the plot, to make it a page turner. The novel uncovers bit by bit, the life of a teenager that ended tragically.

Who was Amelia’s father? Why did she suddenly become obsessed with picking through her mother’s story about a one night stand in a bar? Why is Amelia part of a secret club? Was she bullied into it? What was her inner turmoil with all these secrets in her life and no one to talk to? Why could she not open up to her mother? Why could she not confide in her best friend, Silvia? Did her best friend not really know about the club? Were her secrets not really secrets at all?

In parallel, Kate’s life, which is central to the story is also unraveled, as the questions surrounding Amelia’s death haunt Kate too. Did Amelia know about her father? Did she somehow get to know the secret Kate thought was safe? Is that somehow related to Amelia’s death? What was Kate’s dark secret? Who texted Kate about Amelia? Why did her daughter suddenly keep secrets from her? Why was her daughter bullied? Did Amelia really cheat on her English paper? Why was the school blog that despicable? How did that fit into the story?

Those are the questions that trace back part of mother-daughter life and reveal a small window into the lives of other characters involved in their lives.

I personally liked it because it was a simple page turner, told succinctly. Our life is not just influenced by our decisions, but by the decisions of people around us too. As the story progresses to its conclusion, it left me feeling sad and a little upset, that despite a front row seat to the unfolding drama, some chose to let the tide ride out.

While I recommend the book, I would advise you to not pick it up just before you go to sleep, as I did. It will cost you a night’s sleep. And if you do, don’t come back that I did not warn you!!! Have a good read fellow readers!!!

The Google Story

- By David Vise

Google is a miracle to me. It became an integral part of almost every walk of life, that it is difficult to imagine a day without it. “The Google Story” is about, Google. (No surprises there!). It is about the meteoric rise of two young students who dared to dream and cared enough to achieve that dream. Just as every dream begins with no foundation apart from self belief, their dream of providing easy access to the web became a reality through their belief in it. Luck favours the brave and it is proven again, by the inspiring story of this software miracle.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the two founders of Google established this company in a hope to provide a quality service to the internet users and their quest to build a superior quality search engine and their page ranking system did what seemed to be trivial for other software giants to care about, to provide what the internet users want accurately and at a right pace. Right from the start, Google had its goal clear, to provide a quality service to its users and true to its goal, it continues to do so. I am a faithful Google user, with or without their lock in, I use Google every single day. With their bold and aggressive steps, the two pioneers took the search phenomenon to new heights and shook the monopoly of Microsoft and challenged Yahoo to make Google a world wide business.

What began as a statement, “I want to download the entire web”, went on to become a reality as the idea took shape and the search engine took birth. The book is written as a detective story, engrossing the reader into understanding the Google and its culture. David Vise had done a fantastic job in bringing the Google to the readers and it forms an interesting journey. It is an inspiration to every one who cares to dream, however unrealistic and far fetched it may be, as long as one believes in them.

Creating a college atmosphere and giving perks that are unchallenged by any industry out there, Google made quite a few loyal employees. However aggressive the targets are, if the loyalty of employees is guaranteed, the targets will be met. By providing an atmosphere that is closer to college, with unique design to the place and a touch of youth to the interiors and encouraging gadgets that the employees like, providing them the chance to explore their personal interest every day and evoking a creative thought process, the company earned a loyal set of followers and it is no surprise that almost every software engineer who value their thought want to work for Google. Right from the computers the employees use to the food that they are provided in their cafeteria to the other free benefits that they get, the place is practically a second home to most of the Google employees. Falling in love with a company is something that no one should do, but I dare say, Google employees might differ to it.

The book details the journey of Google, from a mere search engine to a world wide business and how it challenged every software company on its way, before making itself public and how the two pioneers personally sought out to expand the Google and continue to do so and are millionaires by thirty. The quest and the challenges that were thrown in the way were met with arrogance, sheer brilliance and unequalled audacity. The mistakes were few, yet the lessons learnt were valuable and the public offering not only made the employees rich, but also increased the funds that can be channelled for the future projects that come out of the Googleplex, the creative giant of the industry. Be it the chef who provided multi cuisine to the employees or the different style of Google founders in rewarding the employees for their hard work, the company set on a journey that is unique and different and engrossing not only to the people involved in it, but also to the people who aspire high.

The book provides an insight into the company and leaves an impression of voyaging through a journey that is inspiring.