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I Have Some Questions for You
Goodreads Choice Award
Nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller (2023)A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia's death and the conviction of the school's athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.
But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn't as much of an outsider at Granby as she'd thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.
But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn't as much of an outsider at Granby as she'd thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.
438 pages, Hardcover
First published February 21, 2023
About the author
Rebecca Makkai
24 books5,094 followersRebecca Makkai is the author of 2023's New York Times bestselling I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU, as well as the novels THE GREAT BELIEVERS, THE BORROWER and THE HUNDRED-YEAR HOUSE, and the collection MUSIC FOR WARTIME. THE GREAT BELIEVERS was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award; it received the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize among other honors,
A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca teaches graduate fiction writing at Northwestern University, UNR Tahoe, and Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English; and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. She lives in Chicago and Vermont. Visit her at RebeccaMakkai.com or on twitter@rebeccamakkai.
A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow, Rebecca teaches graduate fiction writing at Northwestern University, UNR Tahoe, and Middlebury College's Bread Loaf School of English; and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. She lives in Chicago and Vermont. Visit her at RebeccaMakkai.com or on twitter@rebeccamakkai.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 13,768 reviews
November 24, 2022
When I love a book, I sometimes find it very hard to write a review: I just want to scream incoherently about how great it is. When I hate a book, it can be equally difficult: I don’t want to waste energy on articulating my issues with it properly. It’s often the books in the grey areas in between that I find myself with the most to say about. I had a lot of problems with I Have Some Questions For You, but I also recognise that the fact I’m compelled to articulate them, examine them, is a form of praise, because this means I really want to engage with the book. I wanted to like it more than I do, and the following ‘review’ ought to be understood more as a series of notes in which I try to work through the reasons it didn’t work for me.
The narrator, Bodie Kane, is a successful podcaster in her early forties. As a teenager, she attended a prestigious boarding school, Granby, where she felt like an outsider. In their senior year, her popular roommate Thalia was murdered. The supposed killer – Omar, a young man who worked at the school as an athletic trainer – was convicted quickly, but the evidence was flimsy and there’s always been speculation about his guilt. When Bodie is invited back to the school to teach a course, she becomes newly obsessed with the case; through adult eyes, she sees something suspicious in Thalia’s close relationship with a music teacher. One of Bodie’s students decides to make her own podcast about Thalia’s death, opening up even more questions. Meanwhile, Bodie’s semi-estranged husband is accused of coercive behaviour by a younger ex-girlfriend, and her (Bodie’s) married lover seems to be growing distant. (Yes, there’s quite a lot going on.)
I was so looking forward to a version of the true-crime-podcast story from a writer as good as Rebecca Makkai, whose The Great Believers I adored, whose ‘The November Story’ is an all-time favourite. But I Have Some Questions For You is significantly undercooked as a thriller, and too overwhelmed by plot for it to be satisfying at the character development level. What it is, more than anything, is a #MeToo novel – a concept that seems baffling, dead in the water, in 2022, particularly after books like My Dark Vanessa and True Story have tackled similar subject matter so successfully.
There’s some value, I guess, in telling this type of story from the perspective of a watchful outsider, a person detached from the true harm, but frustratingly, the most interesting points thrown up by that are just not explored. There’s this moment where a woman, one of her former classmates, tells Bodie she was ‘safe’ from creepy adult men as a teen, with the obvious implication being that she (the younger Bodie) was too unattractive to be a target for them. And THAT’S interesting – both the idea itself, which is surely worth further discussion, and also the way this woman, who was a victim herself, so blithely throws it out there, assuming she’s right. Yet Bodie barely examines it!
Similarly, we’re shown how Bodie’s continuing attachment to her ‘outsider’ status leads her to place too much emphasis on what she endured at school – some bullying and mockery which, sure, is horrible, but hardly in the same league as being groomed by an abuser – while completely dismissing her husband’s accuser. The book never really gets into the hypocrisy of this. It’s like... we’re meant to see the irony, but nothing is done with it. Is this the whole point? That Bodie is a vulture, exploding the Thalia case to centre herself while ignoring situations in which she could truly make a positive impact? Certainly, the way Omar’s perspective is filtered through Bodie’s feels patronising. Almost the only way I can read the book favourably is to see Bodie as a (the?) villain, and though I’m sure she’s deliberately flawed, I doubt that’s the intention.
Bodie’s ruminations on how girls are conditioned to accept exploitation are not without merit, but they aren’t particularly fresh or interesting. My Dark Vanessa is so much more visceral; True Story achieves a more thought-provoking effect by varying its perspective and digging into how these stories get told; Death of a Bookseller and the Six Stories books engage more productively with questions around the ethics of true crime. Here, every seemingly intriguing idea is flattened into a hackneyed ‘There Is A Lot Of Misogyny’ message achieved through methods like the recital of a litany of faceless/nameless victims alongside details of what happened to them (a device I really cannot stand), or the anodyne horror of an adult woman realising that yes, a teacher sleeping with teenagers is Bad (who would have thought!!)
A lot of my problems with this book boil down to the fact that it feels like it is trying to Say Something, and what it is trying to Say is so stale, and – I realise this is completely unfair – what I wanted from Makkai was another meaty literary novel with some expansive subplot that shouldn’t be fascinating but is, like the art bequest thing in The Great Believers. There is a real art to writing a compelling crime/thriller narrative, and this is never more apparent than when a talented author of literary fiction doesn’t quite pull it off. This is not a bad book – it’s too well-written to be bad – but I think what I’ll remember about it is my frustration over the most promising parts of the narrative being squandered.
I received an advance review copy of I Have Some Questions for You from the publisher through Edelweiss.
TinyLetter | Linktree
The narrator, Bodie Kane, is a successful podcaster in her early forties. As a teenager, she attended a prestigious boarding school, Granby, where she felt like an outsider. In their senior year, her popular roommate Thalia was murdered. The supposed killer – Omar, a young man who worked at the school as an athletic trainer – was convicted quickly, but the evidence was flimsy and there’s always been speculation about his guilt. When Bodie is invited back to the school to teach a course, she becomes newly obsessed with the case; through adult eyes, she sees something suspicious in Thalia’s close relationship with a music teacher. One of Bodie’s students decides to make her own podcast about Thalia’s death, opening up even more questions. Meanwhile, Bodie’s semi-estranged husband is accused of coercive behaviour by a younger ex-girlfriend, and her (Bodie’s) married lover seems to be growing distant. (Yes, there’s quite a lot going on.)
I was so looking forward to a version of the true-crime-podcast story from a writer as good as Rebecca Makkai, whose The Great Believers I adored, whose ‘The November Story’ is an all-time favourite. But I Have Some Questions For You is significantly undercooked as a thriller, and too overwhelmed by plot for it to be satisfying at the character development level. What it is, more than anything, is a #MeToo novel – a concept that seems baffling, dead in the water, in 2022, particularly after books like My Dark Vanessa and True Story have tackled similar subject matter so successfully.
There’s some value, I guess, in telling this type of story from the perspective of a watchful outsider, a person detached from the true harm, but frustratingly, the most interesting points thrown up by that are just not explored. There’s this moment where a woman, one of her former classmates, tells Bodie she was ‘safe’ from creepy adult men as a teen, with the obvious implication being that she (the younger Bodie) was too unattractive to be a target for them. And THAT’S interesting – both the idea itself, which is surely worth further discussion, and also the way this woman, who was a victim herself, so blithely throws it out there, assuming she’s right. Yet Bodie barely examines it!
Similarly, we’re shown how Bodie’s continuing attachment to her ‘outsider’ status leads her to place too much emphasis on what she endured at school – some bullying and mockery which, sure, is horrible, but hardly in the same league as being groomed by an abuser – while completely dismissing her husband’s accuser. The book never really gets into the hypocrisy of this. It’s like... we’re meant to see the irony, but nothing is done with it. Is this the whole point? That Bodie is a vulture, exploding the Thalia case to centre herself while ignoring situations in which she could truly make a positive impact? Certainly, the way Omar’s perspective is filtered through Bodie’s feels patronising. Almost the only way I can read the book favourably is to see Bodie as a (the?) villain, and though I’m sure she’s deliberately flawed, I doubt that’s the intention.
Bodie’s ruminations on how girls are conditioned to accept exploitation are not without merit, but they aren’t particularly fresh or interesting. My Dark Vanessa is so much more visceral; True Story achieves a more thought-provoking effect by varying its perspective and digging into how these stories get told; Death of a Bookseller and the Six Stories books engage more productively with questions around the ethics of true crime. Here, every seemingly intriguing idea is flattened into a hackneyed ‘There Is A Lot Of Misogyny’ message achieved through methods like the recital of a litany of faceless/nameless victims alongside details of what happened to them (a device I really cannot stand), or the anodyne horror of an adult woman realising that yes, a teacher sleeping with teenagers is Bad (who would have thought!!)
A lot of my problems with this book boil down to the fact that it feels like it is trying to Say Something, and what it is trying to Say is so stale, and – I realise this is completely unfair – what I wanted from Makkai was another meaty literary novel with some expansive subplot that shouldn’t be fascinating but is, like the art bequest thing in The Great Believers. There is a real art to writing a compelling crime/thriller narrative, and this is never more apparent than when a talented author of literary fiction doesn’t quite pull it off. This is not a bad book – it’s too well-written to be bad – but I think what I’ll remember about it is my frustration over the most promising parts of the narrative being squandered.
I received an advance review copy of I Have Some Questions for You from the publisher through Edelweiss.
TinyLetter | Linktree
February 20, 2023
⚠️ Warning - long rant ahead ⚠️
TL;DR version - this didn’t work for me at all, but everyone else seems to love it 🤷🏼♀️
Mark this down as yet another super hyped book that didn’t work for me. I’ve seen nothing but glowing reviews for this, but I really didn’t like it. It was painfully slow and far too long, it easily could have been trimmed back 100+ pages without losing anything important. There are also side plots that added very little to the story. This is classified as a Literary Thriller but it is not at all thrilling. I would really say its more part Literary slow burn mystery and part coming of age story.
I found the MC Bodie frustrating - she’s whiny, annoying and self absorbed in that everything has to relate back to her. So much time is spent by Bodie taking the story of her friends murder and trying to focus it on herself and her issues at the school. While also being sure to tell everyone that the podcast about the murder totally wasn’t her idea - literally this is the first thing she says to multiple people who she hasn’t talked to in years. Priorities. 🙄
I often find that Literary Fiction books focus on social issues, but this one felt like it was trying to hit upon far too many. Gender norms, racism, me too era, covid, the justice system, misogyny, cancel culture, sexual assault, predatory behavior and more, yes more! I think this would have been more effective if the author had focused on a few of these issues and really dug in and analyzed and challenged what could be done about them, or how the full impact of each is felt. Instead it was done in a very heavy handed way and issues were brought up and then quickly discarded.
There were so many characters to keep track of between the present timeline and her past time at the school and I really struggled to remember who was who. I did this on audio which probably helped contribute to this confusion, but eventually I gave up on trying to keep all the minor players straight. Randomly the MC would just begin to start listing out a variety of cases with women as the victim (was it the one about the women who was found in the dumpster, or no was it the one about… etc) which for me didn’t have the impact I think she was going for, and instead I ended up skipping past these sections after the first two instances.
When part two begins I thought it might finally pick up, but then the way its done we have to get all the information second hand which does not make for exciting reading. Things took a wildly unbelievable turn and felt very Scooby Doo in how things were found out. I really did not like how it ended, it annoyed me and I felt like I walked away from this wondering what point the author was trying to make. I gave it 2⭐️ bc I did finish it, but I also feel like I stuck it out only bc I’d already invested so much time in the far too long book.
TL;DR version - this didn’t work for me at all, but everyone else seems to love it 🤷🏼♀️
Mark this down as yet another super hyped book that didn’t work for me. I’ve seen nothing but glowing reviews for this, but I really didn’t like it. It was painfully slow and far too long, it easily could have been trimmed back 100+ pages without losing anything important. There are also side plots that added very little to the story. This is classified as a Literary Thriller but it is not at all thrilling. I would really say its more part Literary slow burn mystery and part coming of age story.
I found the MC Bodie frustrating - she’s whiny, annoying and self absorbed in that everything has to relate back to her. So much time is spent by Bodie taking the story of her friends murder and trying to focus it on herself and her issues at the school. While also being sure to tell everyone that the podcast about the murder totally wasn’t her idea - literally this is the first thing she says to multiple people who she hasn’t talked to in years. Priorities. 🙄
I often find that Literary Fiction books focus on social issues, but this one felt like it was trying to hit upon far too many. Gender norms, racism, me too era, covid, the justice system, misogyny, cancel culture, sexual assault, predatory behavior and more, yes more! I think this would have been more effective if the author had focused on a few of these issues and really dug in and analyzed and challenged what could be done about them, or how the full impact of each is felt. Instead it was done in a very heavy handed way and issues were brought up and then quickly discarded.
There were so many characters to keep track of between the present timeline and her past time at the school and I really struggled to remember who was who. I did this on audio which probably helped contribute to this confusion, but eventually I gave up on trying to keep all the minor players straight. Randomly the MC would just begin to start listing out a variety of cases with women as the victim (was it the one about the women who was found in the dumpster, or no was it the one about… etc) which for me didn’t have the impact I think she was going for, and instead I ended up skipping past these sections after the first two instances.
When part two begins I thought it might finally pick up, but then the way its done we have to get all the information second hand which does not make for exciting reading. Things took a wildly unbelievable turn and felt very Scooby Doo in how things were found out. I really did not like how it ended, it annoyed me and I felt like I walked away from this wondering what point the author was trying to make. I gave it 2⭐️ bc I did finish it, but I also feel like I stuck it out only bc I’d already invested so much time in the far too long book.
March 13, 2024
I enjoyed Makkai's critique of the "true crime" genre of media, pointing out how victims and witnesses of crimes are dehumanised and trivialised by those who seek entertainment from court cases and murder stories.
However, as a crime novel, I don't think this was particularly well-crafted or clever. There's a lot of ideas being explored but I'm not sure it felt tightly controlled. Kind of like when you're carrying too many things and every time you bend over to pick something up, something else tumbles to the ground. Lots of plot points are randomly dropped, not expanded on fully, or undermined by convenient little twists. It's always a shame to see a novel with so much potential get a bit lost by being overly ambitious.
However, as a crime novel, I don't think this was particularly well-crafted or clever. There's a lot of ideas being explored but I'm not sure it felt tightly controlled. Kind of like when you're carrying too many things and every time you bend over to pick something up, something else tumbles to the ground. Lots of plot points are randomly dropped, not expanded on fully, or undermined by convenient little twists. It's always a shame to see a novel with so much potential get a bit lost by being overly ambitious.
March 27, 2023
This was a mess. Bear with me as I attempt to break down all the ways in which this book simply did not work for me:
1) Characters
I can tell you about our protagonist, Bodie Kane--she's a professor and the co-host of a podcast--but really what needs to be said about her is that she was a poorly developed and frankly just irritating character. Sure, we learn a lot about the things that have happened to her--the death of several of her family members, her living with her foster family of sorts, her time at Granby--but it never really feels like we get a good grasp of who she actually is. I will go more into this in my "Themes" section, but Bodie was also just a bizarrely obtuse and naïve character; given her education and job it baffled me that she was so blindsided by things that you would've expected her to at least be generally aware of. (I would mention other characters in this section, but there is literally no one that comes to mind as an even remotely developed character for me to discuss.)
2) Writing
In a word: boring. Every single time I've seen I Have Some Questions For You it's been described as a literary something: a "literary thriller," a "literary mystery," "literary dark academia." The question of what "literary" means, exactly, is not one that I'm going to attempt to answer here, but as a literary fiction reader myself I can tell you that there is nothing "literary" about this novel. And the biggest indicator of that to me is its utterly unimpressionable and vanilla writing. The writing is so opaque and simplistic that it flattens an already tenuously constructed story, foreclosing any kind of complexity or nuance that we could've gotten. The nicest thing I can say about the writing is that it was serviceable, but given how much this was touted as a "literary" novel, I was expecting something more complex, compelling, interesting, distinct--something that was, in short, not what I got.
3) Themes/Story
I've saved the best--or, in this case, the worst--for last. Where to begin? I Have Some Questions For You is a novel that is trying so desperately and painfully hard to offer Deep Commentary, and its attempts are unsuccessful at best and laughable at worst. Having finished the novel, I'm struggling to understand what its takeaway is supposed to be, exactly. That violence against women is rampant? That the criminal justice system is unfair, especially to Black men? Is this news to literally anyone? The latter seems to be a shocking revelation to Bodie: she's teaching a mini course at Granby for 2 weeks, and then she starts to think, Maybe the Black man who they did a rush job of investigating and convicting for the murder of this girl was...not guilty after all? This is what I mean by Bodie being obtuse and naïve: she spends exactly 2 weeks back at Granby as an adult and suddenly she thinks she's made a groundbreaking revelation by pointing out that this investigation involving a Black man in a majority white town was mishandled. It felt like the entire premise of the book was just "white woman discovers systemic injustice exists in the world." And I'm not saying that you can't explore these topics in a novel, but your take cannot simply be "women experience violence" or "the criminal justice system is unjust." Like surely you can dig deeper than that, surely this cannot be your groundbreaking take. (Especially when your novel is 400 whole pages--how did this book manage to say so little in so many pages???)
What makes this all so frustrating to me is that the novel thinks it's achieving these heights of sophisticated commentary that it is no way, shape, or form achieving, or even coming close to achieving. Here's a passage demonstrating Bodie's incredible and never-been-thought-of-before insights on incarceration:
Like?? Is Bodie just now discovering the concept of prison?? Is she just now finding out that when people are in prison they lack choices ?? I am just baffled as to what this novel thinks it's offering us, exactly, beyond facile, elementary commentary that fails to actually comment on anything in any meaningful or substantial way.
(And this is to say nothing of the unnecessary and inane side plots that we get throughout the novel: at one point Bodie gets cancelled on Twitter?? And she's also in some kind of sad situationship with a random guy who exists for plot convenience reasons?? This novel really did not need to be 400 pages.)
4) Conclusion
All the issues I have with I Have Some Questions For You boil down to the fact that it was just an incredibly shallow novel--and not just a shallow novel, but a shallow novel that thought it was being so incredibly deep. The biggest compliment I can give this book is that I didn't DNF it; that's about as far as I'm going to go in terms of positives. It was unexceptional, messy, underwhelming, and frustrating. Needless to say, it did not live up to the hype for me.
1) Characters
I can tell you about our protagonist, Bodie Kane--she's a professor and the co-host of a podcast--but really what needs to be said about her is that she was a poorly developed and frankly just irritating character. Sure, we learn a lot about the things that have happened to her--the death of several of her family members, her living with her foster family of sorts, her time at Granby--but it never really feels like we get a good grasp of who she actually is. I will go more into this in my "Themes" section, but Bodie was also just a bizarrely obtuse and naïve character; given her education and job it baffled me that she was so blindsided by things that you would've expected her to at least be generally aware of. (I would mention other characters in this section, but there is literally no one that comes to mind as an even remotely developed character for me to discuss.)
2) Writing
In a word: boring. Every single time I've seen I Have Some Questions For You it's been described as a literary something: a "literary thriller," a "literary mystery," "literary dark academia." The question of what "literary" means, exactly, is not one that I'm going to attempt to answer here, but as a literary fiction reader myself I can tell you that there is nothing "literary" about this novel. And the biggest indicator of that to me is its utterly unimpressionable and vanilla writing. The writing is so opaque and simplistic that it flattens an already tenuously constructed story, foreclosing any kind of complexity or nuance that we could've gotten. The nicest thing I can say about the writing is that it was serviceable, but given how much this was touted as a "literary" novel, I was expecting something more complex, compelling, interesting, distinct--something that was, in short, not what I got.
3) Themes/Story
I've saved the best--or, in this case, the worst--for last. Where to begin? I Have Some Questions For You is a novel that is trying so desperately and painfully hard to offer Deep Commentary, and its attempts are unsuccessful at best and laughable at worst. Having finished the novel, I'm struggling to understand what its takeaway is supposed to be, exactly. That violence against women is rampant? That the criminal justice system is unfair, especially to Black men? Is this news to literally anyone? The latter seems to be a shocking revelation to Bodie: she's teaching a mini course at Granby for 2 weeks, and then she starts to think, Maybe the Black man who they did a rush job of investigating and convicting for the murder of this girl was...not guilty after all? This is what I mean by Bodie being obtuse and naïve: she spends exactly 2 weeks back at Granby as an adult and suddenly she thinks she's made a groundbreaking revelation by pointing out that this investigation involving a Black man in a majority white town was mishandled. It felt like the entire premise of the book was just "white woman discovers systemic injustice exists in the world." And I'm not saying that you can't explore these topics in a novel, but your take cannot simply be "women experience violence" or "the criminal justice system is unjust." Like surely you can dig deeper than that, surely this cannot be your groundbreaking take. (Especially when your novel is 400 whole pages--how did this book manage to say so little in so many pages???)
What makes this all so frustrating to me is that the novel thinks it's achieving these heights of sophisticated commentary that it is no way, shape, or form achieving, or even coming close to achieving. Here's a passage demonstrating Bodie's incredible and never-been-thought-of-before insights on incarceration:
"Here's something for you to chew on, Mr. Bloch, something I've dwelt on a lot over the past few years. The hell of imprisonment isn't the terrible food, it's the lack of choice of food. It isn't the cold, wet floor, it's that you can't choose another place to stand. It isn't the confinement so much as the fact of never running, never getting in your car and speeding off, as Omar loved to do."
Like?? Is Bodie just now discovering the concept of prison?? Is she just now finding out that when people are in prison they lack choices ?? I am just baffled as to what this novel thinks it's offering us, exactly, beyond facile, elementary commentary that fails to actually comment on anything in any meaningful or substantial way.
(And this is to say nothing of the unnecessary and inane side plots that we get throughout the novel: at one point Bodie gets cancelled on Twitter?? And she's also in some kind of sad situationship with a random guy who exists for plot convenience reasons?? This novel really did not need to be 400 pages.)
4) Conclusion
All the issues I have with I Have Some Questions For You boil down to the fact that it was just an incredibly shallow novel--and not just a shallow novel, but a shallow novel that thought it was being so incredibly deep. The biggest compliment I can give this book is that I didn't DNF it; that's about as far as I'm going to go in terms of positives. It was unexceptional, messy, underwhelming, and frustrating. Needless to say, it did not live up to the hype for me.
December 20, 2023
I think this is one of the most brilliant novels I've read this year. It combines different genres in a seamless and professional manner, including whodunnit mystery, dark academia, suspense, legal thriller, psychological thriller, women's fiction, and drama.
The story revolves around Bodie Kane, a complex character in her early forties with a traumatic past that she has buried. She returns to her alma mater, a New Hampshire boarding school, as a teacher to give lectures on media studies. This is the same place where her roommate, Thalia Kent, was brutally murdered in 1995 - the same place where she was abused and hit rock bottom. After losing her father and brother at a young age, she was abandoned by her mother and raised by a religious group. She was sent to Granby School for a better education and opportunities. Outcasted by the popular girls' group, including her roommate Thalia, she found her own circle and embraced a goth pace. The murder of Thalia brought back her repressed memories that she thought were buried.
Now she is a successful podcaster delving into how old Hollywood stars endured abuse to become part of the industry. She has recently parted ways with her husband, Jerome, a famous artist and teacher who lives next door, to care for their two children.
For years, her mind has been fixated on the murder mystery of Thalia, even though athletic trainer Omar Evans, who was presumed to be Thalia's lover and drug dealer, committed a crime of passion. But what if they put an innocent man behind bars as the DNA test results are not as concrete as present time? It could be anyone, including music teacher Denny Bloch, whom Bodie caught in an inappropriate position with Thalia; or his wife, who found out about the secret affair; Robbie Serenho, Thalia's boyfriend with a temper problem; Puja Sharma, a jealous student; or even Bodie herself, who had complex feelings for Thalia, the popular It Girl of their generation whom she barely talked to if she didn't have to.
The book strongly discusses emotional turmoil, #metoo movement, social media bullying, eating disorders, rape, physical and verbal abuse, and how they impact women. It also addresses the unfairness of the justice system, racism, nepotism, hypocrisy, and class differences with thought-provoking assumptions.
This book is not just a murder mystery; it's a genuine and heart-wrenching cry for help for the many women who are wrongly abused, neglected, killed, and abandoned. The ending leaves you with deep thoughts, and the storytelling is genuine, moving, and powerful. The transformation and inner war of Bodie, who has trust issues with men and is obsessed with bringing justice to change her own life, and peeling the layers of herself to embrace her freedom, are an amazing journey you don't want to miss.
Overall, the book may be long and the slow-burn mystery may require more effort, time, and dedication, but it's truly worth it!
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The story revolves around Bodie Kane, a complex character in her early forties with a traumatic past that she has buried. She returns to her alma mater, a New Hampshire boarding school, as a teacher to give lectures on media studies. This is the same place where her roommate, Thalia Kent, was brutally murdered in 1995 - the same place where she was abused and hit rock bottom. After losing her father and brother at a young age, she was abandoned by her mother and raised by a religious group. She was sent to Granby School for a better education and opportunities. Outcasted by the popular girls' group, including her roommate Thalia, she found her own circle and embraced a goth pace. The murder of Thalia brought back her repressed memories that she thought were buried.
Now she is a successful podcaster delving into how old Hollywood stars endured abuse to become part of the industry. She has recently parted ways with her husband, Jerome, a famous artist and teacher who lives next door, to care for their two children.
For years, her mind has been fixated on the murder mystery of Thalia, even though athletic trainer Omar Evans, who was presumed to be Thalia's lover and drug dealer, committed a crime of passion. But what if they put an innocent man behind bars as the DNA test results are not as concrete as present time? It could be anyone, including music teacher Denny Bloch, whom Bodie caught in an inappropriate position with Thalia; or his wife, who found out about the secret affair; Robbie Serenho, Thalia's boyfriend with a temper problem; Puja Sharma, a jealous student; or even Bodie herself, who had complex feelings for Thalia, the popular It Girl of their generation whom she barely talked to if she didn't have to.
The book strongly discusses emotional turmoil, #metoo movement, social media bullying, eating disorders, rape, physical and verbal abuse, and how they impact women. It also addresses the unfairness of the justice system, racism, nepotism, hypocrisy, and class differences with thought-provoking assumptions.
This book is not just a murder mystery; it's a genuine and heart-wrenching cry for help for the many women who are wrongly abused, neglected, killed, and abandoned. The ending leaves you with deep thoughts, and the storytelling is genuine, moving, and powerful. The transformation and inner war of Bodie, who has trust issues with men and is obsessed with bringing justice to change her own life, and peeling the layers of herself to embrace her freedom, are an amazing journey you don't want to miss.
Overall, the book may be long and the slow-burn mystery may require more effort, time, and dedication, but it's truly worth it!
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October 8, 2023
Wrapped up in a murder mystery at a prestigious New England boarding school, Makkai's new novel revolves around the topic of femicide while at the same time questioning standards of wokeness and tackling cancel culture - and I really enjoyed how she plays with classic genre writing (think The Secret History) and current phenomena to ponder social justice. Our protagonist is 40-ish podcaster Bodie Kane who lives next door to her husband: The couple has separated, but they are still good friends with occasional benefits and raise two young children together (how zeitgeisty do you want your main character to be? YES.). When Bodie takes up a temporary teaching job at Granby, the elite boarding school in New Hamsphire she herself attended, she once again gets wrapped up in the murder case concerning her late roommate, beautiful (and white, and rich) Thalia Keith, who was killed in 1995.
When Bodie and the students who attend her class dive into the investigation of Thalia's murder in order to produce a podcast on the matter, they become more and more convinced that the man who has already spent over 20 years in prison for the deed is innocent - the Black athletics coach was simply the one who best fit the desired narrative. It becomes clear that the person who is repeatedly directly addressed in the novel - the whole text reads like a long letter to him - is a prime suspect who has never been investigated: The music teacher. What did the students back then know, and why didn't they speak up, helping the man who went to jail and pointing out the factors that seemed dubious? What role did the social climate play, what responsibility do they carry individually?
Questions of changing awareness, but also agency and responsibility are underlined by the second plotline that alternates with the first one: Bodie's husband Jerome, an artist, gets canceled on twitter because years ago, when he was in his thirties, he had a consensual relationship with a 21-year-old employee of the gallery he was working with, which also leads to Bodie being attacked online. Will Bodie and Jerome lose everything over a legal relationship that went sour a long time ago?
When the apparently contrasting plotlines start to merge, the story becomes a real pageturner: Suddenly, Bodie and her investigative team have the possibility to use the online community that chased Jerome to chase the man they deem guilty...
Makkai uses her story to ponder framing, narratives, and preconceptions - what better place to illuminate the repercussions of how stories are crafted than in literary fiction? Young Bodie was an outsider at Granby who has lived through trauma and didn't have the status and habitus of the other students - Makkai shows the social dynamics at play, between classes and genders. The same goes for the discussion about Jerome, the husband - here, Makkai asks uncomfortable questions about the instrumentalization of victim narratives in order to gain status and attention. The whole thing is intercut with scenes from the film class Bodie also teaches at Granby, where students learn how to see and interpret images while considering the power of montage (I also had to watch all the films mentioned in college and got flashbacks! :-)). Talking about montage, Makkai has also inserted several references to real-life femicides, raising awareness on how they are perceived and what that means.
So sure, Makkai has once more written a novel that is unreasonably long for what it has to say, but she has also once more written a text that tackles highly relevant topics in a clever way, challenging our preconceptions and underlining the complexity of the real world - plus it's super entertaining. The protagonist, Bodie, is an imperfect, messy, complicated woman, and that's the kind of female character I want to meet on the page (please note how she is not at all defined by her role as a mother). This book will be quite the challenge for people longing for literature that tells them what to think, and what's not to love about that? Certainly, the title "I Have Some Questions For You" does refer to the suspect who is directly addressed in the text, but it is also printed on the cover which is directed towards: The readers.
If this becomes a bestseller and wins some prizes, I'm all here for it.
Book discussion on Papierstau Podcast (in German): https://papierstaupodcast.de/allgemei...
When Bodie and the students who attend her class dive into the investigation of Thalia's murder in order to produce a podcast on the matter, they become more and more convinced that the man who has already spent over 20 years in prison for the deed is innocent - the Black athletics coach was simply the one who best fit the desired narrative. It becomes clear that the person who is repeatedly directly addressed in the novel - the whole text reads like a long letter to him - is a prime suspect who has never been investigated: The music teacher. What did the students back then know, and why didn't they speak up, helping the man who went to jail and pointing out the factors that seemed dubious? What role did the social climate play, what responsibility do they carry individually?
Questions of changing awareness, but also agency and responsibility are underlined by the second plotline that alternates with the first one: Bodie's husband Jerome, an artist, gets canceled on twitter because years ago, when he was in his thirties, he had a consensual relationship with a 21-year-old employee of the gallery he was working with, which also leads to Bodie being attacked online. Will Bodie and Jerome lose everything over a legal relationship that went sour a long time ago?
When the apparently contrasting plotlines start to merge, the story becomes a real pageturner: Suddenly, Bodie and her investigative team have the possibility to use the online community that chased Jerome to chase the man they deem guilty...
Makkai uses her story to ponder framing, narratives, and preconceptions - what better place to illuminate the repercussions of how stories are crafted than in literary fiction? Young Bodie was an outsider at Granby who has lived through trauma and didn't have the status and habitus of the other students - Makkai shows the social dynamics at play, between classes and genders. The same goes for the discussion about Jerome, the husband - here, Makkai asks uncomfortable questions about the instrumentalization of victim narratives in order to gain status and attention. The whole thing is intercut with scenes from the film class Bodie also teaches at Granby, where students learn how to see and interpret images while considering the power of montage (I also had to watch all the films mentioned in college and got flashbacks! :-)). Talking about montage, Makkai has also inserted several references to real-life femicides, raising awareness on how they are perceived and what that means.
So sure, Makkai has once more written a novel that is unreasonably long for what it has to say, but she has also once more written a text that tackles highly relevant topics in a clever way, challenging our preconceptions and underlining the complexity of the real world - plus it's super entertaining. The protagonist, Bodie, is an imperfect, messy, complicated woman, and that's the kind of female character I want to meet on the page (please note how she is not at all defined by her role as a mother). This book will be quite the challenge for people longing for literature that tells them what to think, and what's not to love about that? Certainly, the title "I Have Some Questions For You" does refer to the suspect who is directly addressed in the text, but it is also printed on the cover which is directed towards: The readers.
If this becomes a bestseller and wins some prizes, I'm all here for it.
Book discussion on Papierstau Podcast (in German): https://papierstaupodcast.de/allgemei...
January 11, 2023
My reading year started with a bang!
Bodie Kane doesn’t like to dwell on her time spent at Granby – a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire. How, from the ages of 14-18, she was the outcast, the misfit, the poor kid from Indiana, bullied mercilessly by rich, entitled misogynous boys, and mean girls. Then, to top it all off, the murder of popular student, Thalia Keith, the spring of Bodie’s senior year. Soon after, the 23 year-old athletics coach was arrested and charged, sent to prison for the remainder of his life.
Case closed, or was it?
Now, it’s 23 years later, and Bodie is returning to Granby for two-weeks to teach a couple of classes. When one of her students chooses the subject of Thalia Keith for her podcast assignment, Bodie is at first uneasy, but soon finds herself unwittingly assisting, as memories that she has successfully spent years blocking out slowly begin to re-surface, causing her to realise just how wrongly she interpreted so many things that happened back then – including Thalia Keith’s murder.
You all know how much I adore a mystery set in a boarding high school environment – not to mention it was a cold, closed one. 90’s nostalgic, yeah! And, I was so there for those gothic vibes, as naturally Granby had it’s share of old buildings and secret nooks and crannies, a tragic history, and, of course, it was situated in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods. Plus, the snowy weather contributed to the cut-off-from-the-world mood. But, it was just as contemporary and modern as it was gothic. So, crime/mystery/gothic/academia/coming-of-age/teen angst, and drama, including courtroom drama, even though there were no scenes in an actual courtroom. Huh? you ask, and to that I answer – read it, and find out.
I thought Rebecca Makkai did a phenomenal job of showing that when you’re in so much pain yourself (especially as an adolescent), you feel utterly alone, so alone that you fail to notice that those around you are in just as much pain. Bodie was a fascinating character – strong and resilient, yet vulnerable and flawed, scarred by tragedy and neglect.
You might be questioning that if I loved this so much, why it took me six days to read? Well, for one, the book length was 448 pages. Two, the novel was light on dialogue compared to what I normally read, and I tend to find that books with less dialogue take me longer to both read and absorb. It also should be noted that I prefer reads that are dialogue-heavy, a further testament to how amazing I Have Some Questions For You was. My third reason, the beautiful, lyrical, descriptive, detailed prose had me frequently stopping to marvel over how amazing it was. I read an e-Arc, but I definitely plan on acquiring the audiobook when it’s released, so I can relive the exceptional writing.
The narration was a bit different, in that the protagonist, Bodie, was speaking directly to Granby’s former music teacher, Denny Bloch, (a teacher that mentored her when she was a student there) regarding the events that unfolded during the course of the novel. And, as the title states, she has some questions for him. I debated over whether to include this information, wondered if it was too much of a spoiler, but ultimately I concluded it was something that I would’ve preferred to know going in, rather than spending the first 30 or so pages being confused as hell over who this Mr. Bloch was.
Not only was that initially confusing, but I feel I should also mention the ever-changing timeline, as that was another thing that stumped me at the beginning, as you had a forty-four-year-old Bodie in the present, 2022, but then the next minute you’re in 2016, and then 2018, where the bulk of the novel took place. Additionally, there are multiple flashbacks to Bodie’s four school years at Granby (1991-1995), and a few from her childhood. And, these flashbacks and flashforwards switched at the drop-of-a-hat, with some marked by paragraph or chapter breaks, but a lot were inserted in the middle of a scene, a scene that triggered something from Bodie’s past, and then she’d drift off, relaying that memory, usually for several pages before returning to the present. Once I got into the groove though, I loved it.
Now for those trigger warnings. Without going into too much detail, pretty much every social issue a teenager could potentially face – everything from inappropriate sexual comments and behaviour through to physical and sexual violence, suicide and murder, and more... Also, a further warning for racial discrimination and bias. I definitely experienced some emotional moments while reading. I haven’t marked it as YA, because it wasn’t, but given how much of the storyline involved adolescent culture, and given there wasn’t anything too graphic, I would deem this one as suitable for older teens 16 plus.
One last thing – there were a lot of characters, and I mean a lot. I’m actually a fan of a zillion characters as to me it’s more realistic, as no man is an island, people are surrounded by people, and given that the majority of this took place in a boarding school setting, it made perfect sense considering all the students, teachers, and faculty.
In conclusion, my first book for 2023 was a smash hit, which I’ve added to my favourite list. I will definitely be reading more by Rebecca Makkai very soon. Wow!
I’d like to thank Netgalley UK, Little Brown Book Club UK, and Rebecca Makkai for the e-ARC.
Mark your calendars for the 23rd February, 2023. You won’t be sorry you did.
Bodie Kane doesn’t like to dwell on her time spent at Granby – a prestigious boarding school in New Hampshire. How, from the ages of 14-18, she was the outcast, the misfit, the poor kid from Indiana, bullied mercilessly by rich, entitled misogynous boys, and mean girls. Then, to top it all off, the murder of popular student, Thalia Keith, the spring of Bodie’s senior year. Soon after, the 23 year-old athletics coach was arrested and charged, sent to prison for the remainder of his life.
Case closed, or was it?
Now, it’s 23 years later, and Bodie is returning to Granby for two-weeks to teach a couple of classes. When one of her students chooses the subject of Thalia Keith for her podcast assignment, Bodie is at first uneasy, but soon finds herself unwittingly assisting, as memories that she has successfully spent years blocking out slowly begin to re-surface, causing her to realise just how wrongly she interpreted so many things that happened back then – including Thalia Keith’s murder.
You all know how much I adore a mystery set in a boarding high school environment – not to mention it was a cold, closed one. 90’s nostalgic, yeah! And, I was so there for those gothic vibes, as naturally Granby had it’s share of old buildings and secret nooks and crannies, a tragic history, and, of course, it was situated in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by woods. Plus, the snowy weather contributed to the cut-off-from-the-world mood. But, it was just as contemporary and modern as it was gothic. So, crime/mystery/gothic/academia/coming-of-age/teen angst, and drama, including courtroom drama, even though there were no scenes in an actual courtroom. Huh? you ask, and to that I answer – read it, and find out.
I thought Rebecca Makkai did a phenomenal job of showing that when you’re in so much pain yourself (especially as an adolescent), you feel utterly alone, so alone that you fail to notice that those around you are in just as much pain. Bodie was a fascinating character – strong and resilient, yet vulnerable and flawed, scarred by tragedy and neglect.
You might be questioning that if I loved this so much, why it took me six days to read? Well, for one, the book length was 448 pages. Two, the novel was light on dialogue compared to what I normally read, and I tend to find that books with less dialogue take me longer to both read and absorb. It also should be noted that I prefer reads that are dialogue-heavy, a further testament to how amazing I Have Some Questions For You was. My third reason, the beautiful, lyrical, descriptive, detailed prose had me frequently stopping to marvel over how amazing it was. I read an e-Arc, but I definitely plan on acquiring the audiobook when it’s released, so I can relive the exceptional writing.
The narration was a bit different, in that the protagonist, Bodie, was speaking directly to Granby’s former music teacher, Denny Bloch, (a teacher that mentored her when she was a student there) regarding the events that unfolded during the course of the novel. And, as the title states, she has some questions for him. I debated over whether to include this information, wondered if it was too much of a spoiler, but ultimately I concluded it was something that I would’ve preferred to know going in, rather than spending the first 30 or so pages being confused as hell over who this Mr. Bloch was.
Not only was that initially confusing, but I feel I should also mention the ever-changing timeline, as that was another thing that stumped me at the beginning, as you had a forty-four-year-old Bodie in the present, 2022, but then the next minute you’re in 2016, and then 2018, where the bulk of the novel took place. Additionally, there are multiple flashbacks to Bodie’s four school years at Granby (1991-1995), and a few from her childhood. And, these flashbacks and flashforwards switched at the drop-of-a-hat, with some marked by paragraph or chapter breaks, but a lot were inserted in the middle of a scene, a scene that triggered something from Bodie’s past, and then she’d drift off, relaying that memory, usually for several pages before returning to the present. Once I got into the groove though, I loved it.
Now for those trigger warnings. Without going into too much detail, pretty much every social issue a teenager could potentially face – everything from inappropriate sexual comments and behaviour through to physical and sexual violence, suicide and murder, and more... Also, a further warning for racial discrimination and bias. I definitely experienced some emotional moments while reading. I haven’t marked it as YA, because it wasn’t, but given how much of the storyline involved adolescent culture, and given there wasn’t anything too graphic, I would deem this one as suitable for older teens 16 plus.
One last thing – there were a lot of characters, and I mean a lot. I’m actually a fan of a zillion characters as to me it’s more realistic, as no man is an island, people are surrounded by people, and given that the majority of this took place in a boarding school setting, it made perfect sense considering all the students, teachers, and faculty.
In conclusion, my first book for 2023 was a smash hit, which I’ve added to my favourite list. I will definitely be reading more by Rebecca Makkai very soon. Wow!
I’d like to thank Netgalley UK, Little Brown Book Club UK, and Rebecca Makkai for the e-ARC.
Mark your calendars for the 23rd February, 2023. You won’t be sorry you did.
June 26, 2023
I must confess, I found this book rather dull, lacking any satisfying resolution. It was a struggle for me to remain engaged throughout. I understand that this is a subjective opinion, and there will likely be numerous readers who appreciate it, but unfortunately, it's a "No" from my end.
March 4, 2023
Finished this out of spite.
March 1, 2023
Expect to see this follow-up to Makkai's Pulitzer finalist The Great Believers on my best of 2023 list (though I technically read it in 2022). I loved it for the narrative voice, which felt exactly right for this twisty and conflicted campus tale. At the story's opening, professional podcaster and erstwhile professor Bodie Kane is summoned back to her New Hampshire boarding school to teach a short course on podcasting for high school students. She tasks them with creating their own podcasts for the course, and—even though she knows she shouldn't—she pushes the students to create a true crime show investigating the long-ago murder of a Granby School student, who happened to be Bodie's roommate back then. Smart, timely, and unputdownable. I also recommend this on What Should I Read Next Episode #360: A high-stakes family reading competition.
February 25, 2023
Audiobook….read by Julia Whelan
….14 hours and 4 minutes
Maybe it’s me … but I just don’t get the hype…”The most anticipated book of 2023” (???) ….
Bodie Kane is a podcaster and film professor at UCLA who is invited to teach a class at her old New England boarding High School in New Hampshire-(Grande), where she attended twenty plus years ago.
Three students in Bodie’s graduating class had died …and she especially remembers Thalia Keith [her roommate] …. who was murdered.
Omar Evans, an employee in the Alethic Dept. was sent to prison for the crime of Thalia…but many think he was innocent.
Old memories come flooding back to Bodie when she is back on campus…. along with her students wanting to re-investigate the old crime.
Well…
….with all the MUST READ …. EXCITING POSITIVES ….. and my own thoughts of thinking, “yes, the premise of this story sounded appealing to me too”….(I’ve got a thing for stories in private boarding schools)….I thought I’d love this book…
Plus….I usually love Julia Whelan (our audio-reader)….
so I was really looking forward to the pure enjoyment escapism of “I Have Some Questions For You”
But….
I was often bored!!
I wasn’t impressed with descriptions about Matcha Tea -‘whisked’ …..
or interested in every description: hair, height, skin coloring, clothes worn, calories eaten,
……and other subjective dialogue about a quiet student - or a student who owned a fuzzy-green bean-bag chair —or the student with menstrual cramps, or other bra-thieving students….
The protagonist made everything about HER!! Queen of knowing who gossiped with whom about whom.
My ‘up-and-down’
thoughts continued throughout.
It was another case of enjoying some parts and less enchanted in others.
And for the first time - ‘ever’ I wasn’t thrilled with Julia Whelan. Her ‘already’ soooo familiar voice with ‘this’ story (in combination) became too annoyingly snarky for my taste.
I didn’t ‘hate’ the book - but it’s certainly not even close to best book of the year in my opinion. Give me “Dark Vanessa”, by Kate Elizabeth Russel … to explore these topics any day -over this one.
Other readers loved it…..but I felt it was rather *lukewarm* in the following areas:
….as a thriller-mystery…
….as a thought-provoking inquiry into the #MeToo scandals…
….as society’s obsession against crime…
….as a look at adultery, sexual violence, and other unhealthy behaviors and relationships…
Embryonic; rudimentary, average engaging for me: plenty of yawns….interlaced with ‘almost’ an equal number of sincere interests……
Making this about a 3 star - maybe 3.5 star rating.
….14 hours and 4 minutes
Maybe it’s me … but I just don’t get the hype…”The most anticipated book of 2023” (???) ….
Bodie Kane is a podcaster and film professor at UCLA who is invited to teach a class at her old New England boarding High School in New Hampshire-(Grande), where she attended twenty plus years ago.
Three students in Bodie’s graduating class had died …and she especially remembers Thalia Keith [her roommate] …. who was murdered.
Omar Evans, an employee in the Alethic Dept. was sent to prison for the crime of Thalia…but many think he was innocent.
Old memories come flooding back to Bodie when she is back on campus…. along with her students wanting to re-investigate the old crime.
Well…
….with all the MUST READ …. EXCITING POSITIVES ….. and my own thoughts of thinking, “yes, the premise of this story sounded appealing to me too”….(I’ve got a thing for stories in private boarding schools)….I thought I’d love this book…
Plus….I usually love Julia Whelan (our audio-reader)….
so I was really looking forward to the pure enjoyment escapism of “I Have Some Questions For You”
But….
I was often bored!!
I wasn’t impressed with descriptions about Matcha Tea -‘whisked’ …..
or interested in every description: hair, height, skin coloring, clothes worn, calories eaten,
……and other subjective dialogue about a quiet student - or a student who owned a fuzzy-green bean-bag chair —or the student with menstrual cramps, or other bra-thieving students….
The protagonist made everything about HER!! Queen of knowing who gossiped with whom about whom.
My ‘up-and-down’
thoughts continued throughout.
It was another case of enjoying some parts and less enchanted in others.
And for the first time - ‘ever’ I wasn’t thrilled with Julia Whelan. Her ‘already’ soooo familiar voice with ‘this’ story (in combination) became too annoyingly snarky for my taste.
I didn’t ‘hate’ the book - but it’s certainly not even close to best book of the year in my opinion. Give me “Dark Vanessa”, by Kate Elizabeth Russel … to explore these topics any day -over this one.
Other readers loved it…..but I felt it was rather *lukewarm* in the following areas:
….as a thriller-mystery…
….as a thought-provoking inquiry into the #MeToo scandals…
….as society’s obsession against crime…
….as a look at adultery, sexual violence, and other unhealthy behaviors and relationships…
Embryonic; rudimentary, average engaging for me: plenty of yawns….interlaced with ‘almost’ an equal number of sincere interests……
Making this about a 3 star - maybe 3.5 star rating.
April 11, 2023
4.5 stars, rounded up
This is the first book by Rebecca Makkah that I’ve read. Initially, it didn’t impress. But then, it snuck up on me until I was totally invested.
I Have Some Questions For You covers Bodie Kane’s return as a mini-semester teacher to the New Hampshire boarding school she attended for four years as a high school student. She’s come back to teach classes on podcasts and the history of film. Back in her senior year, her roommate, Thalia, was killed. Omar Evans, the athletic trainer, had been convicted of her murder. Over the years, some felt he was wrongly convicted - think Dateline episodes, Twitter comments. When one of her students decides to revisit the case, Bodie is definitely invested.
It’s an unusual format. The narration consists of Bodie “talking” to Mr. Bloch, the teacher who produced the school’s theater and music productions. She imagines different scenarios of how Thalia was killed.
The book spends a lot of time on sexual predators - lists of them, incidents in the news, how podcasts are obsessed with the murders of pretty white girls. It looks back on how “boys will be boys” and girls should grin and bear it. But it also looks at the culpability of others - the school adults who allowed it, the wider world that accepts bad male behavior. There is a contrasting plot line about women taking their accusations too far - the cancel culture in full flame. The book raises some really interesting questions about the slippery slope.
Bodie is a fully fleshed out character. As the book progresses, she begins to think back and question what she thought she knew.
This is a book that grew on me. At first, it appeared like a regular old murder mystery. Was the wrong man found guilty of a crime? But as it goes on, and takes on all these additional questions, it becomes deeper. I don’t often think mysteries make good book club selections, but I think this one could be the exception.
I now intend to go back and listen to her previous book.
Julia Whelan is the primary narrator and did a great job.
This is the first book by Rebecca Makkah that I’ve read. Initially, it didn’t impress. But then, it snuck up on me until I was totally invested.
I Have Some Questions For You covers Bodie Kane’s return as a mini-semester teacher to the New Hampshire boarding school she attended for four years as a high school student. She’s come back to teach classes on podcasts and the history of film. Back in her senior year, her roommate, Thalia, was killed. Omar Evans, the athletic trainer, had been convicted of her murder. Over the years, some felt he was wrongly convicted - think Dateline episodes, Twitter comments. When one of her students decides to revisit the case, Bodie is definitely invested.
It’s an unusual format. The narration consists of Bodie “talking” to Mr. Bloch, the teacher who produced the school’s theater and music productions. She imagines different scenarios of how Thalia was killed.
The book spends a lot of time on sexual predators - lists of them, incidents in the news, how podcasts are obsessed with the murders of pretty white girls. It looks back on how “boys will be boys” and girls should grin and bear it. But it also looks at the culpability of others - the school adults who allowed it, the wider world that accepts bad male behavior. There is a contrasting plot line about women taking their accusations too far - the cancel culture in full flame. The book raises some really interesting questions about the slippery slope.
Bodie is a fully fleshed out character. As the book progresses, she begins to think back and question what she thought she knew.
This is a book that grew on me. At first, it appeared like a regular old murder mystery. Was the wrong man found guilty of a crime? But as it goes on, and takes on all these additional questions, it becomes deeper. I don’t often think mysteries make good book club selections, but I think this one could be the exception.
I now intend to go back and listen to her previous book.
Julia Whelan is the primary narrator and did a great job.
March 2, 2023
The only good thing I can say about this book is that I love Julia Whelan as a audiobook narrator. I went into this with such high hopes and I was bored. So, so bored. This book is all over the place. Tons of characters between the past and present. An unlikable, whiny MC in Bodie. Too many social issues trying to be tackled here; me too, racism, the criminal justice system, corrupt police, child grooming, classism, cancel culture...just to name a few. It would have benefited from scaling back. Also there are portions between chapters where the MC is describing random cases of violence against women which did nothing but detract from the overall story. The ending pissed me off and left me wondering what the point of it all was.
March 14, 2023
Haven’t I read this before?
That was the question I had while reading Rebecca Makkai’s new release I Have Some Questions for You.
Likely inspired by the Adnan Syed/“Serial” story in the news recently, Questions is a 400+ page commentary on internet sleuths and the true-crime podcast fever sweeping the nation.
Our narrator, UCLA Professor Bodie Kane, returns to the elite New Hampshire boarding school she graduated from in 1995 to teach two mini-courses in film history and podcasting.
During her senior year, Bodie’s roommate Thalia was murdered and found floating in the school swimming pool.
One of few people of color on campus back in the 90s, the school’s sports trainer was quickly arrested and convicted of the crime. The case has drawn national attention over the years — hello, "Dateline" with Lester Holt — and many believe him to be the victim of racist policing and wrongly convicted.
Surprise, one of Bodie’s podcasting students decides to reexamine the case.
Revisiting her high school haunts, Bodie is forced to confront her own demons and reassess the tragedy that shook the entire school in her senior year. This time, however, from the perspective of someone twenty-five years older and wiser.
With lots to discuss and dissect — the validity of the Court of Twitter, how true crime fetishizes dead girls, racial profiling, misogyny, privilege, grooming — I Have Some Questions for You would make a fabulous book club selection.
And, given our cultural obsessions, it seems destined to be turned into a Netflix miniseries soon. Stay tuned.
That was the question I had while reading Rebecca Makkai’s new release I Have Some Questions for You.
Likely inspired by the Adnan Syed/“Serial” story in the news recently, Questions is a 400+ page commentary on internet sleuths and the true-crime podcast fever sweeping the nation.
Our narrator, UCLA Professor Bodie Kane, returns to the elite New Hampshire boarding school she graduated from in 1995 to teach two mini-courses in film history and podcasting.
During her senior year, Bodie’s roommate Thalia was murdered and found floating in the school swimming pool.
One of few people of color on campus back in the 90s, the school’s sports trainer was quickly arrested and convicted of the crime. The case has drawn national attention over the years — hello, "Dateline" with Lester Holt — and many believe him to be the victim of racist policing and wrongly convicted.
Surprise, one of Bodie’s podcasting students decides to reexamine the case.
Revisiting her high school haunts, Bodie is forced to confront her own demons and reassess the tragedy that shook the entire school in her senior year. This time, however, from the perspective of someone twenty-five years older and wiser.
With lots to discuss and dissect — the validity of the Court of Twitter, how true crime fetishizes dead girls, racial profiling, misogyny, privilege, grooming — I Have Some Questions for You would make a fabulous book club selection.
And, given our cultural obsessions, it seems destined to be turned into a Netflix miniseries soon. Stay tuned.
February 22, 2023
This is the book everyone has been hyping up?!
I'm gonna need a cash rebate from everyone who has been singing the praises of these brutally average early 2023 releases (looking at you, too, Big Swiss).
Click here to hear my full review of this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive.
I'm gonna need a cash rebate from everyone who has been singing the praises of these brutally average early 2023 releases (looking at you, too, Big Swiss).
Click here to hear my full review of this book over on my Booktube channel, abookolive.
March 11, 2023
Rebecca Makkai has written another novel that is sharp, smart, surprising, beautiful, and poignant. My daughter Grace Experience and I were reading it at the same time and finished it about the same time, and were left in tears at the end. It's everything you could want in a novel: characters that are as real as your high school friends or college roommate or spouse, and a story that is at once timely and timeless. Part mystery and part exploration of memory, I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU is a gem.
February 6, 2023
Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by TIME, NPR, The Seattle Times, Good Housekeeping, Today, Southern Living, and CrimeReads. The riveting new novel from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers. What an outstanding author and book! I was blown away by her talent!
In 1995, a murder has been committed on the grounds of a boarding school in New Hampshire. A student at the time, Bodie was roommates and friends with Thalia the girl who was found in the campus pool with blunt force trauma to her head and several other markings.
Twenty three years later, Bodie has been asked to teach a class for two weeks. In her class are two students that want to start a podcast on behalf of Thalia's death. The athletic coach on campus, Omar was convicted of the crime and in its questionable state of his time in prison for these 23 years, there are questions Bodie has that unfold.
The most interesting part of the book is her addressing her questions in her mind to who she thinks is the real killer. A music teacher that gave everyone an eerie feel especially Bodie. She stands alone in her beliefs most of the time as a teenager and now as an adult. While she recollects the friends and evidence that the police never questioned, the case is reopened. Without giving more away, I would like to address that the setup is genius. The problem is Bodie is a questionable character for people that know her. She appeared Gothic and unstable due to her childhood scars....some even feared her.
As the drama unfolds, you will be blown away by a multitude of characters, racial indifference, the vulnerability of teenagers and the hunt for the truth. Some things are rearranged in their minds as years have passed, but as the courtroom lifts the gates to the truth, this mystery will unravel and leave you asking the questions.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Viking Group for this incredible ARC in exchange for my honest review.
In 1995, a murder has been committed on the grounds of a boarding school in New Hampshire. A student at the time, Bodie was roommates and friends with Thalia the girl who was found in the campus pool with blunt force trauma to her head and several other markings.
Twenty three years later, Bodie has been asked to teach a class for two weeks. In her class are two students that want to start a podcast on behalf of Thalia's death. The athletic coach on campus, Omar was convicted of the crime and in its questionable state of his time in prison for these 23 years, there are questions Bodie has that unfold.
The most interesting part of the book is her addressing her questions in her mind to who she thinks is the real killer. A music teacher that gave everyone an eerie feel especially Bodie. She stands alone in her beliefs most of the time as a teenager and now as an adult. While she recollects the friends and evidence that the police never questioned, the case is reopened. Without giving more away, I would like to address that the setup is genius. The problem is Bodie is a questionable character for people that know her. She appeared Gothic and unstable due to her childhood scars....some even feared her.
As the drama unfolds, you will be blown away by a multitude of characters, racial indifference, the vulnerability of teenagers and the hunt for the truth. Some things are rearranged in their minds as years have passed, but as the courtroom lifts the gates to the truth, this mystery will unravel and leave you asking the questions.
Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Viking Group for this incredible ARC in exchange for my honest review.
February 26, 2023
Our love for murdered women doesn’t do them much good.
Stories of their deaths lure us to popular podcasts, TV investigations and magazine exposés. Their bodies — or parts of them — electrify best-selling thrillers and blockbuster movies. As a culture, we seem equally alarmed and aroused by these tales of slaughter.
In her devastating study of domestic violence, “No Visible Bruises,” Rachel Louise Snyder notes that 50,000 women around the world were murdered by their partners or family members in 2017. That’s about six lives snuffed out by a “loved one” every hour of every day.
One minor but grotesque marker of this epidemic is the way we struggle to keep the most shocking cases straight amid so many. Rebecca Makkai highlights that predicament throughout her troubling new novel, “I Have Some Questions for You.” It begins with people trying to remember which murdered woman they’re talking about:
“Wasn’t it the one where she was stabbed in — no. The one where she got in a cab with — different girl. The one where she went to the frat party, the one where he used a stick, the one where he used a hammer, the one where she picked him up from rehab and he — no. The one where he’d been watching her jog every day? The one where she made the mistake of telling him her period was late? The one with the uncle? Wait, the other one with the uncle?”
That Whitmanesque catalogue of carnage eventually arrives at the sad case of a 17-year-old girl named Thalia Keith. In 1995, just after a performance of “Camelot” at the prestigious Granby School in New Hampshire, Thalia was murdered. An athletic trainer — a rare Black man on campus — confessed to the crime, but conspiracy theorists have punched holes in the investigation for decades. “Dateline” reexamined the case in 2005, and journalists have bestrewed the story with maudlin “Camelot” metaphors for years. “Boarding school as kingdom in the woods, Thalia as enchantress, Thalia as princess, Thalia as martyr. What could be more romantic?” the narrator asks bitterly. “What’s as perfect as a girl stopped dead, midformation?”
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
Stories of their deaths lure us to popular podcasts, TV investigations and magazine exposés. Their bodies — or parts of them — electrify best-selling thrillers and blockbuster movies. As a culture, we seem equally alarmed and aroused by these tales of slaughter.
In her devastating study of domestic violence, “No Visible Bruises,” Rachel Louise Snyder notes that 50,000 women around the world were murdered by their partners or family members in 2017. That’s about six lives snuffed out by a “loved one” every hour of every day.
One minor but grotesque marker of this epidemic is the way we struggle to keep the most shocking cases straight amid so many. Rebecca Makkai highlights that predicament throughout her troubling new novel, “I Have Some Questions for You.” It begins with people trying to remember which murdered woman they’re talking about:
“Wasn’t it the one where she was stabbed in — no. The one where she got in a cab with — different girl. The one where she went to the frat party, the one where he used a stick, the one where he used a hammer, the one where she picked him up from rehab and he — no. The one where he’d been watching her jog every day? The one where she made the mistake of telling him her period was late? The one with the uncle? Wait, the other one with the uncle?”
That Whitmanesque catalogue of carnage eventually arrives at the sad case of a 17-year-old girl named Thalia Keith. In 1995, just after a performance of “Camelot” at the prestigious Granby School in New Hampshire, Thalia was murdered. An athletic trainer — a rare Black man on campus — confessed to the crime, but conspiracy theorists have punched holes in the investigation for decades. “Dateline” reexamined the case in 2005, and journalists have bestrewed the story with maudlin “Camelot” metaphors for years. “Boarding school as kingdom in the woods, Thalia as enchantress, Thalia as princess, Thalia as martyr. What could be more romantic?” the narrator asks bitterly. “What’s as perfect as a girl stopped dead, midformation?”
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
April 2, 2023
This is my first time reading Pulitzer-nominated Rebecca Makkai, and I have to say I'm... underwhelmed.
Thankfully, my underwhelmed-ness won't upset her much. She's doing just fine without me on her bandwagon. :)
That said, this book felt bloated and overambitious in dire need of a ruthless edit-job, and, dare I say, commercial, rather than literary. It felt like an extension of the podcast Serial. There is a LOT of reportage, true-crime stuff going on here, as well as a head-spinning miasma of topics and issues (race, metoo, cancel culture, memory, just being a few).
It's absolutely competent, and I think the most likely takeaway is just that I'm not the right reader for this book. I need a level of art in the books I read, room to explore way past the plotlines. When I feel that there isn't much past what the author is telling me, I check out.
There are comparisons to Donna Tartt's The Secret History, but aside from the boarding school setting, I disagree with the comparison. The characterization and writing just aren't comparable (or memorable) for me.
However, many truly wonderful readers I admire have polar opposite opinions from my own, and their opinions matter just as much. Please read Bonnie's review to get a different perspective.
2.75 stars
Thankfully, my underwhelmed-ness won't upset her much. She's doing just fine without me on her bandwagon. :)
That said, this book felt bloated and overambitious in dire need of a ruthless edit-job, and, dare I say, commercial, rather than literary. It felt like an extension of the podcast Serial. There is a LOT of reportage, true-crime stuff going on here, as well as a head-spinning miasma of topics and issues (race, metoo, cancel culture, memory, just being a few).
It's absolutely competent, and I think the most likely takeaway is just that I'm not the right reader for this book. I need a level of art in the books I read, room to explore way past the plotlines. When I feel that there isn't much past what the author is telling me, I check out.
There are comparisons to Donna Tartt's The Secret History, but aside from the boarding school setting, I disagree with the comparison. The characterization and writing just aren't comparable (or memorable) for me.
However, many truly wonderful readers I admire have polar opposite opinions from my own, and their opinions matter just as much. Please read Bonnie's review to get a different perspective.
2.75 stars
March 6, 2023
This was ... incredibly underwhelming. I've literally only seen rave reviews for it. It's also a book I've seen floating around as a contender for the Women's Prize longlist, which, at the time of me writing this review, is set to come out tomorrow. And when I had the opportunity to get an ALC from Libro.fm, I jumped on. But now, I just don't understand the hype for it at all.
This is a "literary" mystery about a woman named Bodie Kane who returns to the New Hampshire boarding school that she attended to teach a short 2 week course on Podcasting. Bodie is the host of a true crime podcast and has always returned to the murder of her roommate from her junior year at Granby, Thalia Keith. While teaching this podcasting course at her old high school, she starts to question everything she believes to be true about Thalia's murder and the man convicted of the crime.
The biggest takeaway I have from this book is that the author really thought she was doing something with this story. But she absolutely was not. Yes, this book identifies itself as a literary mystery. But there's nothing really literary about the writing style, the characters, or the plot. There is not a single memorable character in this book. Even the main character never feels fully developed or like a real person. She has trauma in her past, but we are told and not shown anything. She suffers when she first starts at this boarding school but nothing is ever explored. And not a single side character made an impression on me.
You can tell that the author really thinks what she's writing is incredibly important and profound and groundbreaking. But in reality, the commentary is so surface-level and half-baked that it's almost embarrassing. This book never really settles on what it's trying to say. First, it’s about how rampant violence against women is. Then it’s about the criminal justice system and its repeated failings, especially to Black men. Then it’s about how awful and confining prison is. Throw in a small aside about the power-imbalance that some men hold over young, impressionable female partners and you basically hit the nail on the head of every single social commentary imaginable. She never explored anything deep enough for this book to have a message or a point.
I truly don't understand the hype for this one. Maybe I went into it with too high expectations and never let myself fully enjoy the reading experience. But I think that's because for a 450 page book, not a single interesting thing happens and there's actually no real plot or action or anything that kept me wanting more. This book just isn't good and I wouldn't recommend it.
This is a "literary" mystery about a woman named Bodie Kane who returns to the New Hampshire boarding school that she attended to teach a short 2 week course on Podcasting. Bodie is the host of a true crime podcast and has always returned to the murder of her roommate from her junior year at Granby, Thalia Keith. While teaching this podcasting course at her old high school, she starts to question everything she believes to be true about Thalia's murder and the man convicted of the crime.
The biggest takeaway I have from this book is that the author really thought she was doing something with this story. But she absolutely was not. Yes, this book identifies itself as a literary mystery. But there's nothing really literary about the writing style, the characters, or the plot. There is not a single memorable character in this book. Even the main character never feels fully developed or like a real person. She has trauma in her past, but we are told and not shown anything. She suffers when she first starts at this boarding school but nothing is ever explored. And not a single side character made an impression on me.
You can tell that the author really thinks what she's writing is incredibly important and profound and groundbreaking. But in reality, the commentary is so surface-level and half-baked that it's almost embarrassing. This book never really settles on what it's trying to say. First, it’s about how rampant violence against women is. Then it’s about the criminal justice system and its repeated failings, especially to Black men. Then it’s about how awful and confining prison is. Throw in a small aside about the power-imbalance that some men hold over young, impressionable female partners and you basically hit the nail on the head of every single social commentary imaginable. She never explored anything deep enough for this book to have a message or a point.
I truly don't understand the hype for this one. Maybe I went into it with too high expectations and never let myself fully enjoy the reading experience. But I think that's because for a 450 page book, not a single interesting thing happens and there's actually no real plot or action or anything that kept me wanting more. This book just isn't good and I wouldn't recommend it.
March 17, 2023
I HATED this book. I’m not sure if I ever hated a book as much as this one. I was so excited to read it. The plot sounded so good and it had gotten so much buzz. But the writing style was horrible. Couldn’t figure out if I was reading about the past or present at times. Also, so many random anecdotes and subplots that contributed nothing. I can’t understand why people think it’s so good. Not to mention by the end I truly HATED Bodie. By the end I wanted something bad to happen to her just to shut her up lol. My only motivation to continue reading was to hate read and eventually give it an awful review. I wish I could give it negative stars.
June 26, 2024
Nie spodziewałam się, że aż tak mi się spodoba — ciekawe rozważania na temat true crime, ale także wstawki, w których bohaterka wspomina o kobietach-ofiarach, bardzo do mnie trafiły. Nie jestem w stanie teraz na świeżo mówić o tej książce, ale mam sporo emocji!
May 18, 2023
Let me start by saying that Rebecca Makkai is one of my literary goddesses. Her previous book, The Great Believers and the exquisite story collection, Music for Wartime, have a prized and permanent position on my bookshelf.
The first thing is that it’s important for readers to put those books – and others this author has written – out of their minds. This is a different kind of book, a psychological suspense book and a deep dive into collective memory, racial, gender, class-based schisms, and an abysmal justice system – all of which define and sometimes even destroy us. At first, I didn’t like it until I did, and when I did, I was all in.
The story centers around Bodie Kane, a not-so-privileged teenager who ends up in a privileged New Hampshire boarding school. Bodie has had tough breaks: two deaths in her immediate family, excess weight, and an inability to fit in and banter like her roommate. That roommate is Thalia, a popular and attractive girl who has a boyfriend, Robbie, and is also bordering on an inappropriate relationship with a young, married teacher (who is addressed as “you” throughout the book). And then she is found dead in the swimming pool. A Black man is accused.
All this is set up quickly. The bulk of the novel focuses on the adult Bodie, now successful, attractive, but damaged podcaster, who is called back to the boarding school for two weeks to teach a small group of students. She is plunged back into these pivotal high school years, this time with an ability to question the validity of collective memory, including her own.
At first, my fear was that the premise would be too reductive. There is a lot of time spent setting the scene and restating what an insular and privileged place Granby Hall (the boarding school) is and introducing a host of student names. A sometime-love relationship Bodie is involved in seems underdeveloped. I shouldn’t have been a doubter. When this book ignites, it becomes unputdownable.
Rebecca Makkai tackles issues that are prevalent then and now: patterns of violence against women who are verbally and physically attacked (along with referrals to true-life stories: “the one where her body was never found…the one where he left her body for dead under the tarp.”)
She takes on an over-zealous #MeToo movement as well as concerns about objectifying and obsessing about violent deaths, particularly if the victim is attractive. Most victims are “young, as we prefer our sacrificial lambs.” The rush to judgement , the insidiousness of misogyny, the untethered power of Twitter and other social media sources that shape opinions without asking us to ferret out the facts. The ending is nuanced and organic.
The first thing is that it’s important for readers to put those books – and others this author has written – out of their minds. This is a different kind of book, a psychological suspense book and a deep dive into collective memory, racial, gender, class-based schisms, and an abysmal justice system – all of which define and sometimes even destroy us. At first, I didn’t like it until I did, and when I did, I was all in.
The story centers around Bodie Kane, a not-so-privileged teenager who ends up in a privileged New Hampshire boarding school. Bodie has had tough breaks: two deaths in her immediate family, excess weight, and an inability to fit in and banter like her roommate. That roommate is Thalia, a popular and attractive girl who has a boyfriend, Robbie, and is also bordering on an inappropriate relationship with a young, married teacher (who is addressed as “you” throughout the book). And then she is found dead in the swimming pool. A Black man is accused.
All this is set up quickly. The bulk of the novel focuses on the adult Bodie, now successful, attractive, but damaged podcaster, who is called back to the boarding school for two weeks to teach a small group of students. She is plunged back into these pivotal high school years, this time with an ability to question the validity of collective memory, including her own.
At first, my fear was that the premise would be too reductive. There is a lot of time spent setting the scene and restating what an insular and privileged place Granby Hall (the boarding school) is and introducing a host of student names. A sometime-love relationship Bodie is involved in seems underdeveloped. I shouldn’t have been a doubter. When this book ignites, it becomes unputdownable.
Rebecca Makkai tackles issues that are prevalent then and now: patterns of violence against women who are verbally and physically attacked (along with referrals to true-life stories: “the one where her body was never found…the one where he left her body for dead under the tarp.”)
She takes on an over-zealous #MeToo movement as well as concerns about objectifying and obsessing about violent deaths, particularly if the victim is attractive. Most victims are “young, as we prefer our sacrificial lambs.” The rush to judgement , the insidiousness of misogyny, the untethered power of Twitter and other social media sources that shape opinions without asking us to ferret out the facts. The ending is nuanced and organic.
March 28, 2023
Hi, nice to meet you, I am apparently the only person who didn't love this book. It was little things at first. Little hints that maybe me and this book were not right for each other. And then, all at once, it was many big things. It was everything. This book and I just fundamentally disagree on a lot of things.
I have been procrastinating writing this review because I have been trying to figure out what my complaint is. At first I thought it was just that I thought we were going one way when actually we were going somewhere else entirely, that it was about my expectations. But the longer I think about it, the more I realize that this book and I are living almost in different universes. We are operating according to a different moral code. Unfortunately this realization has only made this question even more complicated.
Hypothetically I am happy to read books that have a different morality than mine. It's pretty rare for a book to share my values in a very significant way! And yet, there are times when it rubs me so utterly wrong that it is like an itch. (This is also why I cannot read Louise Penny. The morality of her universe makes me nauseous.) Why is it so hard for me to enjoy a world that doesn't punish what is bad or reward what is good the way I think it should? I have read so many books where it isn't required. But I suppose, often in those books, the book and I agree on whether this punishment/reward is good/bad/complicated. In this book, the book and I just differ entirely on basically everything about our protagonist, Bodie.
I think Bodie is obsessive to the point that it is very very bad. I understand why a person would be obsessive about a murder committed in such close proximity to them. It would be a lot! It would be hard! It would leave all kinds of scars. But Bodie goes too far. She goes too far over and over again. And she doesn't ever seem to acknowledge that in the slightest. The book knows it because other characters will sometimes try to gently dissuade her. So I thought the book and I were in this together. Until, well, the book starts to present the opposite view: that Bodie's obsessiveness is actually doggedness, that it is actually a positive quality. I kept waiting for Bodie's life to melt into a puddle of self-inflicted disaster, because that was the kind of outcome that would happen to someone who acts the way Bodie does. But the universe of the book said no, we will reward Bodie. Reward her to the point that it's hard to believe the book is set in the real world. And more than that, the book believes this reward is good. It won't be all sunshine and rainbows for her, but she will ultimately do what needs to be done. She is morally in the right. And there, book, I deeply disagree with you.
There were other hints that this book and I have deeply different moral compasses. The way Bodie doesn't take her students' concerns about race/gender/sexuality seriously, the way she runs straight into a #metoo debacle, the way she doesn't keep appropriate boundaries with her teenage (teenage!!!) students, the way the book keeps creating murky moral dilemmas that Bodie trudges right through with not nearly as much care as she should and somehow never really has to face any consequences for. Bodie is charmed the way a detective in a cozy mystery is charmed, she always finds the thing she needs to find just when she needs to find it. I suppose that tracks, since she also somehow has both a fancy university job and a popular podcast and enough money to own a duplex in Southern California even though her husband is an artist. Lucky Bodie.
I just kept waiting for Bodie to face the consequences of her own actions. I listened to the audiobook and kept talking back to it, saying, "Bodie this is stupid," "Bodie this is a bad idea." And then Bodie never had to do much of anything to deal with any of these consequences. Must be nice to be Bodie.
I guess I assumed from how highly everyone spoke of this book that it would present some moral complexities. And it starts to many times, but it never really goes anywhere with them. The one thing it doesn't hedge on is the overwhelming volume of violence against women that makes all these crimes run together. It uses a simple device for this, repeats it often, and it isn't ineffective. But the book itself doesn't underline this point, except to note that there were so many men who could have hurt this particular poor beautiful dead girl.
The world of true crime is deeply troubling, often exploitative, many would argue the fact that the genre exists at all is bad. I guess I thought this book wanted to grapple with the impact of true crime narratives, I thought that was the interesting way to tell this kind of story and make it different from all the other stories of dead teenage girls. (There are truly so many of these books that I have started avoiding them.) Why else would Bodie be so invested in a true crime podcast if you didn't want to examine that?
In particular the handling of the metoo story here is underbaked. I do not think you can say it "examines" it in any detail. It has the opportunity, especially as it involves one of the gray areas that we as a society are so bad at talking about. But Makkai doesn't lay out all of this as complex. There is a vague hostility through it, specifically hostility towards the woman who makes the accusation, while there's a general assumption of no bad intent on the part of the man. We do not take it much further than that, except to note that there are twitter pile-ons which, the book seems to feel, are evidence of mob rule and undeserved canceling. Except it's entirely unclear that this canceling is actually a real consequence or that it is undeserved. I waited for us to dive into this, to see how memory really is fickle and difficult and how we can misjudge ourselves and those around us, only for the book to entirely waltz around it, as if it hadn't even happened.
I just don't get it. I don't understand how this book could satisfy a reader. Clearly it has satisfied many of them, but it only made me more and more frustrated once we reached the major turning point of the book. Every now and then there is a book that I don't like or don't get that everyone absolutely fawns over and apparently this year it is this one.
I give it three stars because Makkai is good at lots of things, I couldn't stop listening. And if Makkai agreed with me that Bodie is a walking disaster, then I would have really loved this book.
I have been procrastinating writing this review because I have been trying to figure out what my complaint is. At first I thought it was just that I thought we were going one way when actually we were going somewhere else entirely, that it was about my expectations. But the longer I think about it, the more I realize that this book and I are living almost in different universes. We are operating according to a different moral code. Unfortunately this realization has only made this question even more complicated.
Hypothetically I am happy to read books that have a different morality than mine. It's pretty rare for a book to share my values in a very significant way! And yet, there are times when it rubs me so utterly wrong that it is like an itch. (This is also why I cannot read Louise Penny. The morality of her universe makes me nauseous.) Why is it so hard for me to enjoy a world that doesn't punish what is bad or reward what is good the way I think it should? I have read so many books where it isn't required. But I suppose, often in those books, the book and I agree on whether this punishment/reward is good/bad/complicated. In this book, the book and I just differ entirely on basically everything about our protagonist, Bodie.
I think Bodie is obsessive to the point that it is very very bad. I understand why a person would be obsessive about a murder committed in such close proximity to them. It would be a lot! It would be hard! It would leave all kinds of scars. But Bodie goes too far. She goes too far over and over again. And she doesn't ever seem to acknowledge that in the slightest. The book knows it because other characters will sometimes try to gently dissuade her. So I thought the book and I were in this together. Until, well, the book starts to present the opposite view: that Bodie's obsessiveness is actually doggedness, that it is actually a positive quality. I kept waiting for Bodie's life to melt into a puddle of self-inflicted disaster, because that was the kind of outcome that would happen to someone who acts the way Bodie does. But the universe of the book said no, we will reward Bodie. Reward her to the point that it's hard to believe the book is set in the real world. And more than that, the book believes this reward is good. It won't be all sunshine and rainbows for her, but she will ultimately do what needs to be done. She is morally in the right. And there, book, I deeply disagree with you.
There were other hints that this book and I have deeply different moral compasses. The way Bodie doesn't take her students' concerns about race/gender/sexuality seriously, the way she runs straight into a #metoo debacle, the way she doesn't keep appropriate boundaries with her teenage (teenage!!!) students, the way the book keeps creating murky moral dilemmas that Bodie trudges right through with not nearly as much care as she should and somehow never really has to face any consequences for. Bodie is charmed the way a detective in a cozy mystery is charmed, she always finds the thing she needs to find just when she needs to find it. I suppose that tracks, since she also somehow has both a fancy university job and a popular podcast and enough money to own a duplex in Southern California even though her husband is an artist. Lucky Bodie.
I just kept waiting for Bodie to face the consequences of her own actions. I listened to the audiobook and kept talking back to it, saying, "Bodie this is stupid," "Bodie this is a bad idea." And then Bodie never had to do much of anything to deal with any of these consequences. Must be nice to be Bodie.
I guess I assumed from how highly everyone spoke of this book that it would present some moral complexities. And it starts to many times, but it never really goes anywhere with them. The one thing it doesn't hedge on is the overwhelming volume of violence against women that makes all these crimes run together. It uses a simple device for this, repeats it often, and it isn't ineffective. But the book itself doesn't underline this point, except to note that there were so many men who could have hurt this particular poor beautiful dead girl.
The world of true crime is deeply troubling, often exploitative, many would argue the fact that the genre exists at all is bad. I guess I thought this book wanted to grapple with the impact of true crime narratives, I thought that was the interesting way to tell this kind of story and make it different from all the other stories of dead teenage girls. (There are truly so many of these books that I have started avoiding them.) Why else would Bodie be so invested in a true crime podcast if you didn't want to examine that?
In particular the handling of the metoo story here is underbaked. I do not think you can say it "examines" it in any detail. It has the opportunity, especially as it involves one of the gray areas that we as a society are so bad at talking about. But Makkai doesn't lay out all of this as complex. There is a vague hostility through it, specifically hostility towards the woman who makes the accusation, while there's a general assumption of no bad intent on the part of the man. We do not take it much further than that, except to note that there are twitter pile-ons which, the book seems to feel, are evidence of mob rule and undeserved canceling. Except it's entirely unclear that this canceling is actually a real consequence or that it is undeserved. I waited for us to dive into this, to see how memory really is fickle and difficult and how we can misjudge ourselves and those around us, only for the book to entirely waltz around it, as if it hadn't even happened.
I just don't get it. I don't understand how this book could satisfy a reader. Clearly it has satisfied many of them, but it only made me more and more frustrated once we reached the major turning point of the book. Every now and then there is a book that I don't like or don't get that everyone absolutely fawns over and apparently this year it is this one.
I give it three stars because Makkai is good at lots of things, I couldn't stop listening. And if Makkai agreed with me that Bodie is a walking disaster, then I would have really loved this book.
March 12, 2023
There was a woman who managed to cut her captor's driving license into twenty little pieces and swallow them so when they found her body his ID would be in her stomach. And they arrested him. They brought him in for questioning. But they never pressed charges against him.
This is a messy, untidy book but for me it's a good form of disarray. I'll say upfront that it feels about 100 pages too long, and the two parts split at about 70% of the way through which makes it feel uneven - but its awkwardness feels purposeful because the book is dramatising and interrogating issues that are themselves thorny and complicated, often subjective and not easily ruled for in general terms.
At the heart of the story is the murder of Thalia Keith, a high school student, for whose killing Omar Evans, a young and Black athletics trainer has been incarcerated for twenty seven years. Issues of misogyny and racist stereotyping are front and centre but interwined are all kinds of other themes including privilege and class, miscarriages of justice, perceptions and memory, the rise of true crime podcasts and a resultant subsidiary public and unprofessional parallel 'legal process'.
The story is narrated by Bodie Kane, once an outsider classmate of Thalia, now an academic and professional podcaster in her own right with a messy life of her own - not least having a husband who has been indicted on social media as a man who has taken advantage of his status as an artist to have an asymmetrical sexual relationship with a younger woman...
What I appreciated about this book is the way Makkai tackles zeitgeisty flashpoint topics with nuance and complexity: is every relationship between an older man and a younger woman automatically exploitative? Why is femicide still not taken seriously around the world? Why is it so easy for a young Black man to be imprisoned despite a lack of non-circumstantial evidence, and why is that conviction so hard to overturn in the face of alternative evidence? What role does a fancy school's status and connections play in the face of murder - and what happens when a case is built on the wavery testimony of a group of anxious high school students? When due legal process is itself shown to be unreliable and unjust, is it right that podcasters should be able to set themselves up as investigators and quasi judges and juries?
Makkai takes a scenario that is almost a cliché of popular crime fiction: the woman who returns to a place she once lived and where she was involved in a murder who now questions all that her teenage self once knew - and turns it all on its head with a clever, probing way of problematising that scenario. And I can see why crime fiction fans may not like this: - but for me that's all in line with the mature and unflinching gaze of this book.
April 4, 2023
Listen, this book was going to be 4 stars until the ending, which I found incredibly problematic. But in writing this review, it's clear to me that would have been way too high a rating regardless of the ending! Spoilers and an explanation below! If you've read this, or don't plan on reading it/don't care about spoilers, would love to hear your thoughts. Will also preface by saying I don't reveal who the killer is in the spoiler section below.
April 14, 2023
Sometimes it's difficult to decide on a rating of a book written by a favored author. That's where I'm at with this book. The audio was very well done, the narrator was wonderful, and in the beginning was totally hooked. But, as the book goes on, which on my opinion is too long, I started to get frustrated. Much extraneous material that again I could have done without, served only to take away from what was supposedly the main plot. Since it's meant to represent violence against women, the me too movement it's almost like she felt she add to add these things simply to shore up that argument.
What I did like was the writing, she is a stellar author and I've loved her other books. I liked reading about Bodie and her school days, up to a point. But alas, though I'm usually a fan of an author trysting her reader to figure out loose ends, in this book after this long of a story I would have liked amore definite resolution.
What I did like was the writing, she is a stellar author and I've loved her other books. I liked reading about Bodie and her school days, up to a point. But alas, though I'm usually a fan of an author trysting her reader to figure out loose ends, in this book after this long of a story I would have liked amore definite resolution.
September 20, 2022
I have a lot going on these days and was looking for an escapist thriller that I didn’t have to think too much about. This wasn’t that. The tropes of a boarding school thriller are all there; the misfit, the wealthy girl with the handsome, athletic boyfriend and so on. However the adult misfit winds up back at the boarding school and begins to rethink a crime, the victim, and the perpetrator from an entirely different perspective. The concepts of justice, misinterpretation, agency, and abusive behavior are explored in unexpected ways. So, I received much more than I bargained for and am glad of it.
April 10, 2023
I finished but was bored to tears. I was being nice by giving it two stars. There were parts of it that was good but just could not get into the story or the writing
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