NZLisaM's Reviews > I Have Some Questions For You

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.