Jill's Reviews > I Have Some Questions for You

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.