Reviews tagging 'Death'

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

120 reviews

christinereads1823's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Fascinating read. Loved the way things played out, loved the flashbacks and the imaginings and getting sucked into the rabbit hole of Thalia's murder alongside Bodie. 
Makkai's unique writing style gives this book a rather poignant voice: the titular "you" that Bodie addresses throughout is both

her pedophilic ex-music teacher

and the reader, urging us to reconsider our positions, our privileges, our judgments, and our actions surrounding the normalization of abuse and violence suffered by female-presenting people. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Cancer, Drug use, Self harm, Terminal illness, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent

hazelgirl21's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer

jdanker's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book where the narrator is addressing the possible killer directly throughout while telling the story of how events in the past and present unfolded. The story was a bit predictable but it took you on a wild ride before it got back to the obvious resolution, which was entertaining. The characters are loveable even though I’m not convinced they’re supposed to be. The plot was definitely believable as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

sarahps58's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Sexual assault

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

ballousclues's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I liked this book enough. It reminded me a ton of 13 Reasons Why, but surrounding homicide instead of suicide. This book was kind of hard for me to get through because of the pace. You are rehashing the murder of Thalia Keith from when Bodie Kane went to a private high school back in the 90s. Bodie works on a murder podcast and goes back to visit her old high school, The Granby School, to teach a class and help current high schoolers make their own podcast episodes.

Her whole time back at Grandby she is rehashing the murder of Thalia and trying to figure out who actually did it. One of Bodie's students decides she wants to do her podcast episode on the murder of Thalia and it reignites this fixation within Bodie. She can't just put the case down and clear it out of her head. It haunts her. As I mentioned above, it reads a lot like 13 Reasons Why. You have a list of names, why they did or potentially didn't do it, and then the book ends. To be honest, the story fell a bit flat for me. I liked it, but it was tough to get through and the ending didn't make it feel worth it to me.

I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend.

I kind of like books like this that don't give clear answers as to what happened and allow for us to create our own ideas. I can appreciate that most of this book centered around the fact that people don't always get justice and we may never know what truly happened. I think the book was more about "the friends we made along the way" than it was actually about a clear plot.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol

megreadsitall's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

kshertz's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

I love this author! This book was hard for me at times. There’s. Lot of characters to this mystery and I got lost at times. You should have red herrings in a mysterious death true crime situation but maybe not so many? Then I’d get confused by the narrator trying to imagine each scenario. I DO love the hot takes and the me too commentary. I do love how the mystery all weaves and comes together. But the ending is frustrating so I can’t really recommend it! 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Drug use, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Alcohol

jaimc's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Infidelity, Racism, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Sexual assault, Alcohol, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic