Reviews tagging 'Racism'

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

107 reviews

jessieraeyo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Murder, Classism, Toxic relationship, Death, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Child death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, and Sexism

Moderate: Gore, Gaslighting, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Cursing, and Emotional abuse

Minor: Stalking, Violence, Pregnancy, Suicide, Domestic abuse, and Self harm

summerofsoaps's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Bullying, Murder, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Racism, and Domestic abuse

Minor: Drug use, Self harm, Terminal illness, Suicide, and Car accident

capt_torrance7's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book was very sad and slow to me. I wish it was about half as long. The multiple paragraphs mentioning all the assaults, harassment, etc felt a bit triggering at times, and by the middle of the book, I would skim those parts. I liked it a lot more than The Great Believers. A lot of the stories felt very open ended, like it was up to me to interpret a character’s trauma, motivation, and adjustment. Maybe because the characters themselves weren’t willing to do it? I don’t know, but I wish it had a more satisfying end. Maybe that’s just a me problem. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault and Murder

Moderate: Racism

Minor: Cancer

curious_oyster's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Domestic abuse, Racism, Suicide, Violence, Sexual assault, Cancer, and Death of parent

deadhouseplant's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

4.75

The Secret History meets Serial. In this whodunnit, Makkai takes on our obsession with true crime in a cold case that examines the #metoo movement, racial profiling, and classism in academia.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Misogyny, and Racism

phantompansy's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Murder, Eating disorder, Racism, Sexual harassment, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Alcohol, Pandemic/Epidemic, Rape, Domestic abuse, Bullying, Death of parent, Mental illness, Cursing, Grief, and Sexual assault

Minor: Cancer, Terminal illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt

mantissabolt's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• 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

3.75

 This is called a "literary mystery", which means that all characters are flawed. She does a pretty good job of making most of the characters three-dimensional. 

It is not 100% clear who did it, though you are pretty sure. The person is probably did it, was never charged, but his life (and the life of his wife and children) is probably destroyed. The person who is in prison for the murder and probably did not do it, is still in prison, but may eventually get out. The person she spent about half the book thinking he had done the murder, did not but was a abuser of children and by inaction let a innocent man go to prison. 

 

She does a lot of interesting things in telling the story, like having a class on podcasting be a major vehicle to propel the story. Every once in a while, the main character gets upset by the news, but instead of it being "a" thing, she lists a whole series of real life events that could the thing that upset her. It always helps convey the sense of the story. I could see this trick being very annoying for some people, but I liked it. 

This is not a classical mystery and has only some of those tropes. This is very good, but not great. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Racism

Moderate: Death of parent and Eating disorder

itsbilliam's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious tense medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

okay so i’ll start with what i liked about the book. great writing, like i literally didn’t want to put the book down. BUT, i’m just a little confused on what the purpose of the story was. was this book supposed to be a commentary on true crime and podcasting? was this supposed to be on the court/legal system not believing women? was this about guilt/shame on young people/teenagers for keeping secrets? is this on racism and the legal/court system? i feel like there was too much focus on. i definitely like the book and i loved what it was saying but i feel like the message of the book was lost. i wanted more focus and i only got that focus in the second part of the book. if the first part of the book connected as well with the second part, i think it would’ve hit harder. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abortion, Violence, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Racism

maddysoup's review against another edition

dark informative mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Murder, Suicide, Racism, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexism, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Infidelity

emilybsullivan's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Grief, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Alcohol and Drug use