Reviews tagging 'Bullying'

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

94 reviews

wynnebirchmaple's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I couldn’t wait for it to be over which is markedly different than dying to know how it would end. Sad commentary on sad commentary and meta sadness all around. Structure is hard to manage in this work that was laborious. Too many characters, too many distractions and disruptions, a shallow swim in a phenomena no one has been able to explain—national obsession with true crime. Glad I didn’t buy it, own a previous work by the author that I haven’t read and am not sure I want to even though there’s big buzz, award kudos the whole thing. Author tried to over-serve and that’s what happens when you have a prior best seller and it’s easy to create a national conversation and vogue situation that everyone still rollicking in loungewear needs to get on board with. I am in no way better for reading this and I will look at Lake Forest Academy differently for now on. Author went there, lives there and has situated her novel in a similar but different place. Creepy really…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Police brutality, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

I don’t know why people like this kind of stuff. I’m really annoyed that this was so long and not because there was no payoff, it was just crap—like a compilation of Kepnes’ adapted work, “You” Emma Cline’s “The Girls” Kukafka “Girl In Snow” and Sebold’s “The Lovely Bones” I didn’t like any of them and this one is now on the virtual shelf of harmful books to women that hijack political themes to make them sell or have obscene page count. Sheesh…

csgetlawdegrees's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

mdemanatee's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Like the Great Believers, there are ghosts here, but they linger in new ways. This is slower paced novel that weaves in and out of time and asks more questions than it answers, even if it leaves us with more resolution than I anticipated.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Forced institutionalization, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Eating disorder, Blood, Death of parent, and Alcohol

lifewithjoce's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

5.0

Rebecca Makkai’s latest novel is, to be honest, nearly too overambitious. It shoots to have a perspective on everything, and while most of the time that misses for me, I Have Some Questions For You manages to pull it off by leaning directly into the unlikeable narrator quality without undercutting my investment in the story.

The book takes place in the aftermath of #MeToo, with our now adult narrator looking back on her days at her high school boarding school while also going through things in the present day. The true “mystery” of this book revolves around a 15 year-old murder that resulted in a Black man being imprisoned. While there are some conspiracy theories that he did not actually do it, for the most part it is believed.

It is only now, all this time later, that our narrator takes the time to think about whether Omar could have possibly actually done it, and what it means if he didn’t. What complicates this story is that rather than just exploring this one mystery, we are also exploring what it means to live in a post-#MeToo Trump era.

Full Review: https://writethroughthenight.com/2023/03/23/i-have-some-questions-for-you-a-messy-thriller-even-messier-protagonist-review/

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Sexual harassment

alana_gf's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, and Murder

chrisdennismyers's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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? Yes

4.5

There were a few side plots I could have done without but otherwise I love, love, loved this; it was chaotic and dark and mysterious. The entire thing was masterfully handled. Makkai is brilliant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Bullying

yes_smam's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Grief, Suicide attempt, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Toxic friendship

c100's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer

goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

3.0

It's hard to rate this book because there are some compelling things happening here, but it's hard to tell from the description that this novel is mostly about the realities of women who are assaulted and/or murdered, the men who more often than not get away with it, and the deeply flawed and racist judicial system. These are not tangential things- these are the main focus of the plot more than any mysterious aspect finding the real killer.
All evidence thus far does paint a bleak picture for women in America- and there's value to that being explored, I just don't know how I feel about it being hung on this mystery scaffolding. The main character's actions do prompt some questions about whether or not there's nuance when it comes to believing women, to penalizing men for the actions of the past and assessing whether there's a spectrum of behaviors that might warrant different actions, and what kind of justice or truth can be found in the court of public opinion in a time when anyone can have a podcast or YouTube channel.
There is some great writing here- little concise sentences here are there that completely capture the feeling of being young, or being lost, or a person struggling in the world.
The pacing is a little slow in the beginning, and Bode felt a little incomplete as a character. There are little pieces of things dropped in and abandoned that I was uncertain as to whether they were meant to serve as mini red herrings or if they were underdeveloped plot additions. The last quarter of the book did move a lot faster and I find myself eager to sit down and read for an hour straight, which I hadn't been as eager to do before.
I think it might be helpful for people to know going into this that this is a story that feels true in that justice is rarely found in white patriarchal contexts, vigilante justice while potentially satisfying isn't always accurate or successful, and there are ripples of grief and shame that impact family and friends because of the choices of one person that are inescapable. There's no real high note to end on here, which is real, but rare in a fictional mystery.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Police brutality, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

liblibby's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.75

This book pulled me out of a late-winter slump when everything sucks. This book grabbed me from the first two pages and never let me go.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Bullying, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

Minor: Cancer and Eating disorder