Reviews

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

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two_characters's review against another edition

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reflective tense medium-paced

3.75

carrieemoran's review against another edition

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4.0

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed Makkai's book The Great Believers, and had high expectations for this one since I also like books that revisit past tragedies in attempts to figure them out. This book definitely delivered. It was beautifully written, and also uniquely so, with a lot of social commentary woven through. A great read for many reasons.

vpardew's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

i ate this shit up in a way i was not expecting. tying a fictional story so well with actual events that can be identified without being named. the ending is disappointing but so realistic. if i had a nickel for every teacher grooming book i read i would have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird it’s happened twice

midtownmoodreader's review against another edition

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5.0

I really loved this one. It was one of those books that made me mildly grumpy with everything else in life that dragged me away from it. There were some parts I had to stop and reread because the writing was just that good (Bodie’s firefly memory in particular).

crypticbutton's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

1.5

What to even say about this book..

What I thought was going to be a mystery/thriller just turned out to be a poorly written nightmare. I really should have taken the "Literary" tag as a sign to run away. The novel really focuses in on the social issues in a heavy handed way that it over powers the central plot of the mystery making it feel like the novel is just dragging on for no reason. It is also very shallow but at the same time felt like it was doing something because it was using "ripped from the headlines" topics to seem trendy.

The narration is this weird stream of consciousness vibe that has Bodie, the main character, have flash backs mid sentence and then snap back to the present making it hard to keep track of who is talking or what is even going on in a scene that I often had to back track and re-read to figure out what even was going on .

I just finished the book to see how it would end, and surprise surprise it was lacking.