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eleanorfranzen's review against another edition
One of this year’s It Books, so probably doesn’t need summarising by me. I really enjoyed this; Bodie’s investigation in the present day, despite initially feeling like a whole bunch of boundary-crossing, somehow becomes even more fascinating in the novel’s second half, which I wasn’t expecting, structurally speaking, and which I liked a lot for surprising me. Meanwhile, her experience at the sharp end of an online mob is probably the best depiction of its kind I’ve read; the vocabulary of technically correct but brutally smug and self-righteous young activists is spot-on. And the ending is so bittersweet. I loved the experience of reading it, and will keep an eye out for Makkai’s back catalogue now.
ktcarp's review against another edition
3.0
Boring ending. Feel like this could’ve been wrapped up in less than 430 pages. Also the side plot with Bodie’s husband was…… meh? Feel like it didn’t add much to the story
zpolynice's review against another edition
2.0
Reading this felt like being stuck in a conversation with two other people in which all they do is reminisce about college and you can’t leave
ewagner484's review against another edition
4.0
I definitely enjoyed this book, but there were a couple of things that kept me from giving it 5 stars, random tangents and improbabilities mostly. But, I did like it.
jorvos's review against another edition
2.0
Sorry to say that I found this book a slog and didn't finish it. I'm an avid reader of mysteries and this once just was unwinding too slowly, so I gave it up. Maybe that's just me.
cfliegler's review against another edition
5.0
I don’t read fiction often, so when I do - and I actually finish it - it’s going to be at least 4 stars from me. I took I Have Some Questions for You out from the library as soon as I could, but I’m going to buy a copy that I can mark up. I want this one on my bookshelves as a friend. I’d especially recommend it for people who enjoy analyzing layers, recognizing there are different ways to see (and remember) the same thing, and drawing conclusions without being “right.” Is there even a “right”? This book captures how difficult that question can be to navigate, especially in current times. It encourages us to keep living, experiencing, analyzing, expanding on ourselves and shifting our lenses, while also trusting ourselves to do those things. That’s exceptionally hard to do these days.
vipulsson's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
kaora4's review against another edition
4.0
Between 3 and 4 stars.
Really made me think which is good, and I enjoyed the writing, but it was a bit too long and slow moving, which made it hard to get into.
Really made me think which is good, and I enjoyed the writing, but it was a bit too long and slow moving, which made it hard to get into.
batrock's review
3.0
I saw Rebecca Makkai saying that “[I]t matters to be reviewed by a woman. Seriously.”, so I’ll attempt to mostly bow out of this one*. In I Have Some Questions For You, undoubtedly more in her “lane” than The Great Believers, Makkai writes a have your cake and eat it novel laying bare society’s obsession with true crime. That she presents and interrogates a fictional true crime in the process – and makes a fictional podcast of it! – is apparently beside the point.
I Have Some Questions For You is written in something approximating the hot style of the moment, the pseudo-Greek Chorus. The narrator, a podcaster prodding at an initially unidentified recipient whom she perceives to have done her wrong, frequently invokes a variety of crimes against women - sexual, violent, and sexually violent alike – to illustrate how commonplace it is that we know about them. With the serial numbers shaved off, but with enough detail that it’s impossible not to recognise at least some of them, it’s difficult to say if they’re all real or some of them are mere fabrications. That’s the point, but the repetition lands with more of a thud rather than it echoes with resonance.
Makkai tackles heavy material, like what happens when #MeToo ensnares someone intimately related to you (admittedly something outside the experience of most readers), how something that seemed innocuous in your youth is much more sinister with the benefit of hindsight.
But for the most part this is the story of a woman with unresolved trauma who decides to explore it by blowing up her life. Bodie is the sort of character with so much baggage that Makkai could have comfortably written a novel about her family history alone, yet I Have Some Questions With You tries to indict a feverish societal obsession that lies permanently outside its grasp.
I Have Some Questions For You may speak to a certain sort of American, if you assume that all Americans went to private boarding schools in New England, but it does not boast the universality that Makkai might have hoped. It pretends at an empathy for some of its characters that doesn’t extend beyond the superficial, and in trying to underline the disadvantages and discrimination suffered by the allegedly wrongfully imprisoned defendant it serves only to highlight the privilege of everyone else involved.
The story (and storytelling) pick up at around the three quarter mark, and it’s worth knowing that I Have Some Questions For You isn’t a write off by any stretch of the imagination - but it’s equally important to know that it tries for something it can’t be. Makkai lives at a boarding school herself, and ironically this might have not provided enough distance to see that I Have Some Questions For You is not an exposé of the wickedness of man, but the story of an adult’s regressive return to the secret garden of her youth, at once overgrown but somehow better manicured than ever.
*Attempt failed?
I Have Some Questions For You is written in something approximating the hot style of the moment, the pseudo-Greek Chorus. The narrator, a podcaster prodding at an initially unidentified recipient whom she perceives to have done her wrong, frequently invokes a variety of crimes against women - sexual, violent, and sexually violent alike – to illustrate how commonplace it is that we know about them. With the serial numbers shaved off, but with enough detail that it’s impossible not to recognise at least some of them, it’s difficult to say if they’re all real or some of them are mere fabrications. That’s the point, but the repetition lands with more of a thud rather than it echoes with resonance.
Makkai tackles heavy material, like what happens when #MeToo ensnares someone intimately related to you (admittedly something outside the experience of most readers), how something that seemed innocuous in your youth is much more sinister with the benefit of hindsight.
But for the most part this is the story of a woman with unresolved trauma who decides to explore it by blowing up her life. Bodie is the sort of character with so much baggage that Makkai could have comfortably written a novel about her family history alone, yet I Have Some Questions With You tries to indict a feverish societal obsession that lies permanently outside its grasp.
I Have Some Questions For You may speak to a certain sort of American, if you assume that all Americans went to private boarding schools in New England, but it does not boast the universality that Makkai might have hoped. It pretends at an empathy for some of its characters that doesn’t extend beyond the superficial, and in trying to underline the disadvantages and discrimination suffered by the allegedly wrongfully imprisoned defendant it serves only to highlight the privilege of everyone else involved.
The story (and storytelling) pick up at around the three quarter mark, and it’s worth knowing that I Have Some Questions For You isn’t a write off by any stretch of the imagination - but it’s equally important to know that it tries for something it can’t be. Makkai lives at a boarding school herself, and ironically this might have not provided enough distance to see that I Have Some Questions For You is not an exposé of the wickedness of man, but the story of an adult’s regressive return to the secret garden of her youth, at once overgrown but somehow better manicured than ever.
*Attempt failed?
jessbustard's review against another edition
5.0
Very interesting book with lots to say about violence against women, the justice system, the Me Too movement and true crime podcasting.
Enjoyed how the narrative mix of present day, flashbacks and crime theories made for a fast paced page turner. Definitely recommend.
Enjoyed how the narrative mix of present day, flashbacks and crime theories made for a fast paced page turner. Definitely recommend.