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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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pedophilia, Murder, Suicide, Racism, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexism, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Rape, and Infidelity
mmackay375's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
3.75
Started strong and I couldn't put it down. It has a lot of specific themes its trying to explore and i think it really did explore it, without much settling. I don't think I mind that, because there doesn't seem to be a right answer, but the ending started getting a little muddled. The tension in the third part left, making the book flounder a little.
Overall, really enjoyed it, and it's time period, and a lot of the themes and conversations it brings up. The narration style was fun and inventive for a true crime/ thriller book.
Overall, really enjoyed it, and it's time period, and a lot of the themes and conversations it brings up. The narration style was fun and inventive for a true crime/ thriller book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, and Murder
Minor: Suicide, Death of parent, and Eating disorder
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 bothher 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.
Makkai's unique writing style gives this book a rather poignant voice: the titular "you" that Bodie addresses throughout is both
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual harassment and Murder
Moderate: Addiction, Bullying, Classism, Grief, Blood, Infidelity, Alcohol, Eating disorder, and Death
Minor: Self harm, Drug use, Death of parent, Suicide attempt, Terminal illness, and Cancer
t0r0_p's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? No
2.5
A fairly slow read although you have to keep reading because you definitely want to know what happens. A realistic and depressing book that reflects a lot on society, relationships, and the justice system.
In the end you never get any real answers and although realistic, the very depressing ending that the innocent does not receive justice is hard to swallow after all of the depressing elements of the story have unfolded. In the end there really is no wins.
In the end you never get any real answers and although realistic, the very depressing ending that the innocent does not receive justice is hard to swallow after all of the depressing elements of the story have unfolded. In the end there really is no wins.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Murder, and Eating disorder
porktheorc's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Murder, Racism, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, and Rape
juwlie's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
ETA: After reading more reviews, I understand that a ton of the criticisms and reasons that people disliked this book was because of how it was marketed. I wasn't aware of the hype surrounding it, I had just seen the description and checked it out from the library because the premise seemed interesting. If I had gone into this with the expectation that it was a highly-anticipated thriller with deep social commentary, I would have been massively disappointed. It's a good mystery, but it's not a thriller, and there's nothing remarkable about it imo. I still enjoyed it!! But it would have been a very different experience if I had gone into with the same expectations that (it seems) most readers had.
I was slightly apprehensive about this book because of some of the reviews, but I ended up really enjoying it. I listened to the audiobook and blew through it in two days, partially because Julia Whelan is a fantastic narrator. There was nothing in particular that really wowed me about this read, but I was still very interested in the plot and I was super curious about how it would unfold. I understand that this isn't for everyone, though; if you were looking for a thriller and picked this up, I could understand your disappointment. It's definitely a mystery, but not a thriller. I enjoyed the narrative style, how it was addressed to one person but still told this whole story. If it was adapted into a miniseries or something like that, I would definitely watch it; but I wouldn't put this on any pedestals for being the best mystery book ever, which is where I believe a lot of the negative reviews come from. I do think it's possible that this is over-hyped, but I still really enjoyed it.
I was kind of disappointed with the reveal of the killer, but not with the story. I think that we, as the reader, are definitely supposed to believe that the teacher was the killer, so the reveal that it was indeed the boyfriend seemed strange, given that the book is written to DB. However, I understand that 1. it's more about the MC's disgust and disappointment directed at DB for his relationship with Thalia, and 2. sometimes it's literally just like that. Sometimes the perpetrator is the guy that seems obvious, but it isn't. I felt slightly disappointed but I also realized that it's realistic. It's also very realistic that DB's relationship with Thalia is a huge factor in what led to her murder, so even though he didn't do the actual killing, he was part of the whole thing. I was slightly more disappointed that we never actually saw/heard anything from DB by the end of the book. I don't know what I was expecting really, but I assumed there would be some kind of conflict with the MC and DB. The whole story was addressed to him, but what was the context? Did she write this up and send it to him? I was expecting something like "that's how I got here, to your house, to give you this" or something like that. It just seemed like some kind of resolution was missing there. But that still didn't take away from the story enough for it to really bother me.
I was slightly apprehensive about this book because of some of the reviews, but I ended up really enjoying it. I listened to the audiobook and blew through it in two days, partially because Julia Whelan is a fantastic narrator. There was nothing in particular that really wowed me about this read, but I was still very interested in the plot and I was super curious about how it would unfold. I understand that this isn't for everyone, though; if you were looking for a thriller and picked this up, I could understand your disappointment. It's definitely a mystery, but not a thriller. I enjoyed the narrative style, how it was addressed to one person but still told this whole story. If it was adapted into a miniseries or something like that, I would definitely watch it; but I wouldn't put this on any pedestals for being the best mystery book ever, which is where I believe a lot of the negative reviews come from. I do think it's possible that this is over-hyped, but I still really enjoyed it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Eating disorder
leafy_literature's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
I ate this book UP! The ending was unsatisfactory, but realistic. I loved Bodie and how real she was. I liked how we never really "met" Bloch, even though we, as the reader, were him. Fastest read for me in years. Rebecca Makkai knows how to write, and suck you right into it!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Infidelity
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Eating disorder, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Child death, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pandemic/Epidemic, Sexual violence, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Classism, Cursing, Drug use, Body horror, Physical abuse, Grief, Violence, Alcohol, Bullying, Cancer, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Stalking, Self harm, Transphobia, Rape, Vomit, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, Suicide, 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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Grief, Violence, Eating disorder, Body shaming, and Alcohol
megreadsitall's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Grief, Sexual violence, Cancer, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Sexual assault