Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - I Have Some Questions for You

Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

70 reviews

hstcrow's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

Reading this felt like holding my breath for five days. Wtf. Very intense, overwhelming, and jolting in terms of the realistic story & crime, and the alarming clarity of how broken the judicial system is, how tight a chokehold the patriarchy, class, and race have on our society. The ending was so perfect and clever. It’s supposed to reflect reality. This is such an incredible feat of a book. Hell yes.

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curious_oyster's review against another edition

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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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edamamebean's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective medium-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? N/A

4.0

I feel like it’s important to say from the outset that this is not a murder mystery. It’s a meditation on racism, the justice system, and the constant, almost casual violence that is inflicted upon women. It asked a lot of really important questions and definitely got me thinking. Bodie’s own internal struggle reminded me of a time in my own life when I had to reexamine my high school memories after my favorite teacher was outed as a predator. Something I especially liked about this book was its ability to make clear that what happened to Thalia is not exceptional. In fact, it happens all the time. Worth the read. Although it is very heavy, the subject is handled with care and nuance.

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phantompansy's review against another edition

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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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mantissabolt's review against another edition

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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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mmackay375's review against another edition

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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.

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christinereads1823's review against another edition

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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 both

her 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.

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