Reviews with content warning for Physical abuse - I Have Some Questions for You: A Novel

This was ... incredibly underwhelming. I've literally only seen rave reviews for it. It's also a book I've seen floating around as a contender for the Women's Prize longlist, which, at the time of me writing this review, is set to come out tomorrow. And when I had the opportunity to get an ALC from Libro.fm, I jumped on. But now, I just don't understand the hype for it at all.

This is a "literary" mystery about a woman named Bodie Kane who returns to the New Hampshire boarding school that she attended to teach a short 2 week course on Podcasting. Bodie is the host of a true crime podcast and has always returned to the murder of her roommate from her junior year at Granby, Thalia Keith. While teaching this podcasting course at her old high school, she starts to question everything she believes to be true about Thalia's murder and the man convicted of the crime.

The biggest takeaway I have from this book is that the author really thought she was doing something with this story. But she absolutely was not. Yes, this book identifies itself as a literary mystery. But there's nothing really literary about the writing style, the characters, or the plot. There is not a single memorable character in this book. Even the main character never feels fully developed or like a real person. She has trauma in her past, but we are told and not shown anything. She suffers when she first starts at this boarding school but nothing is ever explored. And not a single side character made an impression on me.

You can tell that the author really thinks what she's writing is incredibly important and profound and groundbreaking. But in reality, the commentary is so surface-level and half-baked that it's almost embarrassing. This book never really settles on what it's trying to say. First, it’s about how rampant violence against women is. Then it’s about the criminal justice system and its repeated failings, especially to Black men. Then it’s about how awful and confining prison is. Throw in a small aside about the power-imbalance that some men hold over young, impressionable female partners and you basically hit the nail on the head of every single social commentary imaginable. She never explored anything deep enough for this book to have a message or a point.

I truly don't understand the hype for this one. Maybe I went into it with too high expectations and never let myself fully enjoy the reading experience. But I think that's because for a 450 page book, not a single interesting thing happens and there's actually no real plot or action or anything that kept me wanting more. This book just isn't good and I wouldn't recommend it.

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daniliff's review against another edition

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mysterious slow-paced

3.5

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goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition

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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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