Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

I Have Some Questions for You: A Novel by Rebecca Makkai

42 reviews

goodin10tions's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

This book deals with many subjects, probably too many. Principally memory. Our principal character attempts to remember traumatic incidents at her school. I don't really enjoy an unreliable narrator story. This book gives off Gone Girl vibes. Having said that, It was interesting enough that I endured 14 hours of meandering musings on what it was like to be a teenager in a exclusive prep school, to find out the ending.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Grief, and Suicidal thoughts

deetabz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Pedophilia, Murder, Blood, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual harassment, Death, and Violence

Moderate: Abandonment, Sexual content, Racism, Self harm, Alcohol, Gaslighting, Grief, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Cancer, Classism, Eating disorder, Rape, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Death of parent, Body shaming, Drug use, Drug abuse, and Stalking

litletters's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Murder, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Domestic abuse, Body shaming, and Bullying

bootsmom3's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Bullying, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Gore, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Racism, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death, Infidelity, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Rape, and Sexual content

Moderate: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, and Fatphobia

Minor: Self harm

readmollyread's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Murder, Body shaming, and Death

Moderate: Eating disorder

Minor: Terminal illness and Self harm

wynnebirchmaple's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

I couldn’t wait for it to be over which is markedly different than dying to know how it would end. Sad commentary on sad commentary and meta sadness all around. Structure is hard to manage in this work that was laborious. Too many characters, too many distractions and disruptions, a shallow swim in a phenomena no one has been able to explain—national obsession with true crime. Glad I didn’t buy it, own a previous work by the author that I haven’t read and am not sure I want to even though there’s big buzz, award kudos the whole thing. Author tried to over-serve and that’s what happens when you have a prior best seller and it’s easy to create a national conversation and vogue situation that everyone still rollicking in loungewear needs to get on board with. I am in no way better for reading this and I will look at Lake Forest Academy differently for now on. Author went there, lives there and has situated her novel in a similar but different place. Creepy really…

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Racism, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Dysphoria, Death, Deadnaming, Drug use, Sexual assault, Mental illness, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Police brutality, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence

I don’t know why people like this kind of stuff. I’m really annoyed that this was so long and not because there was no payoff, it was just crap—like a compilation of Kepnes’ adapted work, “You” Emma Cline’s “The Girls” Kukafka “Girl In Snow” and Sebold’s “The Lovely Bones” I didn’t like any of them and this one is now on the virtual shelf of harmful books to women that hijack political themes to make them sell or have obscene page count. Sheesh…

csgetlawdegrees's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Child death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Violence, Death, Alcoholism, Bullying, Drug use, Murder, Self harm, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Murder, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, and Grief

hschlecht's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad tense

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Eating disorder, Self harm, Fatphobia, Murder, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Violence, Alcohol, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic friendship, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

basicbookstagrammer's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Misogyny, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Body shaming, Rape, Sexism, Racism, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Classism, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

goldenbeebookshop's review against another edition

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.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Bullying, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexism, Death of parent, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Grief, Sexual violence, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Classism, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Cancer, Murder, Alcohol, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Child death, Medical trauma, Misogyny, and Racism