I Have Some Questions for You

A Novel

De: Rebecca Makkai

Narrado por: Julia Whelan, JD Jackson

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Named a Best Book of 2023 by The Washington Post, People, USA Today, NPR, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, The Boston Globe, CrimeReads and more

“A twisty, immersive whodunit perfect for fans of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.” —People

"Spellbinding." —The New York Times Book Review

"[An] irresistible literary page-turner." —The Boston Globe

The riveting new novel — "part true-crime page-turner, part campus coming-of-age" (San Francisco Chronicle) — from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers

A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.

But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.

In I Have Some Questions for You, award-winning author Rebecca Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transfixing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.

Too long.

I hate to say I did not enjoy this book. It was too long and went between her time in Granby to the investigation of the death of Thalia. Kept getting confused if she was talking about her past, present or future. Felt like it rambled and maybe that was the point but not for me. I read the
Last thing he told me and liked that one.

Solid Literary Fiction & Engrossing Story

I saw a review that DNF because they felt like they'd come in to a conversation that had started prior to the book...that was the point. And if they'd only kept reading, they'd have learned that. There was a past between the protagonist and the "you" to whom she was speaking that slowly unfolds throughout the story. This was engrossing, realistic, with one of the most crucial elements in this type of story that so many these days lack: nuance. What's a several year age gap in physical relationships? It depends on the ages. It depends on the position of both people, their potential to wield power over the other. It depends on the circumstances, the lived experiences of both people. But one constant and most important element, the importance of which does not change is the TRUE ability of both parties to consent. Without that crucial element, there is no appropriate age gap. 16 and 25 is equally as bad as 16 and 35 which is equally as bad as 16 and 45, because one party lacks the true ability to consent, whereas the differences between 22 and 33, 22 and 43, 22 and 53 could be endless or barely any, depending on all of the aforementioned factors, because both parties (under normal circumstances) have the ability to consent. Onto the writing itself, it was lush and gorgeous. The author's ability to evoke thought and feeling simultaneously through phrasing and imagery is unrivaled in so many of the recent novels I've read in the genre. This wasn't a particularly suspenseful novel, not the thrilling ride of twists and turns as I typically go for, but the tension was constant and kept me reading. Unlike others who found the conclusion to be unsatisfying, I actually found it to be (on a literary level) the least predictable and most satisfying. ****Mild Spoilers Ahead (mild in that you won't understand they are spoilers now, but the moment you get to a point in the book where what I'm about to say applies, it will spoil the whole thing for you in about 10 seconds) so only continue reading if you've a. decided you don't want to read/finish the book, b. don't care about spoilers or c. have already read the book and are looking to see what others thought about it in comparison to your thoughts. Now that I've put enough text in between the warning and the actual spoilers so that your eyes don't accidentally wander down the page just a smidgen too far and accidentally read the spoilers, I'll continue.*** The book ended in the most realistic way possible. It would have called for a suspension of disbelief that was inconsistent with the rest of the story if it had ended any other way. Which is why I say that, on a literary level, the ending was satisfying, though on a personal one, very disappointing and sad...but again, such is reality. And the fact that it ended in the most realistic way possible is a testament to why this type of story is important, even in fiction: because change needs to happen before this story could realistically end any other way. Yes, it was fiction, but it was also rife with real world scenarios, even references to real news stories, which is why it unfortunately needed to end the way it did. All was not lost, because it didn't actually end. There was an understanding that no one gave up, least of all the protagonist and, in fact, the knowledge she brought to light inspired others to pursue justice as well, even those who otherwise had wished to leave it all behind. I was left feeling satisfied in iterary sense, and personally, sad, but hopeful.

Not a great ending

Ending was not great. The rest was just meh etc etc etc etc etc etc

Never got the point of this book

I felt like this book was more a lecture about how women have been done wrong than any kind of story. A very disappointing lesson.

Meh

I fell in love with the characters and the story kept me interested until the ending. For the rest of the book to be so great, the end was such a let down. I feel like there could have been so many better ways to wrap up all the loose ends in a more satisfying way. The author had so many great ideas and thoughts but couldn’t bring it together.