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Rebecca Makkai - I Have Some Questions For You: Even if you’re not a true crime aficionado (like me), this is important for how Makkai frames that within the Me Too (and prior) movement. #cursorybookreviews #cursoryreviews ( )

Everything green is something that's survived.

Back in 1995, Bodie was a student at an expensive boarding school in New Hampshire, when one of her classmates is murdered. A man was quickly convicted of the crime. Now, decades later, Bodie is back teaching a short class on podcasting and one of her students decides to look into this "historic" crime. What follows is Bodie remembering and reexamining her past, especially her music teacher. The man convicted of the crime may not be the murderer and in digging into the past quickly stirs up a lot of people and creates a lot of mess.

The waitress saw what I was reading. She said, "You'd think if she was all that troubled, she'd have told the producer."

Rebecca Makkai's new novel compares how we looked at sexual harassment a few decades ago with how we now see those same actions. It also looks at how we view allegations has a lot to do with what we think about the person being accused. Makkai is good at diving into fraught issues and leading the reader into uncomfortable spaces. This is a messy book, with a protagonist whose motives and actions are often less than ideal, but Makkai knows how to tell a story and I enjoyed every page of this slightly bloated novel. ( )

It's rare that I can't get into a literary mystery, but 'I Have Some Questions for You' was a serious struggle from start to finish. While I did successfully trudge through this book, I can't say I was excited to read it. The motivation to turn the page was lacking, and it left me wishing for a more engaging narrative. I'm not one to give up easily, so I soldiered on, primarily fueled by the desire to uncover the truth behind the murder and whether justice would eventually prevail. Regrettably, the prose often felt meandering, and the use of second-person narration didn't quite hit the mark for this particular story.

Without revealing too much, I can acknowledge a degree of appreciation for the fact that the book adhered closely to reality. As much as we all yearn for poetic justice and idyllic resolutions in our reads, this book opted for an ending that, while far from ideal, might be closer to what would transpire in real life.

Despite my feelings about the ending and my idealistic wishes, I have to assign 'I Have Some Questions for You' a rating of 2.0 stars. In my view, the narrative could have reached its conclusion much more expeditiously and in a far more gripping manner.

Quick summary:

The central character, Bodie, is a successful podcaster and film professor with a somewhat tumultuous past, marked by the murder of a former classmate and roommate, Thalia. Initially content to leave the past behind and focus on her present, Bodie's life takes a sharp turn when she returns to the boarding school of her youth to teach a course. An undeniable urge to uncover the truth about Thalia's murder consumes her. Was the right person convicted? Did the police rush to close the case, leaving justice unserved? And did Bodie herself play a role in this miscarriage of justice? These questions form the backdrop for the novel, but the execution left much to be desired.

In the realm of literary mysteries, 'I Have Some Questions for You' regrettably falls short, making it a challenging read for those seeking a gripping and immersive narrative. ( )

This book really started out like gangbusters for me. I love a boarding school setting - I loved it even more that it was a story being told by an adult. I think some of the descriptions Makkai gives are really really excellent and felt real to me. I went to a school much like the one described and I could really imagine the campus and the buildings. But, there were somethings that felt very out of place - this whole idea that February vacations were for elite schools in New Hampshire - the barest of research would let you know that that is common for all the public schools - private schools actually are more likely to have a longer break in March instead. Anyway, thats not too important but it took me out of it. I didn't love the gimmick of reciting cases over and over. It was effective the first time - but by the end - it felt gratuitous - and a little like a bad slam poetry event or something.

I'll read Makkai again because she really had me invested for 2/3s of the way. ( )

Bodie Kane is a film professor and podcaster. She’s been invited to teach a short between-semesters enrichment class at her old prep school in New Hampshire. The school was predominantly for the upper class wealthy kids along with a few promising scholarship recipients.

Bodie was one of the scholarship recipients that never quite fit in. Her first semester she was randomly given beautiful, wealthy, popular Thalia Keith as a roommate. The two were never friends, never enemies and drifted apart when they were no longer roommates.

Nevertheless, Bodie was as shocked as everyone else when Thalia’s body was found in the swimming pool. It was made to look like an accident but was in fact murder. The swim coach, one of the few black men on campus, was charged, convicted and at this point served more than twenty years in prison.

For her class Bodie suggests students pick topics from the school’s history for their podcasts. She lists Thalia’s murder as a possible subject; one boy chooses it and eventually the whole class including Bodie herself are sucked in.

Was the right man imprisoned? This case has continued to be of great interest on the internet and various internet groups are working to get the coach freed and still examining and re-examining evidence.

This is not a typical murder mystery. I loved the fact that Makkai reminds us that, at bottom, all murders are alike; and that so many of them hit the news cycles and true crime newscasts that the details are blurred. It’s also a look into the casual racism that can convict a black man; and how even DNA evidence can point in odd direction. ( )