Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

199 reviews

stellahadz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

Based on other reviews I've read, I feel like I'm in the minority of people who really, really liked this book. It seems like a lot of people went in expecting a scathing takedown of the true-crime industry, which would have been interesting in its own right, but I think it was a mistake to market this book that way. I read it more as a mystery/thriller with subtle yet thought-provoking social commentary, and I personally found that refreshing. So often, thrillers rely very heavily on tropes and sensationalist stereotypes. I definitely love a good beach-read mystery where you can just turn your brain off and let the story do its thing, but I Have Some Questions for You actually addresses the topics of racism and sexual violence in the legal system, and the extremely important and timely concept of law vs. justice.

The setting, characterization, story, and pacing were all great. The mystery was very well-crafted and I loved how detailed it was - nothing felt out of place, and I could picture every moment of the story so well. It was Dead Poets Society meets How to Get Away with Murder meets the Serial podcast. I liked that Bodie wasn't a perfect person; she made a lot of incredibly foolish decisions, but they all made sense in the context of her character, and I think those decisions were supposed to be a cautionary tale about the danger and confusion of latching onto a certain narrative in true-crime cases. 

I found the ending deeply unsatisfying, but I also don't think that's a bad thing. It tied up some loose ends while also leaving the reader with the sense that justice wasn't entirely served, which aligns with the social commentary woven into the story. (Also, petty grievance, but the character that I REALLY wanted to see get his just desserts went completely scot-free, which is realistic but INFURIATING.) 

Overall, I would recommend this book, but I would also advise people to a) check the content warnings and b) go in with as few expectations as possible - not because it's not good, but because it doesn't fit perfectly into either the box of "beach read thriller" or "scathing, in-your-face social commentary." It was one of those books that made me think and feel, and that I was sad to finish. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Misogyny, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Eating disorder, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Homophobia, Infidelity, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sareeta's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

2.5

This was somewhat entertaining but I was always waiting for it to get better or for something to happen. I also disliked the way it seems to propose that forcing people to talk about their

assaults or experiences with abusers

in court even when they don’t want to is the “right” thing to do. It also felt predictable and obvious, and I got bored. There were many times I wanted to stop reading but kept going because I wanted to see what would happen.

It wasn’t worth it.  I’ll probably try The Great Believers someday but not for a while…

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Racism, Self harm, Blood, Alcohol, and Pandemic/Epidemic

_mcreader's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

3.75

I read a lot of critiques written by people who didn't like the book. Was the character development good? Not really, Bodie was more like a set of characteristics/experiences, which just kind of hung together without clearly informing each other. How did she go from a goth rowing theater kid to LA podcaster and film studies person? Why is she obsessed with Thalia's case and Hollywood starlet coercion? What does any of this have to do with her upbringing? No one knows. I appreciated the author's attempt to create a central character who wasn't actually in the book, but I found the addressing the absent teacher to be increasingly hokey. He loomed over the plot but not in a way that felt meaningful. Bodie's relationships seemed hollow (all of them), especially her imagined connection with Omar. The asides where she threw in other examples of violence against women (lists of them) felt heavy handed. 

AND YET - I was not bored, I still wanted to know what happened, none of the complaints above turned me off enough to consider quitting, and I finished listening/reading in 3 days. In some ways the book's themes were a convoluted mess (what was she trying to say about Jerome? There's real violence and power, and then just generic boy on girl coercion. And should we not care/reckon with the latter? Or just not enough to ruin people's careers?), but I devoured it anyway. Pretty impressive, honestly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Murder

abernathy_33's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, and Murder

Moderate: Eating disorder, Racism, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Cancer, Self harm, and Death of parent

dkamada's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Stalking, Murder, and Alcohol

lpdx's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicide, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism

Minor: Pandemic/Epidemic

elderwoodreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I feel like in different hands this book could've been doing too much and felt all over the place, but it was not. It was perfectly balanced and was such a great story. While I found some parts a little over the top, it was far and few between for this genre. I also felt like this book resonated with me and had more takeaways than books in the same genre. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Death, Misogyny, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Xenophobia, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Alcohol

jessiedoodah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Pedophilia, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

meaghancook's review against another edition

4.5

I will say the one person I suspected to have been involved was not and the one person I thought was too obvious to be the one was the one. So take that for what it’s worth. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, and Suicidal thoughts

tracey1981's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective tense slow-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? Yes

4.25

This was a gripping read, expertly narrated by Julia Whelan. It gave me a lot to think about that’s hard to synthesize in a review but here are a few thoughts…

What I liked:
-the narrative voice that addresses a character as “you,” about whom we learn more as the book goes on
-the reflection on the casual and insidious misogyny and violence against women and kids that so often goes ignored, and how deeply it affects us all
-related to the above, there were a lot of things about coming of age in the 90s that deeply resonated for me
-the way young people (teens mostly) were treated with respect, as intelligent contributors to the world 
-I liked that it wrestled with the complexities of holding people accountable and seeking justice for individuals while steeped in systemic injustice
-the loose threads that were left at the end, although unsatisfying, felt pretty realistic to me 

What I didn’t:
-I wanted more reflection on systemic racism to intersect with the gender politics. There was some, but I wanted more depth
-I squirmed a lot and HATED how the characters who were witnesses and supposed to be sequestered kept talking with each other and with the media. That went on for way too long and was way too much. I’m sure that happens a lot IRL but I hated it. 

I’ll be thinking about this book for a long while.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, and Murder