Reviews tagging 'Murder'

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

276 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

_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

maggier31's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I came for an edge of your seat literary thriller set in a wintry New England boarding school, I stayed for the razor sharp takes on how personal biases fuel (and taint) the justice system, how so many of us so often fail the most vulnerable—out of cowardice, out of allegiance to a culture of silence. Will be thinking about this one for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

jayla_hh's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.75

This seemed almost like a true crime fanatics wet dream, being the one to figure out the wrong person was sent away and no one would've known without that specific input. Part one is horribly slow and full of information into the main character's life that I neither cared about nor felt was necessary. Part two had almost, if not all the interesting bits yet unfortunately ended very anticlimactically. Wish I could unread this

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Murder, and Sexual harassment

ivi_reads_books's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

This murder mystery is filled with unlikable characters, each driven by their own motivations. I enjoyed the ending which I didn't see coming. 

Julia Whelan, as always, delivers an excellent performance as the audiobook narrator. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Death, Drug use, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Sexual assault

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