Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai

45 reviews

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. 

---

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

fuguballoon's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

1.5

I can sum up my opinion of this book in two words: "bloated" and "snoozy." For many more words, see below.

I'm happy for Rebecca Makkai that she's reached the level of success where she doesn't get edited anymore, but it massively sucks for her readers. This book was way too long, with nothing to show for it. There was so much navel-gazing that did not enhance the plot or characters. There were so many named characters who did not need to be named, it was hard to keep track of everyone (easily 25 with big speaking parts, where 10-15 is average).

With all of that extra material floating around, you'd think there'd be an interesting twist nestled in there somewhere, but there wasn't. The whole thing was predictable from the first time the murder was described in detail. I hoped that the choice to have Bodie talking to someone would ultimately lead to something compelling, but it didn't.

Bodie being a crummy person didn't bother me as much as other readers, but I was put off by Makkai's MeToo subplot. I am old enough to remember being extremely online in 2018, and the whole thing was unrealistic to me. I agree with the other reviewers who said her Makkai's engagement with the serious issues in this book (criminal justice, racism, etc) are superficial.

Lastly, and because I haven't seen it written about on here, I am getting tired of able-bodied authors writing about people cheating on their disabled spouses using language that makes it seem like it's okay because the spouse is sick, with no interrogation or examination of the characters' ableism. I don't care if it's supposed to make us dislike a character--it's lazy character building and gross.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use, Grief, Gaslighting, and Classism

becktothefuture's review against another edition

funny mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I raced through this book, not necessarily because it was that good but because I really wanted to know what happened. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, Grief, and Gaslighting

jessieraeyo's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Sexism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Gaslighting, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Domestic abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Violence, Stalking, and Pregnancy

summerofsoaps's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Death, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Domestic abuse, and Racism

Minor: Drug use, Self harm, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Car accident

nuuamuikkunen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Loved Rebekka Makkai’s The Hundred-Year House, and decided then I would devour everything this author has written. But I have to say, maybe this book wasn’t as good. Or maybe, it was too different.

But, if I only examine what I thought about this book, I would say it was a great read. It made me feel so many things. Not a light read at all. And there wasn’t really any big plot twists in the story, but I feel like it didn’t need any.

I listened to the audiobook and let me tell you there are waaaaayyy too many names to remeber. At times it was so hard to keep up who had done what!

Edit: If you can, listen to the audiobook! Shoutout to the producer or whoever thought to have

a man read the part with Omar’s phone call with the podcast

was a genious! It gave me chills! Plus, who doesn’t love Julia Whelan.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Body shaming, Bullying, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Cancer

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

I really enjoyed the writing style of this book where the narrator is addressing the possible killer directly throughout while telling the story of how events in the past and present unfolded. The story was a bit predictable but it took you on a wild ride before it got back to the obvious resolution, which was entertaining. The characters are loveable even though I’m not convinced they’re supposed to be. The plot was definitely believable as well. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Minor: Rape, Self harm, Suicide, Transphobia, Vomit, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and War

ballousclues's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

2.5

I liked this book enough. It reminded me a ton of 13 Reasons Why, but surrounding homicide instead of suicide. This book was kind of hard for me to get through because of the pace. You are rehashing the murder of Thalia Keith from when Bodie Kane went to a private high school back in the 90s. Bodie works on a murder podcast and goes back to visit her old high school, The Granby School, to teach a class and help current high schoolers make their own podcast episodes.

Her whole time back at Grandby she is rehashing the murder of Thalia and trying to figure out who actually did it. One of Bodie's students decides she wants to do her podcast episode on the murder of Thalia and it reignites this fixation within Bodie. She can't just put the case down and clear it out of her head. It haunts her. As I mentioned above, it reads a lot like 13 Reasons Why. You have a list of names, why they did or potentially didn't do it, and then the book ends. To be honest, the story fell a bit flat for me. I liked it, but it was tough to get through and the ending didn't make it feel worth it to me.

I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend.

I kind of like books like this that don't give clear answers as to what happened and allow for us to create our own ideas. I can appreciate that most of this book centered around the fact that people don't always get justice and we may never know what truly happened. I think the book was more about "the friends we made along the way" than it was actually about a clear plot.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Violence, Grief, and Alcohol

megreadsitall's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting