1/17/2024 0 Comments Things we never got over book 2![]() ![]() ![]() This is a dark, uncomfortable story about murder, racism, sexual abuse, grief, the nature of collective memory, privilege, the way humans want to be at the center of tragedy even when they're not, and feeling like an outsider. In less capable hands, all of this would be too much and some of the subplots would get lost or become diluted, but Makkai manages to juggle every subplot brilliantly and each one sings with a unique voice that harmonizes beautifully with the crime story at the heart of the novel. Bodie's crumbling marriage, the news (especially the plethora of stories involving rape and harassment that, for some reason, mostly go unpunished), Bodie's research on Rita Hayworth, Granby's troubled history, and a Twitter mob coming for Bodie after she said some things online in defense of her estranged husband and then accidentally "liked" a racist meme all add to the sense of chaos that permeates the novel. I Have Some Questions For You packs a lot, and the classes, the new podcast, and Bodie's memories are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. When one of her students decides to do a podcast on the case for the class, Bodie is pulled back in, and some new information, along with her questioning of how things were handled and her misgivings about how collective memory works and how discourses are built when it comes to crime and people of color, she soon finds herself obsessed with her time at Granby and something she knows - something that has haunted her for a long time - that might hold the key to Thalia's real murderer. The case never went away and is still debated online, mostly because the authorities did a shoddy job with the investigation and Evans' defense was weak. Chief among the things Granby brings back is Thalia's death and the subsequent conviction of the school's athletic trainer, Omar Evans, who was rumored to be involved with Thalia and who sold weed to the students, for the murder. However, the return isn't as simple as it sounds because Bodie's memories of her time there - which include a lot of family tragedy, dejection, harassment, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year - quickly become open wounds. In fact, this review will probably fail as well given the word count constraint and the novel's 435 pages of unrelenting developments, memories and possibilities, but at least it will offer a larger view of the universe, characters and themes Makkai has woven together so well in this novel.īodie Kane is a successful podcaster and film professor who's coming back to Granby School, a New Hampshire boarding school where she spent some awkward, mostly depressing years, to teach a couple of courses for two weeks. However, that approach would fail to communicate just how labyrinthine, well constructed and multilayered the narrative is. A long list of praiseful adjectives - sharp, twisty, enthralling, cerebral, surprising - would serve as a review of Rebecca Makkai's I Have Some Questions For You. ![]()
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