Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an advance copy of this title in exchange for an honest review. This book was excellent. Highly recommend.

Rebecca Makkai's moving, beautifully written novel explores current themes such as our fascination with true crime and the me-too movement. The setting - a New England boarding school is perfect for the investigation of a murder from 30+years ago. This is a great follow-up to The Great Believers

Wow! This book was a phenomenal surprise. I went into this expecting a mysterious and dark story and got that and more. The narration is incredible, keeping you on your toes and questioning the narrator’s motives/opinions/and reliability. The pacing is somewhere between medium and slow, but not at all in a negative way. The chapters are broken up with personal revelations of the past, juicy details of the multiple suspects, and twists and turns. This was a very fun read.

3.5 and not 4. I did not love this book for reasons so many. I am not someone who cozies up with with tv shows or podcasts about murdered people let alone women and can’t stand the educational potential that investigative and procedural pieces encourage on behalf or readers and/or viewers.  

The structure of this work is so jumbled and filled with witnesses, voyeurs and other types of interlopers that gaining a perspective is challenging—I’d rather play a game of telephone with high schoolers to experience the nature of distortion as stories race through the immature mind. Additionally, the unpredictable jumps to second person narrator situations  did not enhance suspicion or guilt in fact it further distorted the narrator’s credibility while pointing to psychological transference that perhaps drives inquiry, decision, conclusion and the like. Clearly the narrator shares and owns her own developmental life challenges that color and define who and why she is but really who cares—she did nothing when she could, and when she could she had to appear to do nothing and truthfully nothing was done. If the sole purpose for this work was to show injustice and frustration with injustice, Makkai is halfway there. Perhaps she could have been more open with the impostor syndrome activated when unprivileged attend school with the privileged or been more comfortable composing a racial story more openly.

There was restraint in how this work was approached and perhaps that’s why it amounted to 448 pages? Perhaps Makkai wanted to write something different when she endeavored the theme(s) contained in this work but had to turn away due to the impending potential consequences issued by call out or cancel culture who gain currency by persecuting people who have platforms or sales records and are plagued by their racial ordinariness under attack or perceived to be. Hard to write a book these days that are socio political in these political times. I think she took this book out of the oven too soon.

Is this characteristic of Makkai’s work? I shall have to see and read her last famous book that I got from “Book of the Month Club” that I no longer subscribe to and used years ago as a re entry to serious reading. I can’t listen to the buzz around this one.

My greatest compliment is the more verse-like passages that layer the popular crimes and victims to recall memory but for what purpose when one who reads this doesn’t listen to serial or watch dateline? The prose their is kind of interesting though overstimulating if you take things in deeply and care about fellow humans. There were some beautiful meditations on nature, the forest and rejuvenation. Though I’d rather read The Overstory again which was worth its page count and purpose. Thumbs in the middle angling down form me. Sorry not sorry national conversation and local author supporters…

I devoured I Have Some Questions for You. Rebecca Makkai is a propulsive writer, pulling you through her book with her compelling sentences and interesting characters. Her skill shined through a lot in this, which made the inability to land a thematic statement more obvious. This book feels like it could use a couple more rewrites to make it sharper. She couldn't quite seem to settle on what she was trying to say about power imbalances, Me Too, forgiveness, betrayal ... so many things were brought up in this book that did not have a satisfying emotional or thematic conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I really enjoyed Makkai's book The Great Believers, and had high expectations for this one since I also like books that revisit past tragedies in attempts to figure them out. This book definitely delivered. It was beautifully written, and also uniquely so, with a lot of social commentary woven through. A great read for many reasons.

This was my first Rebecca Makkai novel and I loved it. I felt like I was at Granby with Bodie, reliving all of the trauma! The story took unexpected twists and turns and the final revelation was emotional, but unfortunately not surprising. Such a powerful and thoughtful reckoning with the subtle horrors that women endure.

This is the book everyone has been hyping up?!

I'm gonna need a cash rebate from everyone who has been singing the praises of these brutally average early 2023 releases (looking at you, too, Big Swiss).

While admittedly campus novels aren’t my favorite genre, I read this because it was getting so much buzz.  All things considered I enjoyed the 90s throwback, suspense and nostalgia of the high school years.  I would recommend to others that enjoy this genre.

I was completely involved with the characters and the story’s development throughout this literary novel. Called “an immersive whodunnit” by People magazine, I find that a fair description. Yes, there are several subplots and as many messages, and so some advance readers have found the journey overly demanding. The book kept me engaged throughout and amazed at Makkai’s skillful weaving of past and present events involving the murder investigation as well as the narrator’s own teenaged and present-day experiences, impressions, and reactions. A contemporary mystery for thinkers.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group publishers for granting me an advance reading copy of this great novel.

A riveting look at our society’s obsession with true crime, and our reckoning with abusive power dynamics. A twisty thriller of substance.

A cunning, dark and delicious literary thriller that I could not put down. The end blindsided me, but not in an unimaginable way, it all made perfect sense.

"I Have Some Questions For You" was once of my most of my most anticipated books of 2023, but the book fell flat for me. Bodie Kane is a successful podcaster who returns to her old boarding school in New Hampshire to teach a mini semester. Back at her old school, she begins to reexamine the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, when some of her podcasting students express an interest in the case. 
Many of the chapters begin with snippets from the present day news about murders and sexual abuse of women - never naming names, but usually just statements. Example: "Or rather, the one where the chef hanged himself in his empty restaurant because the rape charges were about to be filed". I did not care for this writing technique - to me all these statements just made the book more disjointed. The author also writes to "you", whom the reader eventually finds out is a music teacher from Granby, the boarding school. I did not like this writing technique either. I found that Bodie's obsession with her music teacher, and his possible relationships with Thalia and possibly other students made her rush to judgement in the case to clear the convicted killer, Omar (a black man and the school's athletic trainer at the time of the murder). Speaking of the trial to clear Omar - not believable to me. I did not understand why Bodie was talking to other people involved in the case - to me it seemed prejudicial, and would not have been allowed. 
There was also another story line with a "me too" theme involving Bodie's husband, an artist named Jerome. Bodie and Jerome had two children, that were not really part of the story, except for when side characters asked Bodie "Who was watching her kids". Although Bodie suffered some bullying, including awful sexual comments, I did not feel she was a victim of the music teacher - just struggling with her memories and what she now knows to be true. 
In summary, I did not connect with Bodie, or the other boarding school characters, the novel was too long, and I think tried to accomplish too much - it might make a good book discussion, but it was not what I had hoped for.

This is the first book I've read by Rebecca Makkai and won't be my last. Very interesting premise, and was very engaging to read.

Bodie Kane was a student at the Granby School back in the 1990s. In 1995, Bodie’s life was filled with teenage friendships, Kurt Cobain’s music and the angst of adolescence.  Then her beautiful former roommate, Thalia Keith, was found murdered on campus.  Over twenty years later, Bodie returns to Granby to teach a course.  Her students are doing a project on the case, and Bodie starts to view those teenage days with adult eyes.  She starts to remember things that make her question if an innocent man is behind bars and a killer got away with a devastating crime.  Thank you NetGalley and Penguin Group for a copy of this page-turner!

Immediately upon opening “I Have Some Questions For You,” Rebecca Makkai’s newest novel, readers are hit with a reminder that our obsession with true crime is often paired with a disconcerting amount of apathy. With more time, the themes of gossip, misinformation and flawed perspectives join the mix, summarized as our underlying desire to be part of the current chatter. For a novel to contain powerful commentary on our obsession with violent media as well as feminist perspectives on the #MeToo movement, all wrapped up in a whodunit mystery, Makkai should have had the next must-read novel — but she missed the mark. 

What could have been a powerful social commentary on our obsession with true crime, violence against women, predatory behaviors and police discrimination is muddied by an insufferable main character and storyline that is pulled in too many directions. 

The novel follows Bodie Kane, the co-host of a podcast that discusses the offenses against women in the film industry. Upon invitation, Bodie finds herself returning to Granby, her boarding school, to teach two short classes. Going back to Granby stirs up more for Bodie than just good old-fashioned nostalgia — in part due to the reminder of her high school experience as an outcast among the rich, preppy elite, but also due to the reminder of the murder of her junior year roommate, Thalia Keith. When she returns to Granby, Bodie is still ruminating on Thalia’s death, a case she wonders whether the investigating team got completely right.


Bodie refers to a “you” throughout the novel as a means to connect with the person she believes is Thalia’s true murderer. However, what could have been a hidden identity creatively employed in tandem with the ongoing mystery is revealed within the first few chapters. We find out the “you” is Mr. Bloch, Bodie’s mentor and theater director from high school. Bodie’s obsession with uncovering the truth in Mr. Bloch’s actions seems to take up more space than her desire to do Thalia justice, a common theme that carries on throughout the rest of the book. 

Personal afflictions take more and more precedence over Bodie’s actions, and when her separated husband is battling a #MeToo-level cancellation, Bodie’s qualifications as a feminist fall through. Bodie can’t help but compare her own experience with Jasmine, the woman calling out her husband. By distinguishing that her assault was real while Jasmine’s was not, Bodie displays a palpable level of disdain for Jasmine’s story. While I am not here to argue whether or not Jasmine’s assault was valid, it’s a shocking move to make the feminist icon and heroine of the story an ironically anti-feminist victim blamer.

Makkai’s use of buzzwords is forced — by wanting to stay in line with pop culture, she almost tries too hard to be relevant. Every once in a while, Makkai drops something in to appease and relate to her audience, ranging from references to Bodie’s need for antidepressants to the occasional plug of social media platforms. It’s one thing to discuss important topics that happen to be relevant in current discourse, but it’s another to throw them into the novel with no further discussion or importance.  

While the book’s premise brought me excitement, I was disappointed to see that the novel was centered around a character who was the least interesting and most unlikeable part of the book. Shockingly, the novel had seemingly millions of plots to choose from, some of which included Bodie’s new love interest, her family life with her current husband’s cancellation, her podcast, her past life at Granby and the continuing investigation of the case. The novel had so many different focuses that I wonder if some of them could have been cut out to leave room for a more satisfying development of the plot. 

At the forefront of this novel, Makkai illustrates society’s heightened desire to uncover the stories behind true crime. The power behind the message that Makkai is trying to show is obvious, and it certainly deserves recognition. However, the execution of her storytelling is flawed, negating the importance of the topics it covers. 


Daily Arts Contributor Logan Brown can be reached at loganvb@umich.edu.

Bodie Kane returns to her boarding school as a successful film professor and podcaster. While she is not looking to dig up the past, when her students decide to investigate her roommate’s murder—she does not say no. Told with ribbons of the me-too scandal, this is the story of the wrongly convicted and the spoiled kids who might have gotten away with murder. Recommended.

This book was phenomenal. The commentary about our unhealthy obsession with true crime in a world that penalizes women and girls for simply existing alongside the thrilling plot made it nearly impossible to put down. Makkai has crafted something remarkable.

Rebecca Makkai is a brilliant novelist, whose creative, meaningful storytelling strengths are on full display in I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU. Set against an atmosphere of the idealized memories of life at an east coast prep school, former student Bodie Kane returns to campus as an adult, a success, an inspiration. What she quickly finds is the atmosphere and the strength of the memories surrounding her have a greater effect than she could have imagined, and she spirals into deep reflections on the past, the subjectivity or reliability of her own memories, and her draw to revisit a cold case that touched her deeply.  Really good read.

This was a great read. A podcaster returns to teach a class, at the fancy boarding school of her childhood, where she was an outsider, and her once roommate was murdered. Reads like a mystery, layered with interesting takes on the #metoo movement and grooming, collective memory, race and privilege, the exploitative nature of true crime, wrongful imprisonment and so much more. Sharp and nuanced, I found the ending unsatisfying but all the more realistic for it.