I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai – Audio  

ARC from PRH Audio for an honest review

Book Blurb:

A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past — the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers — needs — to let sleeping dogs lie.
But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent flaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought — if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.

My Review: 3.5 stars

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I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai revisited a long-ago murder mystery that students reopened when the main character is on campus for a two-week teaching gig. Wow, that felt like a mouthful.

Bodie, a successful movie historian and podcaster, is asked to come back to her boarding school alma mater to teach a course on podcasting. One student wants her podcast to be about the murder that occurred back when Bodie was a student. Actually, it was Bodie’s roommate that was murdered.

As the plot moves forward, more slowly than I’d have liked, facts begin to surface that makes Bodie question if the right man, a Black man no less, was wrongfully committed. She gets pulled into the mess, while also getting lost in a #metoo scandal against her ex-husband.

I know that Makkai is a brilliant writer, however, Bodie was very unlikable which was unfortunate because she’s a very present main character. I listened to this on audio which was narrated by one of my favorite audio narrators. She did such a good job yet, still, Bodie seemed incredible self-centered.

The second half of the book moved increasingly faster, and I enjoyed it much more than the first half. The trial, the pandemonium at the courthouse and the drinks at the bar were all quite telling. Although, this one wasn’t my favorite of hers, I will always return to Makkai’s writing as her ability to beautifully manipulate the English language into good storytelling is impressive.

Quotes I liked:

What if my memories were as false as dreams. What if my dreams were really memories?”

“…but was an end to the conversation, or a bookmark at least.”

“You don’t have to have been friends with someone to be old friends with them later.”