I Have Some Questions for You

A Novel

By: Rebecca Makkai

Narrated by: Julia Whelan, JD Jackson

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Named a Best Book of 2023 by The Washington Post, People, USA Today, NPR, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, The Boston Globe, CrimeReads and more

“A twisty, immersive whodunit perfect for fans of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.”—People

"Spellbinding."—The New York Times Book Review

"[An] irresistible literary page-turner."—The Boston Globe

The riveting new novel—"part true-crime page-turner, part campus coming-of-age" (San Francisco Chronicle)—from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers

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.

In I Have Some Questions for You, award-winning author Rebecca Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transfixing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsively enjoyable work and a literary triumph.

©2023 Rebecca Makkai (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“A critique of the true-crime obsession and its inherent voyeurism, refracted through everyone’s new favorite storytelling device, the podcast . . . This sense of collective responsibility is the kind of nuance that doesn’t often emerge from the true-crime content mills. In the world of I Have Some Questions for You, however, there’s an insistent hope that the truth still matters, even when it’s complicated—that the right thing might happen despite the near-impossibility of justice in our society.”—The Nation

“[I Have Some Questions for You] embraces the intricate plotting and emotional heft that made [Makkai’s] previous novel, The Great Believers, a Pulitzer finalist...Makkai sharply conveys the insidiousness of misogyny...[and] deftly explores how remembrance can melt into reverie...Her patient, evocative character work prevents Omar and Thalia from becoming types...The result is not a book that leers at a discrete and unfathomable act of violence but one that investigates...‘two stolen lives.’”—The New Yorker

“A sleekly plotted literary murder mystery…Makkai has written a complicated whodunit fueled by feminist rage as Bodie relentlessly interrogates her past and recalls the countless murders of girls and women whose stories have been all but lost in our collective memory.”—Associated Press

Not a great ending

Ending was not great. The rest was just meh etc etc etc etc etc etc

Too long.

I hate to say I did not enjoy this book. It was too long and went between her time in Granby to the investigation of the death of Thalia. Kept getting confused if she was talking about her past, present or future. Felt like it rambled and maybe that was the point but not for me. I read the
Last thing he told me and liked that one.

Solid Literary Fiction & Engrossing Story

I saw a review that DNF because they felt like they'd come in to a conversation that had started prior to the book...that was the point. And if they'd only kept reading, they'd have learned that. There was a past between the protagonist and the "you" to whom she was speaking that slowly unfolds throughout the story. This was engrossing, realistic, with one of the most crucial elements in this type of story that so many these days lack: nuance. What's a several year age gap in physical relationships? It depends on the ages. It depends on the position of both people, their potential to wield power over the other. It depends on the circumstances, the lived experiences of both people. But one constant and most important element, the importance of which does not change is the TRUE ability of both parties to consent. Without that crucial element, there is no appropriate age gap. 16 and 25 is equally as bad as 16 and 35 which is equally as bad as 16 and 45, because one party lacks the true ability to consent, whereas the differences between 22 and 33, 22 and 43, 22 and 53 could be endless or barely any, depending on all of the aforementioned factors, because both parties (under normal circumstances) have the ability to consent. Onto the writing itself, it was lush and gorgeous. The author's ability to evoke thought and feeling simultaneously through phrasing and imagery is unrivaled in so many of the recent novels I've read in the genre. This wasn't a particularly suspenseful novel, not the thrilling ride of twists and turns as I typically go for, but the tension was constant and kept me reading. Unlike others who found the conclusion to be unsatisfying, I actually found it to be (on a literary level) the least predictable and most satisfying. ****Mild Spoilers Ahead (mild in that you won't understand they are spoilers now, but the moment you get to a point in the book where what I'm about to say applies, it will spoil the whole thing for you in about 10 seconds) so only continue reading if you've a. decided you don't want to read/finish the book, b. don't care about spoilers or c. have already read the book and are looking to see what others thought about it in comparison to your thoughts. Now that I've put enough text in between the warning and the actual spoilers so that your eyes don't accidentally wander down the page just a smidgen too far and accidentally read the spoilers, I'll continue.*** The book ended in the most realistic way possible. It would have called for a suspension of disbelief that was inconsistent with the rest of the story if it had ended any other way. Which is why I say that, on a literary level, the ending was satisfying, though on a personal one, very disappointing and sad...but again, such is reality. And the fact that it ended in the most realistic way possible is a testament to why this type of story is important, even in fiction: because change needs to happen before this story could realistically end any other way. Yes, it was fiction, but it was also rife with real world scenarios, even references to real news stories, which is why it unfortunately needed to end the way it did. All was not lost, because it didn't actually end. There was an understanding that no one gave up, least of all the protagonist and, in fact, the knowledge she brought to light inspired others to pursue justice as well, even those who otherwise had wished to leave it all behind. I was left feeling satisfied in iterary sense, and personally, sad, but hopeful.

So, so good

Don’t miss this fantastic book! This book legitimately gets a five star rating - not just a default five bc four stars is too low and there isn’t a 4.5 star available.

So nuanced

More than a compelling murder mystery, but also an interesting and thoughtful take on generational norms and expectations

Never got the point of this book

I felt like this book was more a lecture about how women have been done wrong than any kind of story. A very disappointing lesson.

Enjoyable read

The narrator does a great job. The story is a bit long and could be cut in a few places. Still, I did enjoy the story. It wasn’t much of a mystery but I liked weaving in all of the people and places.

Great read!

This story held my attention from the beginning!
Thought provoking. What happens in our youth stays with us.

A book for this time

I can’t say enough good things about this recent novel by Rebecca Makkai. She deftly weaves the decades of daily assaults of women into a “page-turning” crime novel. She addresses privilege in all of its abusive forms (academia, whiteness, maleness, socio-economical…) the messiness of memory and truth seeking, and our highly imperfect justice system. Julia Whelan is a terrific narrator who has the ability to act the parts so seamlessly you lose yourself utterly and completely in this story.

ONE OF THE BEST EVER

I can’t recommend this enough. I was so moved by the story and narration- one of the best. I listen to about 3 books a week alternating between them. Except this time- the other two remain unfinished-