Book Review: I Have Some Questions For You
On Wednesday (June 19) the book club met to discuss "I Have Some Questions for You" by Rebecca Makkai. Unusually (for us), opinions on the book were quite unanimous: we liked the book.
A few things stood out. One was the themes: the book touched on bullying and sexually abusive work and school environments and bullying -- a topic on which several people could relate personal anecdotes. It also touched on the "me too" movement that has arisen to combat some of that -- as well as the extremes of cancel culture.
Which illustrates another thing that stood out: the level of nuance. For nearly every issue, like the choice to go public about past abuses, the book gave examples of cases where it was badly needed but also examples where it goes overboard and harms people, and we got to see the characters struggling with these choices. As part of that nuance, the situations in the book felt very "real" -- the New England boarding school became a believable character of its own, the trial outcome and the true murder's identity came out the way they would in real life, not in the way that created the most drama or the most satisfying conclusion.
Finally, the author's very innovative literary techniques stood out. The title refers to the way she introduces a character (and likely suspect) who never appears on-screen in the book, by addressing him in second-person. It is at least uncommon to include short chapters scattered throughout which describe -- as if it is happening -- how one or another character might have committed the murder (even ones who can clearly be dismissed as impossible). And her technique of listing "incidents" ripped from the headlines ("Was it the one where he locked her in the basement? Or the one where he found her in the shopping mall? ...") was unique and surprisingly powerful at making the issues feel omnipresent and very real.