I Have Some Questions for You

[SarahKat, Buddy Reads]

This thread is to discuss I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai.

Pages: 438 pages

Length: 1 month (March)

Participants: Jen, Rebecca, Lynn

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

[Jen]

I started this last night. When I do a group read, I like to google the title + discussion questions. Here's a good one for pre-reading and the first couple of chapters:

True crime media has become exceedingly popular in recent years. Why do you think fans of the genre find it so fascinating and even therapeutic to dissect such gruesome events? What considerations factor into being an ethical creator or consumer of true crime media?

I don't know anyone who isn't into at least one piece of true crime media, whether it's a podcast, tv series, or documentary. I stay away from the majority of it, but I do sometimes get sucked in. The most recent one was The Teacher's Pet, about an Australian woman who was killed by her husband, who was having an affair with their teenage babysitter. He got away with it for nearly 40 years before being convicted, in part because the public listened to the show and demanded action from the police and prosecutors. However, I didn't get into the parts that the biggest fans do: dissecting every bit of information, 'sleuthing' on social media, visiting the sites to 'search for evidence.' I don't really know why some cases blow up, aside from they usually involve pretty white women.

I also think there are a lot of unethical media out there around true crime. Serial went viral, but apparently it actually harmed Adnan Said's case, and the episodes with the harmful content are still on the New York Times website without even a disclaimer at the beginning that say some of the information in this episode has been proven untrue. In the end it's about getting our attention and you do that by crafting a convincing narrative, which is not the same as presenting true facts objectively.

[Jen]

Is anyone else reading this?

I'm on page 100 something. Since we are theoretically about 1/3 of the way through the book, here's a question from the first fifth of the book:

On p. 83, Omar’s mother, Sheila Evans, says, “They made Omar out to be a bad person all-around. This one accusation wasn’t enough, they have to say he was dealing drugs, he was a violent man, he was
sleeping with students. They paint a whole picture. They talk about him as if he came from nowhere, as if he had no family.” Does this resonate with media coverage you’ve witnessed in real life?

Whenever I think about this, I think about a story I read by a former police detective who was trying to solve a case where a man was kidnapped by a couple and forced to empty his bank account at gunpoint. The police arrested someone they thought was the woman based on the video footage from the ATM. Because of the narrative they constructed and how the woman acted on being arrested and questioned, she was tried and convicted of the robbery. No one noticed that the woman in the video was not pregnant whereas the woman arrested was a few weeks away from giving birth. Now that former detective tries to teach other police officers about confirmation bias and being more neutral in constructing their theories, but he finds it very hard going, as we do love our confirmation bias. So I think making a story about Omar where he's as bad as it's possible to be and then he murders someone is sadly par for the course.

[Rebecca]

I’ll probably be starting this one about Tuesday or Wednesday. I have two other books I need to finish first

[Jen]

I'm really enjoying it. Here's another few questions:

Bodie’s husband, Jerome, is publicly accused of predatory behavior in a relationship with a younger woman. Were you surprised by the way Bodie handles the allegations, or the fact that she was pressured to address them in the first place? How has the advent of social media shaped how public opinion forms and evolves when an alleged crime is made public? How does an awareness of a wider audience affect Bodie’s choices in her professional and private life?

[Jen]

Honestly, I'm not surprised that the wife is expected to give a reaction to allegations against her husband, even if the incidents happened well before the marriage. I think what's expected of her is to say something like this completely changes my view of him and our relationship. I will now be divorcing my husband due to the fact that he is a stranger to me. And I don't think that's a fully out of line reaction depending what you found out. Like if you found out your partner had raped someone before you met them, that would be a lot to process.

And I do think our public opinions change in response to one allegation, even if it was years ago. Today I saw an article that Sharon Stone is now saying the director of the movie Sliver was pressuring her to have sex with Billy Baldwin. That film came out in 1993. We have no way of assessing whether these claims are true, though Stone may do something like launch a civil suit. But I've already seen plenty of articles cancelling Billy Baldwin, even though if you search him on Wikipedia, he's the 5th entry for that name. The same for the book: Jerome did something awkward that has been interpreted as predatory and now there's a snowball effect. Bodie may be biased in her view of him, so it's hard to really tell how believable this is.

[Rebecca]

Starting this one tonight

[Rebecca]

I made it to chapter 9 in part one today, so I’m a little over 10% of the way through the book, and I just got Bodie’s family backstory and how she and Thalia became roommates. I feel sorry for her because it sounds like she had a lot of loneliness and pain in her past.

[Rebecca]

I didn’t make it as far today as I meant to, and I’m about 85 pages in. I just finished chapter 15 where

[Jen]

Are you enjoying it? Any thoughts on the plot, characters, setting?

[Rebecca]

So far, I'm enjoying it. (view spoiler)[ Bodie is really obsessed with the murder, even though she's trying to play it cool. It kind of surprises me that she's so into instead of being into her friends and acquaintances at the school. . . . .I would love to have the POV of the student doing the podcast as well. I'd like to know what she's thinking . . . I also haven't figured out why Bodie is writing or narrating this whole story to her teacher/mentor, Denny. I wonder if she is suspecting him of the murder or going to suspect him. . . .Seems like she's really sinking into her past. (hide spoiler)]

[Rebecca]

So, I’m a third of the way through. I just finished #3: Robbie Serenho. I kind of like (view spoiler)[ these imaginary scenarios of who might have killed Thalia and how they might have done it. I really like the recounting of the facts and the addition of details. I’m less interested in Bodie’s affair with Yahav and her sorta husband Jerome’s problems with the young artist. They feel like distractions from the real story. I’m trying to be patient and see what role they play as the story continues. (hide spoiler)]

[Rebecca]

I’m at the halfway point now, just finished part 1, chapter 48. I’m going to have to admit that I’m reaching a place where it’s getting harder to put down.

[Jen]

I really like it for a procedural whodunnit!

[Denise]

I'm not doing this challenge but I just saw this author and a few others at an event a week and half ago and thought I'd share this kind of funny story she told about the book:

She herself went to a boarding school in the Chicago area, and now her husband teaches there so she lives at old boarding school! That's partially why she wanted to write a novel set partially at a boarding school, but did not want to write a "YA" boarding school novel.

[Jen]

Cool!

I was the first to reserve the English copy of this book at my local library on May 12, 2023. I still have a membership for the library in the city where I grew up, so when March started and I still didn't have it, I checked to see if I could get an ebook or audio version from my hometown, but it was a 9-week wait for both.

Today, 10+ months after I first reserved it, I finally got the notification that it's ready to be picked up. It's not even the longest wait, I've been first in line Remarkably Bright Creatures since March 31, 2023.

[Rebecca]

I’m in part 2 chapter 7, and I just stopped in to say they (view spoiler)[ I thought Makkai did a great job handling the time jump. I also feel like I understood the Jerome subplot and how it fits into the story much better now. (hide spoiler)]. I’ll probably finish this one in the next day or two because I’m 71% of the way through the book now.

I actually bought this book when it was impossible to get at my library because it was a book for a book club I’m in. Then, I didn’t read the book. 😳

So, of course, I’m reading this book now, and I saw the library copy of the book just sitting on the shelf now. Sometimes, if I’d just be more patient, I’d be able to save more money reading.

[Rebecca]

Finished. It was really good. I was pleased with the way everything unfolded.

[Jen]

I finished it last night and I must say it didn't stick the landing for me. I'm fine with a book that ends tragically or doesn't tie up all the loose ends. But for me it tried to pull a happy ending out of it anyway, which I don't like.

[Rebecca]

I think I see what you're saying, but I didn't actually consider it to be that happy an ending. She does try to tie up loose ends in a way that feels a little unnatural, and more importantly, she does find some personal peace. However, to have (view spoiler)[ done all that work and find that they weren't able to get a new trial and that the killer wouldn't be brought to justice was discouraging. (hide spoiler)]

[Jen]

Rebecca wrote: "I think I see what you're saying, but I didn't actually consider it to be that happy an ending. She does try to tie up loose ends in a way that feels a little unnatural, and more importantly, she d..."

I didn't feel like I knew who the killer was at the end. Bodie starts off the book thinking Mr Bloch is the killer and spends most of the book believing it though her only evidence is circumstantial. Then she takes a turn towards someone else at the end, but only based on more circumstantial evidence which there is no way she can confirm. All that is fine with me. Some of this is inspired by Serial and other true crime podcasts, which mostly don't end with the accused being freed. It took Adnan Syed 8 years to get out of prison, and even now he could go back.

I didn't really like the part where Bodie finds that personal peace. I prefer books that end sad to end sad, not to find some sort of happy ending despite the fact that nothing is resolved.