I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU

by Rebecca Makkai

Because I thought Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers was such a great read (read review here), I couldn’t wait to read I Have Some Questions for You.  Although the two books are very different, I Have Some Questions triumphs as well.  Where The Great Believers uses historical fiction to develop a story about the AIDS epidemic and its effects on a network of friends, I Have Some Questions falls somewhere between a psychological thriller and a mystery.

The protagonist of I Have Some Questions, Bodie Kane, accepts an invitation to guest teach a film course at the private boarding school in New Hampshire from which she graduated 20 years before.  What she thought would be an idyllic, restorative break from her normal teaching load, turns out to fill her with anxiety and pain.  Being at her alma mater causes Bodie to relive her adolescent years at the school which were rife with insecurities. But also, she can’t stop herself from digging into her boarding school roommate’s murder that happened their senior year.  She isn’t convinced the case was actually solved, although the school’s athletic director was convicted of the crime. Having no background in police or detective work, Bodie explores every angle and investigates every person she thinks may have gotten away with murder.

Written with a poignancy that brings back those uncomfortable adolescent feelings, Makkai pulls the reader in and keeps her laser focused until the last page.  I really had no idea how Bodie would resolve the mystery of her roommate’s murder and I thought Makkai laid out multiple scenarios in a masterful manner.  Be sure to put I Have Some Questions for You at the top of your summer reading list. (Liz)