In Episode 138, author Rebecca Makkai discusses I Have Some Questions for You, her latest novel that explores societal issues such as racism and wrongful incarceration through the lens of a crime story. This was a five-star book for me and looks to be *the book* of 2023 so far! Rebecca shared how she engaged with readers using click-bait style headlines and created a sense of intimacy through the second-person point of view. She also goes behind the scenes of how she pitches her new book ideas to her agent and publisher. Plus, Rebecca gives us her book recommendations!

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Highlights

• A spoiler-free glimpse into her latest book, I Have Some Questions for You.
• What inspired her to start writing the book, including the initial wave of the #MeToo movement and the public’s fascination with true crime.
• Insider knowledge about when she shares her work with agents and publishers.
• How she blended elements of crime within her literary fiction novel.
• How she uses click-bait style headlines to draw readers in from the opening of the book and throughout the story.
• Why Rebecca used the second-person point of view and how that created an intimate connection between readers and the protagonist.
• How she used student testimony and gossip to shape the narrative and delve into issues such as racism, sexism, and abuse.
• How she reconciled the viewpoints of the ’90s with modern perspectives in her novel.
• A sneak peek of what Rebecca has planned next, including a hint about her upcoming book, and learn about her 84 Books Project.

Rebecca’s Book Recommendations [30:43]

Two OLD Books She Loves

• The Door by Magda Szabó | Amazon | Bookshop.org [30:57]
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson | Amazon | Bookshop.org [33:32]

Two NEW Books She Loves

• If an Egyptian Cannot Speak English by Noor Naga | Amazon | Bookshop.org [36:34]
• The Guest Lecture by Martin Riker | Amazon | Bookshop.org [40:06]

A Book With Which She Has a Complicated Relationship

• London Fields by Martin Amis | Amazon | Bookshop.org [42:11]

One NEW RELEASE She’s Excited About

• Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine (June 13, 2023) | Amazon | Bookshop.org [47:52]

Last 5-Star Book Rebecca Read

• Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali | Amazon | Bookshop.org [49:09]

Other Books Mentioned

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai [1:05]
• The Borrower by Rebecca Makkai [1:58]
• The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai [2:01]
• Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai [2:02]
• The Tiger’s Wife by Téa Obreht [7:01]
• All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay [9:43]
• When the Stars Go Dark by Paula McLain [12:09]
• The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson [34:29]
• The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson [34:39]
• The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan [42:02]
• Time’s Arrow by Martin Amis [42:47]
• Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy [45:39]
• The Upstairs House by Julia Fine [48:02]
• The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb [48:51]
• The Ensemble by Aja Gable [48:53]

About Rebecca Makkai

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Rebecca Makkai is the author of the novels I Have Some Questions for You, The Great Believers, The Hundred-Year House, and The Borrower, and the story collection Music for Wartime. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, The Great Believers received an American Library Association Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, among other honors, and was named one of the Ten Best Books of 2018 by The New York Times. A 202 Guggenheim fellow, Makkai is on the MFA faculties of the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe and Northwestern University, and is the artistic director of StoryStudio Chicago. She lives on the campus of the midwestern boarding school where her husband teaches, and in Vermont.