'I Have Some Questions For You' and The Ethics of True Crime
An essay and rumination and review
Sometimes I read a book and it acts like an intellectual octopus, reaching out with its suction-cupped tentacles, bringing disparate memories and readings and thought experiments into a gelatinous centre that requires attention. I Have Some Questions For You by Rebecca Makkai did that for me this week.
Bridie and I will be digging into our complicated feelings about the ‘true crime’ genre in the next episode of Cool Story, and in jotting down a few anecdotes from my life, and articles I’d read recently that brought different perspectives to the true crime ecosystem, the ‘jotting down’ grew into a 3500 word essay.
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Giveaways and Special Editions
We’ll be back with a regular edition of News & Reviews next week. Then on the first Wednesday of September it’s time for News & Reviews Magazine. Get excited. I am! I just finished editing Neha Kale’s extraordinary dissection of the last dozen ‘sad girl novels’ that left us with the same empty feeling—you’re gonna luuuuurve her deep-dive as much as I do. Guaranteed.
The winner of last week’s giveaway, Yen-Rong Wong’s debut memoir, Me, Her, Us, is #96. I’ve emailed you, Isabelle Sutton!
Rebecca Makkai’s Novel, I Have Some Questions For You, and The Ethics of True Crime
My memoir won ‘Best True Crime’ at the Ned Kelly Awards in 2019 and while it still makes me a little uneasy to think about what that title means for a memoirist, it makes me physically squirm in my seat to remember one of the speeches at the awards ceremony.
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