28 questions book review

28 Questions

Indyana schneider.

368 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 20, 2022

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28 Questions by Indyana Schneider

Reviewed by Chris Gordon

The premise of British-Australian opera singer Indyana Schneider’s novel, 28 Questions , is to examine what creates and sustains a successful relationship. It is set over four years, five cities and organised into 28 questions, which range from ‘what brings you pleasure’ to ‘do you find giving up easy?’ Schneider explores these ideas by delving into the lives of the two key characters, Oxford music student Amalia and Australian expat Alex. Certainly, I enjoy a love story as much as the next person; however, this is a novel more about growing up, rather than falling in love.

A better means of enjoying this book is to set aside the intended love story and to read it as an exposé on being young, hopeful and free. The questions posed by each chapter work wonderfully well to structure the novel, giving us a deep understanding of the two key characters. Amalia’s friendship with Alex allows us to explore music, literature, art, dance and sex. The author was also a music student at Oxford and her understanding of opera and scores is impressive, as is her sense of place.

This is a novel about owning a philosophical position. It is about the power of friendship and the importance of questioning influences. Some may consider the premise fanciful, but the writing is infused with colour and movement, celebrating sexual rendezvous and all the intense marvellous emotion shaped by passion and love. If you loved Sally Rooney or Diane Reid’s writing, or if you’re a romantic, then consider this for your next read. Or perhaps, like me, you simply need a reminder of how we become who we are; 28 Questions offers some answers.

Chris Gordon is the programming and events manager at Readings.

28 Questions: A love story for our times and for all time

Indyana Schneider

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28 Questions by Indyana Schneider

28 Questions is a novel about what makes relationships, as two women meet as students, fall deep into friendship and then in love. Amalia moves from Australia to Oxford to start as a first year music student and is still dealing with the culture shock and the work when she meets Alex, another Australian in her third year. They quickly become best friends, asking each other questions and learning more and more about each other, but Amalia starts to realise they’re both maybe feeling the pull of attraction. A romantic relationship might be perfect, or it might change things forever.

Spanning across four years, three at Oxford and then one once Amalia has graduated, 28 Questions uses the idea of it taking 28 questions to fall in love to structure the book, with each chapter named after a question that will occur. The premise sounds a bit like a romcom, and I did see it being marketed as a ‘queer When Harry Met Sally ‘ (a film the book references a few times, around ideas of friendship and sex), but it is less of a romcom than a coming of age type book set at university, exploring love, sex, and relationships as well as music and art and what is highbrow or not. One book it actually reminded me of in some ways is The Lessons by Naomi Alderman (which is funny because characters talk about Alderman’s Disobedience in the novel), as it has a similar sense of complicated love story entwined in Oxford, though 28 Questions is much more focused on the love aspect than the ‘can Oxford students function as humans’ part.

All of the dialogue in the book is written as if a script, with name tags for who is speaking, and though it’s an unusual conceit, I didn’t find it hard to get into, but I imagine it’ll put some people off. There’s also a lot of classical music and opera throughout, which I don’t know much about, but I enjoyed the vibe and some of the discussions about music, and thoughts about creating things and enjoying art more generally. There’s a lot of Oxford detail in this, which I appreciated, and it depicts the insular, pressure cooker feeling well, though I expected more follow through around this later in the book, as it felt like there were things Alex was hiding.

The relationship between Amalia and Alex shows the complexity of feelings, and also how something that sounds good on paper might not work out when people’s actual tendencies and emotions come into play. I liked some of the conversations and the way intensity was shown, and how Amalia expected certain conversations to go, or expected certain types of combative discussion due to being at university. The book captures very well some of the experiences of university and trying to find out who you are whilst also feeling pressure to do well and seem clever, but also how this bleeds into relationships and where lines might be between finding and losing yourself in them.

I really enjoyed 28 Questions , particularly through some of the ideas it explores and the fact it depicted a university experience similar to my own, though I did keep expecting there to be slightly more drama or things later revealed in the plot. I also liked the fact it takes the Oxford student obsession/love story plot and tells it with two women, both quite similar rather than a typical class or other divide, and there’s some good lingering tension between them. If you like university-set stories about messy love and friendship, then this one is worth a read.

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What Rachel Did

Reviews, travel writing and musings from a bookish Glasgow girl

Book Review: 28 Questions

Thanks so much to Simon & Schuster for letting me read 28 Questions in advance. I started reading this a few months ago as I thought it was a rom-com but, realising very swiftly that it wasn’t and it had more depth than I had anticipated, I put it aside to read at a later date. I really enjoyed those first few chapters: set at Oxford, littered with culture references, complete with an interesting way of delivering speech, a promising complicated love story, and intriguing depictions of characters and dynamics. I don’t think the rest of the book quite lived up to the promise of those first few chapters, but I still really enjoyed it!

Amalia is a first-year student at Oxford, and when she meets fellow Australian Alex, she is immediately attracted to her. 28 Questions is all about their relationship – their fluctuations from best friend to maybe something more. But I have to admit that I didn’t really care about Alex: I was sympathetic towards her as she struggled with her sexuality, but once the book reached its halfway mark and things ~developed~ I found that I wasn’t invested in their relationship one tiny bit. My only other complaint is that I felt the atmosphere was lacking – part of the book is set in London but it honestly could have been set anywhere, which is something that always annoys me.

Otherwise, though, I would recommend this. I liked the observations and character details; I really enjoyed reading about Oxford students in a non-romanticised way; I liked the periphery characters, particularly Eve and Cate; and I liked the slow and steady way the narrative unfurled, taking Amalia from an insecure eighteen-year-old to an adult not sure about the choices she has made. The slow build felt very realistic, even if not everything was to my taste. 4 🌟

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I'm Rachel, a writer, bookseller and recent creative writing graduate! I mainly blog about books and travel. You can follow my blog at www.whatracheldidblog.wordpress.com. :) View all posts by Rachel - What Rachel Did

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Kathryn White. Author. Book critic. Blogger. Poet. Cat lover. INTJ. Caffeine junkie. Insomniac.

Review: 28 Questions by Indyana Schneider

Amalia is a first year music student at Oxford College. One evening, a mutual friend introduces her to Alex, a fellow Australian at Oxford. The pair quickly form an intense friendship that, as Amalia becomes more self aware of who she is and what she wants out of life, that becomes a relationship. But can friends ever really become lovers? What does it take to truly fall in love with another person? And what happens when that relationship ends.

Each chapter is based around 28 questions that, when answered, are purported to make a couple fall in love with one another. Through these questions, we follow Amalia as she navigates her way through university and then out into the real world, maturing along the way. Intercepted into the narrative are bits of music that she writes, mostly things that reflect her feelings for Alex.

This was an interesting glimpse into what it means to leave home and to be living in a new and strange place when faced with some of life's big questions. I found parts of the novel quite intense, while other parts had a lovely level of self-awareness. Initially, I thought that this one would be very similar to Normal People, but with a same sex relationship, but I was soon proven wrong. 28 Questions has its own unique story and characters, and works all the better for it. And despite knowing that it ended in heartbreak, I most definitely wanted to keep reading and sharing in Amalia's journey.

Overall, 28 Questions is an intelligent read and one very well worth giving a chance.

Recommended. 

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Australia for my ARC. 

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emandherbooks

28 Questions – Indyana Schneider

They say it takes 28 Questions to fall in love. Then what?

‘Reader, imagine yielding to someone with a power so strong she has the ability to slice time. Before. Her. After.’ When first-year music student Amalia stumbles into her Oxford college bar, she has no idea that everything is about to change. Seated across from her is Alex, a velvety-voiced fellow Australian with eyes the colour of her native sky. They strike up a friendship that is immediate – its intensity both thrilling and terrifying. As the days and weeks go by, they spend more and more time together: philosophising, hypothesising, questioning everything. There is nothing they cannot talk about, except the one thing that matters most. Dare they risk a romantic entanglement if it threatens this most perfect of friendships?

Set across four years and five cities, and suffused with music, literature, art, dance, sex, and the exquisite pain and pleasure of first love, 28 Questions is a passionate and unforgettable first novel about love in all its guises, growing up, and figuring out who you are along the way.

I enjoyed this book but didn’t love it!

It contained lots of important questions and provided some very poignant thought provoking moments but I just didn’t manage to feel connected to the characters, which is a real shame.

I also didn’t love the style in which is was written but understand that is the main point of the book and probably more of a me problem and just down to personal taste.

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They say it takes 28 Questions to fall in love. Then what?A queer “When Harry Met Sally” for the Sally Rooney Generation.‘Reader, imagine yielding to someone with a power so strong she has the ability to slice time. Before. Her. After.’When first-...

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