The Silkworm - Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)

[Fragile Bird]

For those of you who enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling, J. K. Rowling has released 2 chapters (or parts of 2 chapters) from the next installment in her Cormoran Strike series, The Silkworm.

Available here: http://www.robert-galbraith.com/TheSilkwormExcerpt.pdf

[Iskaral Pust]

I did enjoy it, and was very surprised considering the appalling quality of HP.

Hopefully Silkworm will be published pretty soon.

[deleted01]

Ooh lovely! It's coming out in the UK on the 19th of June. I've pre-ordered it from WHSmith, so it should arrive around then.

[Datepalm]

Read this today (thanks, internet going out!) Like TCC and The Casual Vacancy, really easily readable and with a pleasantly sharp mean streak and a fun mystery and mileu. I liked it more than TCC, I think. The characters are coming into their own and there were a few hints of unreliable narrator, almost, to Strike. He's still this extremely sympathetic, charismatic sort of character, but there was also a little more vanity and condescension to him, that made the whole thing far more interesting.

[deleted01]

Started this last night. It's great so far, really enjoyable (also liking the topic of Cornwall coming up. I wonder if he'll go there).

[lady narcissa]

I have picked it up but I'm saving it for next week when I'm on vacation and without a computer. Very much looking forward to it. I really enjoyed the first one.

(also liking the topic of Cornwall coming up. I wonder if he'll go there).

Oooo *fingers crossed* I hope so.

[deleted01]

Well they went down to Tiverton, but no mention of visiting Cornwall just yet. I'm holding out hope!

I just love it when I see fragments of my own life in novels - driving down the M5, stopping at the Tiverton service station.. not that I'd recommend it - the services near Bristol are much nicer! :p

[deleted01]

Finished it this morning. I really enjoyed it too. Lots of twists and suspense, interesting characters and a crazy storyline. I can't help but like Strike and Robin (Robin really needs to chuck that Matthew though. What a git he is).

I was grumbling when it seemed like it was Fancourt, but I should have known it wouldn't be the most obvious. Nice twist with the dog poo too :laugh: Only slightly disappointed at the lack of Cornwall - maybe in the next book? :p

[Datepalm]

Oh god, the dog poo. That was

nasty. The first thing in a long while that made me have to put a book down for a minute.

I'm not so sure about Matthew - Strike really dislikes him, but what struck me about this book is that Strike really dislikes virtually everyone in it. The Matthew we see out of Shrike's sight, back home or with Robin, is a lot less irritating, much less of a caricature of inadequate 21st century masculinity.

Shrike is actually incredibly judgmental. He knows exactly what kind of effect he has on someone like Matthew - the jealousy, lack of confidence, need to make a display of manliness, etc...and he's kind of a total jackass about it. (Much the same dynamic with the half-brother, only he's a little milder because he can make use of him and there's no hints of UST in the picture.) He's equally judgy and condescending to the guy he was in the army with who's life he saved - I was genuinely impressed by how breathtakingly callous his willingness to simply toss aside that friendship - which he had maintained up to that point - was once he'd cynically managed to get everything he could out of it. He's a douche to Nina as well, on similar grounds - he'll make use of her for information, sex and companionship, and then walk away once he's satisfied. Because of course he's already neatly classified her, pinned and tagged - and resolved her much too typically this or the other to be of any interest to him.

Then there's his well meaning sister, who's crimes of being happy in her marriage in the suburbs don't, by my reckoning, earn her having her brother's snotty fiancee standing about and insulting her children in her own home. (Of everything Charlotte does or is recollected as doing in the book, that's the one that I find absolutely irredeemable, character-sympathy wise. It would take some truly spectacular writing for me to like her in the slightest after that.)

And it's all topped by the casual assholishness of getting his nephews and godson gifts he knows will annoy their parents. He's never immoral - he seems perfectly sincere and dedicated when it comes to questions of justice and even honor, in it's way - but it's matched by this healthy dose of pettiness and contempt for almost everyone he comes into contact with. (I loved it.)

[deleted01]

:lol:

As usual, you're absolutely right. Strike is exactly how you say he is, and yet, he's another Walter White character. I can't help but overlook his faults.

I think we saw more of Matthew in this book through Robin's eyes, and he just seems like a snobby, brattish git (however, she does think that she's now seeing Matthew through Strike's eyes). I just see Robin and Matthew's relationship as the typical "we met at school, we made sacrifices, he/she stuck with me throughout all these difficult times, so we have to stay together". Because of Robin's change in attitude more than anything else, I don't personally see them staying together for much longer.

I sincerely hope Rowling continues to write this series.

[Datepalm]

:lol:

As usual, you're absolutely right. Strike is exactly how you say he is, and yet, he's another Walter White character. I can't help but overlook his faults.

I think we saw more of Matthew in this book through Robin's eyes, and he just seems like a snobby, brattish git (however, she does think that she's now seeing Matthew through Strike's eyes). I just see Robin and Matthew's relationship as the typical "we met at school, we made sacrifices, he/she stuck with me throughout all these difficult times, so we have to stay together". Because of Robin's change in attitude more than anything else, I don't personally see them staying together for much longer.

I sincerely hope Rowling continues to write this series.

I think you're right about Matthew/Robin - that they've been together since like Junior High and that she's just so grateful to him and that he's so iffy and controlling of her don't really speak well of them. But at the same time...there are a few little touches that made me rather sympathetic to him. His willingness to support Robin when she finally framed the job as being about her rather than about Strike, his rather mehish family and the way he preferred Robin's warmer, more homey one, and the scene where he's actually meeting Strike - yeah, he's being a prat, but Rowling just so nailed how self-conscious he is and how hard he's actually having to work there that I was really sympathetic despite myself. It hit that note of uncomfortably real, you know?

From another angle, he's also so obviously established as something that is holding Robin back - you know, her old, ordinary, boring life, that she'll shed behind her to emerge as a cool, awesome, special person just like Strike - that perversity bids me to be on his side in some weird way. I wouldn't normally be this critical about that kind of narrative, (I wouldn't have much to read if I was,) but the main plots of both The Silkworm and the Cuckoo's Calling are really intensely about those kind of issues of appearances - celebrity, vanity, reputation, the intense awareness of people as to how they're perceived by others, basically - that it makes it really jump out at me and beg to be examined for themes and subversions when they're met in the subplots and background characterization of the recurring characters as well.

I guess Strike being good at looking through all that as sharply and unsentimentally as he does makes him a good detective, but it also makes him a lousy person to try to hang your friendship on - who knows when he'll decide he just doesn't want to put up with your dim little life anymore and walk away? I just really want this stuff be explored more and maybe come back to bite him the ass eventually...I don't need to overlook it, it makes it a better read. :) And yeah, I could happily read another half-dozen of these, I hope she keeps writing them. (Though at this point I think i'd read a bodice ripper if that's where Rowling decided to turn next - i've thoroughly enjoyed her writing across three genres now.)

[Derfel Cadarn]

I liked it. I loled at him buying a drumkit for his godson just to piss off the parents. He doesnt seem to like his friend all that much, though the friend seems to be the one mostly pursuing it, out of gratitude.

[deleted01]

Strike being so judgemental seems almost like a defensive mechanism - as if he expects everyone to judge him in a negative way, so he does it first. I enjoy his way of thinking because some of it is how I secretly think :p

I agree - I was hoping to see more of Robin and Matthew's relationship. I'd read anything by Rowling too - she's a particularly talented individual.

[lady narcissa]

I finally finished it and I enjoyed it a lot...but perhaps I enjoyed TCC's a bit more mainly because of the suspects and victim in that book. The "guest stars" of TS weren't as interesting to me. But I enjoyed reading about the continued evolution of Strike and Robin and their working relationship. And I overall enjoyed the mystery. What I always love best about JKR's books are the multitude of characters she creates and how effectively she captures them in just a few sentences. And how grounded in locations and places her stories always are. Many times I've passed the murder location when going to and from Heathrow and now I will never be able to go past there without that murder on my mind.

One thing I think JKR is doing really well with this series is laying the groundwork for future novels in the series. Obviously we will have to get some more explanation of Robin and her background and what exactly happened to her that made her drop out of college. And we didn't make it down to Cornwall in this book but you wonder if the next book will pick up right where this one left off as he heads down there for Christmas. And you just know there is going to be a book that focuses more on Charlotte coming back into Strike's life. No doubt her Viscount husband will end up dead and she will be the primary suspect and Strike will be guilted into proving her innocence.

One thing that kind of jumped out in this book and made me pause was the setting of it a few years back...very specifically with the mention of William and Kate's engagement. Did JKR just want to take advantage of and incorporate that specific year's December weather into the story? Or is there any other reason she would so specifically place it in a given year? It just seemed odd because otherwise it could have just been a generic contemporary December.

[Fragile Bird]

I have now picked up the book at Costco ($17 or $18) and will start on it as soon as I finish one of the books I'm reading now.

I suspect JKR chose a specific time to start her series because that will allow her to create a time line and background her readers will be able to relate to. I know that when I read TCC the details allowed me to place the action and view it in a very clear manner, which added to my enjoyment of the novel. :)

And I so agree about layering details in the novels for future reference.

[lady narcissa]

I suspect JKR chose a specific time to start her series because that will allow her to create a time line and background her readers will be able to relate to.

I don't recall TCC being grounded in 2010 specifically. Maybe I missed a reference in it but my recollection was it was more generic current year than a few years in the past.

[Fragile Bird]

I don't recall TCC being grounded in 2010 specifically. Maybe I missed a reference in it but my recollection was it was more generic current year than a few years in the past.

I'd have to go back and look for some of the background information, but I'm pretty sure there were some references to currents events. I remember thinking to myself that she had pinpointed the time period.

[Datepalm]

That jumped out at me too, especially the anti-war protests.

[john]

Agreed about Strike being an arsehole. That's actually really interesting but he's probably a bit much of an arsehole. The "I've got plenty of friends" line was what threw me. Thinking it is fair enough but who says that to win an argument?

Otherwise I find the way that Strike sees the world compelling, Charlotte is gorgeous so worth the chaos, Lucy is annoying, Anstiss is useful. I can find a lot to relate to in it but I doubt I'd see people the way he does (except Matthew who does act entirely like a twat throughout Strike's meeting with him). I wonder if he lacks empathy? But then he seems to relate to pschopaths well enough.

Of course everyone in the books seems to have their faults on display. Other than Robin who is clearly an angel.

I don't think this is a spoiler but I'll tag it anyway:

Anyway, I've noticed a two book trend of Strike having a final showdown with the villain where he explains everything to them over several pages Hercule Poirot style, during which the villain, who appeared perfectly normal in all the rest of the book, seems to become a gibbering maniac. Then the villain attacks him or flees, rather than, you know, denying it and having a court case. This seems kind of silly when the rest of the book is about realistic detective work.

Also, I correctly guessed the villain for the second time, which is an issue. It's all very cleverly constructed but if you happen to notice things which aren't mentioned which really should be it becomes kinda obvious.

[lady narcissa]

I never really mind if I can guess who the murderer is when reading a mystery. I generally could with Agatha Christie, for example, but that never diminished my enjoyment of reading her stories. I actually dislike it more when the murderer comes out of nowhere and the author has held back on revealing clues to the reader simply so the detective could reveal them at the end when the murderer is unmasked. And as its a closed world I prefer the clues to be there and for the reader to be able to pick up on them.