Bob W – The earthy talk is somewhat excessive. There are BBC specials on J.K. Rowling that are quite interesting and worth viewing. One interesting note is that Rowling heard voices that command her to write. I was less than excited about the amount of pages toward the end of the book explaining how he solved the mystery, but I thought the language was beautiful. I knew too much about the author. I found it interesting how she put it together. Grade – B+
Dick J. – I have read all four Robert Galbraith mysteries. The series lacks some of the usual tension between police and private detectives. The book also features more personality development and local color than many detective stories. The book goes into great detail describing furnishings of apartments. My favorite sentence – At his nephew’s birthday party Strike narrated that “his feelings on the cooler side of tepid for his brother-in-law.” At no time was I bored. Rowling wrote the first three books one year apart; quite a literary feat. This was my second read of this book, but I could not remember who the killer was from my first read. It is not great literature. I read lots of mysteries. This book was interesting and enjoyable Grade – B+
Tom – I was put off by the epilogue fabricating a fake identity for the author. The Strike character reminds me of the Rockford Files, in which Rockford is poor, has lots of police and woman troubles and lives in a trailer in a parking lot by the beach, John started Strike’s inquiry to try to pin the murder on Lula’s brother, Jonah.
Looks like John got murderously mad when Lula told John, “It’s done, I gave it to my brother." What seemed most unreal to me was that Strike drank 11 pints of beer. The book was well written and held my interest. My favorite detective series are the Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. I enjoyed the read but she could have cut our 30 to 40% of the bulk. I was able to keep the characters straight. I found her writing interesting. Grade – B+
Bob Simon – I didn’t discover until the end that the book’s author was J.K. Rowling, which was a pleasant surprise. Then I found out I was the last person in my family to have read it. I liked that there were several possible candidates as the killer from the downstairs neighbor to the Uncle. It struck me as being like a Thomas Hardy novel that wrapped up all the plot twists and connected all the clues in the last thirty pages. I found the first part of the book tedious, but after a couple of hundred pages, I got into the book. I was glad to have read it. Grade – B+
Keith – I seemed to me that Lulu was a metaphor for the real cuckoo, a bird that moves in and dominates any nest until the other birds leave. Lula was like that. She consumed the entire cultural landscape. See attached poem. Grade - C
Karl -- I enjoyed the book. It was a good read, but it'll never be confused with great literature. I found it interesting that Strike (with one exception late in the book) always answered every question posed to him truthfully and completely. This is atypical of private investigator fiction where the PI's generally hold things back. For me, the descriptions were often too detailed and tedious; they didn't help push the story forward. I had fun following Strike's wanderings through London on Google Maps; I was able to find most places, but not all. Finding out who the author actually is -- after finishing the book -- was the biggest surprise for me. I'm still trying to decide whether or not I'm going to invest the energy to continue reading the "Strike series." Grade: B.
Ron – this book reminds me of many other contemporary British detective novels. It follows the British template of presenting the murderer in the first chapter. I liked Strike. He reminded me of Luther played by Idris Elba, with all the emotional complexity of a man with difficult life experiences. The interaction with the detectives in this book was less formulaic than in other books I have read. The writing was pretty good. It held my attention from the very first, but after a while it got too long. I found it tedious and thought it would have been better at half the length. Grade – B
Next meeting at Ron’s on April 25. Come at 12:00 noon for hot dogs or at 1:00 for Book Club meeting.
... and from well outside Mayfair's Kentigern Gardens:
Dear Bob: Sorry I won't be able to attend the LTBC meeting you are hosting next week. I am at 6,200 feet, sitting on my rooftop terrace enjoying the sun and a bottle of ice-cold Bohemia Oscura. No, not in Placitas; I am in San Miguel de Allende in the state of Guanajuato, Mexico, site of the Chichimec War (1540-1590--140 years before the Pueblo Revolt in New Mexico) where the Chichimec Confederation defeated the Spanish Empire. It is also the birthplace of Juan Aldama and Ignacio Allende, two significant figures in the Mexican War of Independence (1810-21). San Miguel was the first Mexican town to gain its independence from Spain.
Enough history! Let's get to the mystery. I enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling. It was very entertaining and a perfect pick to read in a lounge chair with a beer in my hand overlooking San Miguel's skyline. I enjoy mystery novels and there were enough twists in this one to hold my attention. Occasionally I got bogged down in some of the dialog and scene descriptions, but on the whole I found Galbraith's/Rowling's writing style easy to read. Not sure it is great literature, but I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys crime fiction. B+
P.S. Bob, thank you for choosing this book over Anthony Burgess' novel, A Dead Man in Deptford. I could only get one-third of the way through Part One of that book.
Regards, Jack
Notes sketched on the Last Thursday
Bob: Sorry to miss
this evening’s meeting.
Well into the Spring
of this year and the Autumn of my years, and not unlike a Literary Johnny
Appleseed, I am on a mission to distribute copies of Fair Condition across the Great State of Texas, in the hopes that
the Land of Beto and Ted will find purchase for our seed.
As I travel, I have traversed some 2/3 of the March
selection and offer notes and observations:
- I continually reflect back to the thought: if no one had told me that this book was actually the work of J.K. Rowling, would I have approached it differently? Did that fact prejudice my view, my interpretation, my observations? I have found numerous descriptive passages, e.g., of the way the women dress, look, even act, where my mind says, “Ah! It sounds and feels like this passage was written by a woman! Way too much detail for a male author!”
- I now understand why the Mystery genre has not been a favorite on mine: too much work! When Strike obtained the entire police file on the Lula case, my thought was, “Oh, no! Now I, like Cormoran, have to go through all that file, piece by piece – and 99% of it will be routine, but there will be some clue in there, some incongruity that is not obvious now, but will break this case wide open in another 300 pages or so … and I must keep all this in mind as I go through those pages, limping along painfully like our valiant PI.” Egad, too much to ask of me!
- Current grade: B
- Appreciation: learning more Brit slang, e.g., “paps”. Love the interaction between Strike and Robin, especially early on as he called her “Sandra” in front of his new client, and Robin played along. Great fun!
- Epiphany: Like Texans, Sapiens are not all similar in their likes and dislikes. I have had two qualified readers, including our own Dick Jensen, tell me, “That’s a really good book!” To me, The Maltese Falcon was a really good book – the difference? I struggle with that; perhaps the LTBC’s discussion clarified the distinction between clever writing and hidden mysteries.
Closing Notes on The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert Galbraith on the First Sunday
I did feel somewhat compelled, even wanted to read the entire book - I will give her that. However: upon return to the cold hard light of the New Mexico early spring, I find my views have hardened. I could not believe we all had to sit there as Strike, a man previously of very few words, laboriously went through for the audience of one-each murderer every nuance of his theories of how the murder occurred - right down to how many wet dripping flowers John had held up to the peep hole to fool Lula into opening the door. Oh, yes, he had recorded it all, so wasn't that clever. This is not a good book. This is a C book.
Mike
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