Saturday, July 27, 2013

Writing Drought and Book Review of The Cuckoo's Calling

It has been a long time, almost 3 months, since either one of us posted on here.  We both needed some time off.  J was finishing school and I was planning my wedding!  Kyle and I got married a month ago and there was just too much going on to even consider keeping up on the blog.

Never fear faithful readers, we are back!

It was announced several weeks ago that J.K. Rowling had written a new book that was published back in April of this year.  She published the book under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith.  I saw this come up in my news feed on Facebook through Mugglenet and Hypable.  As soon as I saw this I, of course, looked it up on my local library's catalog.  There was one copy that they owned and it was checked out.  I put myself on the hold list and then looked at my account to see how long I would have to wait.

I was next in line.  SCORE!
  
I didn't read her other book that was written for adults: The Casual Vacancy.  I don't swear often and I don't like to read many swear words in the books I choose.  I also don't like to read about sex. I heard The Casual Vacancy had some of this, so I avoided it. 

This past week, The Cuckoo's Calling, her book as Robert Galbraith, came in for me.  I had to read it within a week because there were now more than 50 people on hold and only one title.  I managed to do just that.

The Cuckoo's Calling's main character is Cormoran Strike, a private detective in London who is sought out by the brother of supermodel Lula Landry after she is discovered dead outside her residence.  It was determined by the police and investigators that she jumped, but her brother doesn't believe that happened.

Cormoran is a character who is just so.......likeable.  He was in the Army in Afghanistan but was forced to leave after an injury took part of his leg.  The book describes him several times at the end of the day with pain at his knee and his removal of the prosthesis before bed. I found myself often sympathizing with his pain or discomfort. He's a large man and can be gruff, short and to the point, but he is also sensitive and comes across as real.

His secretary, Robin Ellacott, is someone I wish we'd had some more time with.  She just got engaged and is working at a temp agency until she finds the perfect job.  She enjoys her work with Strike and helps him out during the investigation in a few ways only a woman could.  The reader hears about the fiance but never actually meets him.  She has some great scenes and I hope she is shown more in the future books. 

Yes, J.K. Rowling has said that the next book is already written and will be released in 2014.

The book was good, but it didn't engage me the way I was hoping it would.  There were several points where Cormoran says something along the lines of " 'Blank' said she told him what she knew, but she gave more information than she thought she did." At any rate, Cormoran was catching things in the interviews that I didn't.  This bothers me more than it probably should. If I had the time to reread the book, now that I know the ending, I'd probably catch more in the interviews.  I just don't like being out of the loop. 

There was more swearing than I prefer, but I was able to overlook that for the most part.  There was also reference to sex, but it wasn't as though you followed the character through those actions. 

What I liked most was how real the book seemed.  I felt like this could have happened in real life.  I'll read the next book, but I'll want to have read The Cuckoo's Calling at least one more time before then.

I give this 3.5 out of 5 stars..........for now.  :)

~M