Monday 22 September 2014

RIP IX BOOK 1: The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith (LOL)

"Though they spent so much time trying to make themselves beautiful, you were not supposed to admit to women that beauty mattered."

I finished The Silkworm just before the start of RIP so THIS TOTALLY COUNTS. Also, the fact that I'm writing a review at all is an achievement in itself, so it's all good. Before I say absolutely nothing about The Silkworm (come on, it's a detective novel- CAN I tell you anything about it? Not really...), I think it's important to just say I'm really really glad that the Cormoran Strike novels are going to be a whole series, JUST LIKE I HOPED THEY WOULD BE when I reviewed The Cuckoo's Calling last year. So, what I'm saying is, thanks for listening to me and doing what I wanted, international bestseller and millionaire, JK Rowling.

SO. The Silkworm. I enjoyed this book a lot, to the extent that I managed to read it in a couple of days which really doesn't happen at the moment, and the fact that I only did that because I had to take it back to the library is neither here nor there. It's got a lot of the great stuff from the first book (Cormoran, Robin, mystery solving awesomeness) but it also deepens the things we know about the main characters AND, I think, sets the main crime in an area I'm more interested in than the fashion world, which is the literary world.

What's especially cool about this is that, in my brain, this means that a lot of the characters could easily be caricatures of real editors and authors in the literary world, and since this is kind of a theme of the novel, I'm choosing to believe that's true. There's a murder in this book. I realise that's not incredibly shocking for a detective novel, but at the same time, the only reason I'm telling you about it is that it's almost definitely written in the blurb on the back of your copy, which is annoying. And it's annoying because the murder doesn't happen (or get discovered, I should say) until the middle of the book, which meant that for the first half I was just sitting around WAITING for the murder, which I didn't really appreciate because I knew I was MISSING stuff, but I also knew MURDER was afoot and I couldn't focus.

 But still. This is all really swings and roundabouts, cause when it comes right down to it, I just really enjoyed this book. I think that, as someone who reads a LOT of literary fiction, when I get down to it and read something more genre-y, I really enjoy it because OMG STORY STORY STORY, and then I wonder why I don't read more detective novels. (And then I read more detective novels and remember that most people can't really write, and THAT is why I read Lit Fic). So that's part of the deal with this, but also, you know, characters and plot and some really gross and disturbing stuff and JK can WRITE, man. She really can.

I feel like this was very rambly, and for that I apologise. Really all I want to say is this: I feel like I've seen some people going 'I feel weeeeird about reading anything by JK that isn't Harry Potter', and you know what? I get you. But, the thing is, weird feelings or no, you're really going to be missing out on something awesome if you keep living your life like that. Cormoran Strike not only has an awesome name, but is a really excellent character, his lovely assistant Robin is, you know, lovely, and I kind of love everything about these books. You probably will too, so just stop worrying and learn to love this brave new world of JK's writing. It's pretty great.

11 comments:

  1. YAY I loved this. It was my enthusiastic explanation of SIlkworm that lead me to chop the end off my thumb off that time...
    Also, JK has said she will probably write more Cormoran Strike books than Harry Potter.

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    1. Agh, I feel like that would be the one time JK has failed you!! I had to tell everyone about the, ahem, dog bit. SO GROSS AND AWESOME.

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  2. I felt weird about reading anything by her that wasn't Harry Potter... but then I tried the Casual Vacancy and really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to reading the Cormoran Strike books.
    I think my issue was that I love Harry Potter so much that I would be upset if her other books weren't as good, but it's stupid to not read something that you might love because you're afraid that you won't like it! I will make sure that I don't read the blurb before reading either of the books (I try not to read blurbs in general anyway, I like to be surprised by whatever I'm reading)

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    1. "it's stupid to not read something that you might love because you're afraid that you won't like it!" This is very, yes. Like, a life motto or something (I mean, not just for reading. For LIFE, man). These books really are so good though. And aww, The Casual Vacancy! I'm very fond of that book.

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  3. This book is amazing! I really enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling when I finally got round to reading it, but the Silkworm was EVEN BETTER! J.K. Rowling really is an incredible storyteller. Crime novels are usually books I'll only read once, but these will be worth rereading to see all the clues knowing how they fit together. And I can't wait to read more from "Mr Galbraith."

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    1. I'm not sure how much I care about re-reading these, just because, like you say, once I know whodunnit, I know whodunnit. But you're right, the storytelling is top notch, and the WRITING, and there were all these allusions to The Cuckoo's Calling in The Silkworm that I was sad I didn't get. So, maybe.

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  4. It's so lucky you have JK Rowling's ear. Next tell her to write a story about Dumbledore's early years or maybe something told from the perspective of a low level employee who has to ferry messages between the PM and the MM. K thanks byeeeeeee

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    1. YES DO THIS PLEASE.

      Then after that, a Marauders book too.

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    2. Ok, I'm pretty sure she reads this (OBVIOUSLY. Who doesn't?!) so I'm sure she's on it right now. THIS IS GOING TO BE AWESOME, GUYS.

      (OMG so much a Marauders book. Soooooooo many HP prequels, please. I care a lot more about what happened before than what came afterwards)

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  5. Right, so I should read some "Galbraith". And I will. It will happen.

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    1. You really should! They're so quick to read too cause they're so excitinnnng (also because you have to get them back to the library because of all of the holds on them. But whatever.)

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