Book Review- The Cuckoo's Calling (by Robert Galbraith)
Now that my class 12 board examinations as well as my entrances are done and dusted with, I have put an end to my temporary hiatus from regular reading and managed to catch up on quite a few authors I've been meaning to read for quite some time. The thing about me is that I rarely ever pick up a book from among the latest bestsellers and had finished reading everything that had been recommended to me by friends. So, not unexpedctedly, my mind drew a perfect blank at the bookstore. Having decided to experiment, I purchased a copy of Robert Galbraith's 2013 crime fiction 'The Cuckoo's Calling'.
Now, if you pride yourself as a voracious reader then the name Robert Galbraith ought to ring a bell. In what was one the most bizarre discoveries of the year, it turned out to be the pseudonym of J.K Rowling who, in the aftermath of the resounding success of the Harry Potter series wished to try her hand at a different genre barring the weight of expectation that would inevitably come about if she published as herself. When the book hit the stands it garnered such appreciation and critical acclaim that many, incredulous that the novel was a debut, plunged into investigating the author. Eventually when a leading newspaper challenged JK Rowling to admit the truth about being Robert Galbraith, she did so, albeit not without a suit.
I was aware of all the drama surrounding the book and decided to give it a shot purely because I was curious to read Rowling's non- Harry Potter work. However, I was in for a rude shock.
While I'm not a critic of repute, I have read a fair share of crime fiction and frankly, I did not like The Cuckoo's Calling. The plot revolves around Lula Landry, a beautiful model who falls off the balcony of her apartment only to have the world tear into her sordid private life and dismiss her death as a suicide. Her brother John who is unable to come to terms with the apparent case of suicide hunts down Cormoran Strike, a private investigator way past his prime and pleads with him to investigate. The premise as such is rather familiar given the genre so I was expecting a snag somewhere along the story but was disappointed. The book is incredibly slow paced and there was nothing that made me want turn over to the next page, let alone staying up the entire night reading. The reveal is logically consistent but does not leave the reader mind blown. But, perhaps having read one too many Agatha Christie novels, I am guilty of having come to unfairly expect this as a crime fiction staple.
Galbraith is undoubtedly adept at choosing appropriate words to conjure vivid images in a reader's mind but these images aren't all that exciting. As Strike talks to the people part of Lula's immediate circle, a bleak and dreary picture of her life is painted. These secondary characters all seem to be petty and mercenary and their involvement with Lula is clearly for personal gain. They are all at loggerheads with each other and never lose an opportunity to make a spiteful observation or two to the extent that beyond a point, it just becomes repetitive and banal.
The book mirrors reality in that its characters are all varying shades of grey. While a majority of the characters themselves are not unlike those in a typical crime fiction- the maverick investigator, his sidekick, the flamboyant and rich victim whose wealth everybody is after, and of course, the bedraggled policemen who detest extraneous involvement in what they deem to be their territory- there are a couple of exceptions. For instance Strike is not a rebel. He is quite by- the- book and meticulously maintains daily records of the investigation. He is by no means an extraordinary genius and does not have a worshipping admirer in his intelligent secretary Robin. None of the other people are, however, characters one would have not come across from previous reading.
Early on, the book delves a great deal into Strike's past and his relationship with his recently estranged wife Charlotte as well as into Robin's life beyond a secretary with her fiancé. This is given far too much importance considering it turns out to be completely irrelevant to the story and at the conclusion of the book we do not know what happens to the subplots of Matthew and Charlotte. Perhaps these are themes Galbraith has deliberately left ambiguous for want of completion in subsequent books. But these are not reasons compelling enough to make me read the remaining books in the Cormoran Strike series.
Now, if you pride yourself as a voracious reader then the name Robert Galbraith ought to ring a bell. In what was one the most bizarre discoveries of the year, it turned out to be the pseudonym of J.K Rowling who, in the aftermath of the resounding success of the Harry Potter series wished to try her hand at a different genre barring the weight of expectation that would inevitably come about if she published as herself. When the book hit the stands it garnered such appreciation and critical acclaim that many, incredulous that the novel was a debut, plunged into investigating the author. Eventually when a leading newspaper challenged JK Rowling to admit the truth about being Robert Galbraith, she did so, albeit not without a suit.
I was aware of all the drama surrounding the book and decided to give it a shot purely because I was curious to read Rowling's non- Harry Potter work. However, I was in for a rude shock.
While I'm not a critic of repute, I have read a fair share of crime fiction and frankly, I did not like The Cuckoo's Calling. The plot revolves around Lula Landry, a beautiful model who falls off the balcony of her apartment only to have the world tear into her sordid private life and dismiss her death as a suicide. Her brother John who is unable to come to terms with the apparent case of suicide hunts down Cormoran Strike, a private investigator way past his prime and pleads with him to investigate. The premise as such is rather familiar given the genre so I was expecting a snag somewhere along the story but was disappointed. The book is incredibly slow paced and there was nothing that made me want turn over to the next page, let alone staying up the entire night reading. The reveal is logically consistent but does not leave the reader mind blown. But, perhaps having read one too many Agatha Christie novels, I am guilty of having come to unfairly expect this as a crime fiction staple.
Galbraith is undoubtedly adept at choosing appropriate words to conjure vivid images in a reader's mind but these images aren't all that exciting. As Strike talks to the people part of Lula's immediate circle, a bleak and dreary picture of her life is painted. These secondary characters all seem to be petty and mercenary and their involvement with Lula is clearly for personal gain. They are all at loggerheads with each other and never lose an opportunity to make a spiteful observation or two to the extent that beyond a point, it just becomes repetitive and banal.
The book mirrors reality in that its characters are all varying shades of grey. While a majority of the characters themselves are not unlike those in a typical crime fiction- the maverick investigator, his sidekick, the flamboyant and rich victim whose wealth everybody is after, and of course, the bedraggled policemen who detest extraneous involvement in what they deem to be their territory- there are a couple of exceptions. For instance Strike is not a rebel. He is quite by- the- book and meticulously maintains daily records of the investigation. He is by no means an extraordinary genius and does not have a worshipping admirer in his intelligent secretary Robin. None of the other people are, however, characters one would have not come across from previous reading.
Early on, the book delves a great deal into Strike's past and his relationship with his recently estranged wife Charlotte as well as into Robin's life beyond a secretary with her fiancé. This is given far too much importance considering it turns out to be completely irrelevant to the story and at the conclusion of the book we do not know what happens to the subplots of Matthew and Charlotte. Perhaps these are themes Galbraith has deliberately left ambiguous for want of completion in subsequent books. But these are not reasons compelling enough to make me read the remaining books in the Cormoran Strike series.
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