J.K. Rowling's 'The Cuckoo's Calling': What are reviewers saying now that the secret's out?
Few titles make reviewers sit up and pay attention more than a new book by J.K. Rowling.
So when it was revealed that the novel 鈥淭he Cuckoo鈥檚 Calling,鈥� billed as written by Robert Galbraith, was actually by the 鈥�Harry Potter鈥� author, some publications that had originally failed to review the book (that is, most of the big players) went back to take a second look at what had originally looked like a low-profile mystery by a debut novelist.
Most of the critics now taking a look at the book are saying that they're impressed.
critic Michiko Kakutani enjoyed it, calling 鈥淐uckoo鈥� 鈥渁 highly entertaining book that鈥檚 way more fun and way more involving than Ms. Rowling鈥檚 sluggish 2012 novel, 鈥楾he Casual Vacancy鈥欌�� and calling detective Cormoran Strike 鈥渁n appealing protagonist.鈥�
鈥淚n 鈥楾he Cuckoo鈥檚 Calling鈥� Ms. Rowling 鈥� er, Mr. Galbraith 鈥� seems to have 鈥� studied the detective story genre and turned its assorted conventions into something that, if not exactly original, nonetheless showcases her satiric eye 鈥� and her instinctive storytelling talents,鈥� Kakutani wrote.
writer Thom Geier was also favorably impressed, awarding the novel, which he called 鈥渃leverly plotted,鈥� a B+, though he said he was less impressed with the character of Cormoran Strike than he was with secretary Robin.
鈥淩owling is better at developing Robin, a resourceful Yorkshire gal thrilled to be in London and helping a real live PI, and at capturing the colorful celebrity culture,鈥� Geier wrote.
writer Charles Finch gave the novel three-and-a-half stars out of four for his review.
In the book, 鈥渟he returns to the strengths that made Harry Potter great 鈥� the beautiful sense of pacing, the deep but illusionless love for her characters 鈥� without sacrificing the expanded range of 'The Casual Vacancy,'鈥� Finch wrote. 鈥淚n doing so, she's written one of the books of the year鈥�. 'The Cuckoo's Calling' presses too hard on the theme of fame in the tabloid era 鈥� not an unworthy subject, but stale by now and without fresh treatment here. Still, that barely seems to matter when the characters are so full and when Rowling has never written more nuanced, considered prose.鈥�
However, reviewer Maureen Corrigan was not as enthralled, running her review with a headline that read 鈥淭he only surprise in Rowling鈥檚 鈥楥uckoo鈥檚 Calling鈥� is the author.鈥�
Corrigan remembered shipping off her review copy of 鈥淐uckoo鈥� with others she had donated to a library weeks before.
鈥淭he library is welcome to my review copy and whatever funds it may raise,鈥� Corrigan wrote after reading 鈥淐uckoo鈥� via her Kindle. 鈥�'The Cuckoo's Calling' falls into that vast middlin' range of fiction that I mentally shelve in the "I've read worse, but I've read better" category. I couldn't even find a memorable quote from this novel.鈥澛�
Corrigan said she was put off by what she saw as old-fashioned behavior on the part of secretary Robin.
鈥淭hroughout much of the story she serves coffee to clients, makes cow eyes at Strike, and tidies up the office loo,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭he most intriguing unsolved mystery in 'The Cuckoo's Calling' is why, in this post-Lisbeth Salander age, Rowling would choose to outfit her female lead with such meek and anachronistic feminine behavior.鈥�
