#The Running Grave

[emzy-caskett]

Petition to have The Running Grave as 6 episodes please…!? 🙏🏻✍🏻🤞🏻

[montargnator]

Yessss Cormoran, GO FOR IT!!!! 🎉🎉🎉

[rouyn]

Strike x Robin: "As water pours down from heaven, so fire flames up from the earth." - The I Ching or Book of Changes

gifset based on the epigraphs from The Running Grave, chapters 128-129, 131

[105nt]

... the fact that he would, quite soon, be free of Robin was an inextricable part of his enjoyment of her presence ...

... from the very first he had told himself: this far and no further ...

... she occupied a unique place in his thoughts and in his affections ...

... he’d called her into the inner office because he wanted her company as long as he could get it ...

Equally spaced Strike on Ellacott quotes.

[denmark-street]

JKR writing about a cult is everything I never knew I wanted

[margotbamborough]

I'm just jotting down a few themes I've noticed so far in the Running Grave!

Food/hunger/weight: while Robin's undergoing forced starvation in the cult (again, a common form of mind control used by cults) Strike is on a diet. A lot of references are made to characters being under- or overweight. For instance the detail that one of the ex-cult members developed a binge eating problem following her traumatic experience with the cult. Food (and Strike's and Robin's respective relationships to it) has been a pretty consistent motif that has popped up throughout the series so far and it's being made very explicit in TRG. There's definitely an idea of unhealthy relationships with food being explored. (Though also jkr just likes to write about food lol that's pretty clear in hp as well)

Disconnection from family: While Strike is actually connecting with his family more than we've seen before– forging a new bond with Lucy and her family, taking care of Ted, getting to know Prudence– the cult's MO (as is the case with most cults) is the opposite, to alienate victims from their families. We're getting to know several families who have been torn apart by UHC. The central family to the mystery is of course Mazu, Wace, and Daiyu. There's specifically a focus on mothers: there are several mothers or expecting mothers in the cult, Leda, Mazu, Ilsa (the book starts at her son's christening with her as a new mother). Even Bijou's apparent baby-trapping schemes fit into this theme, though I'm not sure how thats going to play out yet.

Mental illness/trauma: Prudence is a psychologist, and several of the cult victims either suffered from mental illness before being recruited or as a result of the trauma they experienced. Lucy discloses the fact that she's in therapy to Strike, a fact which surprises him, and encourages him to pursue therapy as well. Robin and Strike are both characters who have a great deal of unprocessed trauma, which they've slooowly been coming to grips with throughout the series, but I think so far this is the book where it's been most directly addressed. As of yet mostly in Strike's case, though given the nature of what's happening at in the cult I imagine I'm going to start seeing some of Robin's too.

Empathy/forgiveness: I'm not sure how to word this one but there's a feeling that Strike is becoming more open to understanding others and feeling more empathy towards them. He's a character who has previously been somewhat harsh and judgmental towards the people he deals with both in his personal life and his work– I'm not complaining, it's a good bit of characterisation. But after having criticised/scorned Lucy's lifestyle for the entire series so far, he's finally beginning to understand why she is the way she is and respect her. His realisation that she's actually incredibly brave was a HUGE moment. In general, Strike's inner monologue has been much less critical of the people he interviews than it typically is. The cult has a very black and white mentality, people are either good or evil, and I think this is something Strike has tended towards in the past- so TRG seems to be putting forward the notion that people deserve understanding and kindness. That nuance is important. A big issue when dealing with victims of cults is that many of them have been coerced into doing terrible unconscionable things that are difficult for the rest of us to understand, and many of them struggle with guilt, while outsiders struggle to forgive their actions. Steve Hassan explains this very well in his book (which is referenced in TRG and read by Strike)

I may expand on this!! These are just a few thoughts I've had so far

[thesefilespod]

🚨 NEW EPISODE! 🚨

In this week's episode, we begin our reread of The Silkworm, covering chapters 1-3, including all of the Cormoran Strike news we missed out on in between seasons.

Next episode (29 November): Chapters 4-7

Link to listen 🎧: https://lnk.bio/thesefilespod

[thenameofsantiagossextape]

Once again waiting for JK Rowling's new book to turn up on a pirate site, because there's no way I'm giving her terf ass money, but I am also now unfortunately invested in the romance.

I am enjoying how more reviewers seem to be going 'the books are 1000 pages long, doesn't she have an editor'.

[fandomhype]

Is this a recap? A review? Just the mad ramblings of a crazy fangirl?! You decide!

This book was hard to talk about because it's so dark but I found the lols in there somehow :)

[djuvlipen]

(TRG Spoiler)

The funniest moment of The Running Grave was when Strike said "you're in therapy?" and Lucy replied "well yeah, aren't you?" and Strike was like "No???"

[joannerowling]

Listen i realise that Strike is a man of many flaws but he's also just like me for real

[hjellacott]

Finished "The Running Grave". It's absolutely superb, doubtless the best of the Strike series and one of Rowling's top three books ever. I just couldn't put it down, finished it in 35h (minus hours of sleep, food and other stuff). The case was so incredibly interesting, the way she sews all the stories, background, personal stuff, character evolution and case so perfectly done, best she's ever done. At last a book that's 100% case and 100% character growth and 100% personal storylines. Don't ask me how, you'll see it when you read it. And with an epilogue that made me laugh, cry and feel absolutely elated and healed. I loved every minute of it.

[balkanradfem]

I just realized Robert Galbraith's new book is coming out today! It's called 'The Running Grave', and I'm actually intimidated by that title, I'm not scared of graves but I would not like to encounter one that can run. All I know about it is that it's going to tackle cults and cult victims, I'm super excited to read her take on it.

I'll post updates as I acquire the book and start reading!

[beirarowling]

There is a scene in JK Rowling’s new detective novel in which members of a religious cult surround a new recruit, screaming abuse. They call her a selfish bitch, hurling misogynist slurs until she collapses in tears. It’s designed to break down defences, but what her tormentors don’t know is that their victim is an undercover private detective. Robin Ellacott has been hired to investigate the cult by the father of an autistic young man who hasn’t heard from his son for four years.

Ellacott is a partner in the detective agency founded by Cormoran Strike, a veteran who lost part of a leg in Afghanistan. The Strike novels, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, are bestsellers and often seem to mirror preoccupations in Rowling’s own life. The abuse scene in the latest novel is a reminder of the torrents of invective aimed at Rowling since she took a stand in support of women’s rights.

Yet this series reveals something else about Rowling, namely her extraordinary resilience. Three years ago, when she published her magnum opus Troubled Blood, she was wrongly accused of making the murderer transgender — and the menacing hashtag “RIP JK Rowling” began to trend on social media. She has faced vicious abuse, including graphic threats of death and sexual violence, and her address has been published on social media.

Some authors would have found it hard to bear, to the point of withdrawing from the public world for a while. While it is true that Rowling has the protections offered by wealth and status, it is striking that the attacks have not had a limiting effect on her imagination. On the contrary, they seem to have stimulated her creative powers, encouraging her to ask questions about contemporary phenomena such as the misogynist world of online gaming.

Misogyny has always existed, but Rowling understands its modern guises better than most — and the belief systems that allow it to flourish.

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith review — a strike against misogyny

[atorturedpoet1989]

Okay,, THAT ENDING though. I literally closed my book and put it down because I was so shook. I finished it five minutes ago, and I still haven’t processed it. I read that sentence and shock waves emitted from me probably lol.

Another strike and Ellacott masterpiece, as per. Written in stride as ever, and now I need 8 immmmediatelyyy.

[rs-20]

🌊