Love your insights!! This makes my reading experience -- third or fourth time through -- so much richer. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. This Pre-Hallmark read along is great fun!
Wow never would've guessed Edie Ledwell was the 5th most mentioned character in the series. Probably would've guessed Jasper Chiswell. ... and playing the quiz looks like chiswell is eighth.
I’m so intrigued by your thoughts about the beginning paralleling the opening of Lethal White. I agree, they won’t fall into each other’s arms, but I do think Robin has been fundamentally changed by her time undercover at Chapman Farm. Maybe her development will follow Strike’s — he suffered in Ink Black Heart, was changed by it, but still fell into his typical error and hooked up with Bijoux before behaving fantastically better through the end of Running Grave. Robin shows her growth in the last scene of Running Grave by choosing to ask Strike directly about his meeting with Amelia. She will remain her kind and thoughtful self, but she isn’t going to live a lie simply because the truth is painful for Murphy or disrupts the peace and social expectations of others. That doesn’t mean she won’t have one last Bijoux-like mistake! Maybe we will also see a reflective moment similar to Strike’s experience in the round-tower church. Will Robin have to loose someone? Or, maybe she will integrate the lessons learned at the farm into her life when she holds Martin’s baby?
The idea of a Bijou-like mistake is fascinating--- I just hope it isn't getting engaged or married to Murphy again. While I hope Robin doesn't have to lose a loved one, we have already had a foreshadowing of Michael's heart condition, and Martin and Carmen seem reckless enough that they could die in a DUI accident or something. I think it Rowntree may be the next to go--- it would link back to Wolfgang's death in book 6.
The more I think about it, the more I think Robin will have a moment similar to Strike’s last conversation with Charlotte’s ghost. I think JKR sets up these parallels to emphasize what’s really essential. With Strike in the round church, what essential to his growth in that scene? He finally exorcises the Charlotte virus. The church and the vicar represent the maternal love of Joan which wins out over the vestiges of Strike’s drive to protect Leda and save Charlotte. What does Robin need to exorcise? The evil she suffered wasn’t just the rape, but re-traumatization in a horrible court trial. Through that process, she healed, but everyone in her life changed how they thought of her and what they expected. Mathew was not intimidated by her, so he was kinder, hiding his true personality, as well as more demanding and less respectful. Linda infantilized her. Ms Cunliffe saw Robin as slightly contaminated. Others assumed that someone who left university had no ambition for any specific career, much less a career requiring toughness and risk. Robin’s feminine socialization and easy-going personality leads to her acceptance of all these assumptions and expectations thrust on her by others. I think that is the growth she’s been struggling with all series. I think a change in her relationship with Linda seems like the Big Symbolic Scene awaiting Robin. Something - maybe a small moment - will occur to clarify that Robin defines herself and her mother accepts that, rather than Linda’s ideas informing Robin’s sense of self.
Love your insights!! This makes my reading experience -- third or fourth time through -- so much richer. Thank you very much for sharing your thoughts. This Pre-Hallmark read along is great fun!
Thank you, Anne. Glad you are on for the ride.
Wow never would've guessed Edie Ledwell was the 5th most mentioned character in the series. Probably would've guessed Jasper Chiswell. ... and playing the quiz looks like chiswell is eighth.
https://www.sporcle.com/games/masonified/most-mentions--cormoran-strike-series
I’m so intrigued by your thoughts about the beginning paralleling the opening of Lethal White. I agree, they won’t fall into each other’s arms, but I do think Robin has been fundamentally changed by her time undercover at Chapman Farm. Maybe her development will follow Strike’s — he suffered in Ink Black Heart, was changed by it, but still fell into his typical error and hooked up with Bijoux before behaving fantastically better through the end of Running Grave. Robin shows her growth in the last scene of Running Grave by choosing to ask Strike directly about his meeting with Amelia. She will remain her kind and thoughtful self, but she isn’t going to live a lie simply because the truth is painful for Murphy or disrupts the peace and social expectations of others. That doesn’t mean she won’t have one last Bijoux-like mistake! Maybe we will also see a reflective moment similar to Strike’s experience in the round-tower church. Will Robin have to loose someone? Or, maybe she will integrate the lessons learned at the farm into her life when she holds Martin’s baby?
The idea of a Bijou-like mistake is fascinating--- I just hope it isn't getting engaged or married to Murphy again. While I hope Robin doesn't have to lose a loved one, we have already had a foreshadowing of Michael's heart condition, and Martin and Carmen seem reckless enough that they could die in a DUI accident or something. I think it Rowntree may be the next to go--- it would link back to Wolfgang's death in book 6.
The more I think about it, the more I think Robin will have a moment similar to Strike’s last conversation with Charlotte’s ghost. I think JKR sets up these parallels to emphasize what’s really essential. With Strike in the round church, what essential to his growth in that scene? He finally exorcises the Charlotte virus. The church and the vicar represent the maternal love of Joan which wins out over the vestiges of Strike’s drive to protect Leda and save Charlotte. What does Robin need to exorcise? The evil she suffered wasn’t just the rape, but re-traumatization in a horrible court trial. Through that process, she healed, but everyone in her life changed how they thought of her and what they expected. Mathew was not intimidated by her, so he was kinder, hiding his true personality, as well as more demanding and less respectful. Linda infantilized her. Ms Cunliffe saw Robin as slightly contaminated. Others assumed that someone who left university had no ambition for any specific career, much less a career requiring toughness and risk. Robin’s feminine socialization and easy-going personality leads to her acceptance of all these assumptions and expectations thrust on her by others. I think that is the growth she’s been struggling with all series. I think a change in her relationship with Linda seems like the Big Symbolic Scene awaiting Robin. Something - maybe a small moment - will occur to clarify that Robin defines herself and her mother accepts that, rather than Linda’s ideas informing Robin’s sense of self.