In wishing that JKRowling would shut the fuck about her new novel?

[ExitPursuedByABear]

For days now the media has been awash with interviews about her new 'adult' book. Every time I turn on the radio or the tv, there she is, giving another bloody interview. She has said she thought about publishing it under a pseudonym but decided to go public. You know what JKR, anonymous would have been a good idea.

I mean, the Harry Potter books are a good yarn but hardly great literature so I am not exactly champing at the bit to get my teeth into her 'adult' offering.

And apparently it contains swearing .

She has called her fictional middle class village with the adjacent sink estate Pagford.

[BrainSurgeon]

Exit you started by being unreasonable, pleased to see you're changed you attitude

I watched her interview on the telly last night - it was the only intelligent thing I could find, having trawled all channels for a couple of hours

I was actually thinking about starting and AIBU thread today about her - "AIBU to really like JK?"

[BrainSurgeon]

I also thought she would fit really well here on MN - bet she is a MN-ter already!

[twoGoldfingerstoGideon]

Question for the people who say HP is 'badly written'... what do you mean by this? That it doesn't meet your exacting standards of grammar or syntax? That it follows a predictable plot? That it contains cliches? Perhaps all of these?

A book can have all these features and still be 'well written' by virtue of the fact that it entices readers into an imaginary world, makes them care about the characters, sucks them into the plot and creates an enjoyable experience for them.

In that sense, JK Rowling is definitely a 'good writer'.

[twoGoldfingerstoGideon]

It is rather odd, too, that adults are judging a children's book and finding it 'badly written'. What measure are they using?

[Ullena]

I still remember the Jill Murphy series about witches etc...collected it through the school bookclub when I was at primary. The HP books reminded me of it when I read them - my DS hates reading and wanted them looked over before her DCs read them.

I just realised that I read the first four HP books over the course of two days

I need to get out more

[LauraShigihara]

I spent six months last year reading all of them aloud to my youngest as his bedtime story and I reckon they are perfect to digest that way.

There's plenty of speech, good pace and enough description to set the scene without it all crawling to a halt, unlike some authors (Michael Morpurgo, I'm looking at you). As an adult who likes a decent, interesting read, I think they are certainly written well enough to keep my attention.

In fact, DS enjoyed it so much that we have started them all over again.

[VeritableSmorgasbord]

There's definitely one of them that's noticeably worse to read than the others. I didn't mind them at all. LOL at comparing them with 50 Shades of Grey! I suppose it might be a bit like that.....except that kids will go on to greater things, while I suspect those 50SoG readers will stick with abusive heroes and obsessive idiocy masquerading as love.

[BurlingtonBertieFromBow]

YABU because I like her

The books are not badly written, imo. They are written like a lot of commercial, popular novels and I could never stop turning the pages (I could not read 50 Shades or anything by Dan Brown - now that is badly written). The detail in the plots is impressive by any standards, surely.

All this uber-publicity will be coming from her publishers. I will probably not rush out to buy this one because I'm not desperate to find out what happens before I read any spoilers, but I'll read it at some point.

And I like the way she hasn't given up complaining about how unfair and judgemental society still is. Her open letter to David Cameron was great.

[Bluestocking]

I love JK. She is one of the very few mega-rich people who are absolutely upfront about the importance of paying their taxes properly. In a recent interview in the Guardian, she says, in answer to a question about whether her accountant has ever suggested Jimmy Carr-style tax avoidance schemes .... she looks appalled. 'No! God, no, he's not that kind of accountant. No. No one's ever put that kind of thing to me ? but then, they wouldn't, they just wouldn't. I do take a pretty dim view of those things. I actually chose my accountant because he said to me, 'You have to make a fundamental decision. You have to choose whether you organise your money around your life or your life around your money.'

And in any case, if the media want to talk to her about her new book, why shouldn't they? Lots of people are interested.

[wheresmespecs]

Actually, she has given very few interviews (one main interview at the launch) - but the media have run the interview and quotes a lot. That's where the exposure comes from.

So she's done the exact opposite of what you accuse her of, OP. And the opposite of what her agent and PR people will have wanted.

I've never understood why people are so incredibly bitchy about JK. Her fortune is always mentioned early on in sneery terms - but she's earned every penny of it. She's not a dodgy banker, she doesn't sell arms to the third world - she writes books. People like them. They made them into films. So burn the witch!

I suspect that some of the bitchiness is just because she's a successful woman (other high profile male writers don't get half the bitchy slagging she does) - and because she made her fortune writing children's books, many people have the (deluded) feeling that is was easy - the 'I could have done that' type.

Except they didn't, did they.

I'll be interested to read the book.

[Lifeispainless]

I hadn't heard about the book until today.

I thinks she's a brilliant inspiration, a struggling single-parent who has done very well for herself.

And I don't begrudge her a single penny of her fortune.

[tanteclaire]

YABU. she's doing interviews to publicise her new book, in which there is massive media interest given the huge success of HP.
I think she'd be pretty odd if she wasn't everywhere! I just think it's a shame that the book isn't getting great reviews. I will wait for the paperback.

[Lifeispainless]

And calling JK Rowling 'a self-serving cunt' is one of the most pathetic things I've ever read.

[ExitPursuingDameAbsy]

Me too Lifeis. But then I have never used the C word.

[rubberglove]

And if anything proved mumsnet is tainted by silly, jealous cunts, this thread has...

[IShallPracticeMyCurtsey]

I love her and won't hear a word against her. She is a very good writer indeed. (Stephen King has written thoughtfully about why this is the case.) She is kind and strong and really seems like both a good person in general and the type of woman I want to go for a boozy dinner with. Her Potter books have brought joy to so many, kids especially, and brought kids back to books at a time when reading was in decline. I think she's bloody brilliant.

[IShallPracticeMyCurtsey]

Disgruntled rejected authors are so often the first to come out with mean, sneery comments in the face of another success.

[OrangeImperialGoldBlether]

I agree with you, IShallPracticeMyCurtsey. She's absolutely great. Anyone who can get my non-reading son reading books of several hundred pages gets my respect anyway, but I agree with you about her character. The interview with her last night was really good; I don't know how anyone could dislike her after that.

As for the idea that an author controls her publicity... does the OP really think that? Obviously they do what they can to help publicise their books, but does the OP think that an author dreams up an advertising campaign and puts it into practice?

[IShallPracticeMyCurtsey]

She's an advocate for women and children and everyone who's ever faced discrimination or been forgotten by the system. Her books are deeply moral - which sounds boring - but then she has this ability to plot and storytell that most authors can only dream of.

[Dereksmalls]

Am surprised about the comment saying she's horrible in RL. The people I know who've met her say how pleasant she is.

[KarlosKKrinkelbeim]

I have never read a harry Potter book but I was dragged to see the firast film (now there's an hour and half of my life I won;t get back) and it did strike me how similar the idea was to the Worst Witch stories I read as a child. I know it's difficult to sue for plagiarism and I guess Jill Murphy has never tried but I'm a bit suspicious of Ms Rowling all the same.

[Farewelltoarms]

Sorry as I like her principles, but does no one else notice the ginormous amount of Botox she's had? She's got that whole haunted Tupperware thing going on and this disturbs me because she's a phenomenally successful writer. there's no excuse for it and the message that all the facial work seems so at odds with the rest of her. It's got so I can't think of anything else when I see her.

[KarlosKKrinkelbeim]

I think a lot of her public pronouncements put peoples' backs up because she does sound a bit preachy. She's entitled to her opinions of "Middle England", but I'm not sure someone who apparently thinks Gordon Brown's a really good guy is someone whose judgement of character I particularly respect.

[twoGoldfingerstoGideon]

Oh lovely, let's slag off her appearance now, shall we Farewell?