I've just finished Troubled Blood and there is NO transphobia

[AviceCaro]

I've just finished it - it's very long and very very good - and definitely no transphobia! One brief mention of someone who might be the murderer might have worn a woman's coat to confuse his victims - it's one page out of 900! It's so not relevant to the plot.

It's such a good read, and really disappointing that it's getting so much negative attention.

@Datun

I have really enjoyed watching them all make tit ends of themselves though. So many oblivious people have witnessed the nastyness and registered it as what it is

YY.

The reaction is so off the scale batshit, people who would otherwise not give a toss, are suddenly very interested and totally bemused by what an earth she's meant to have done.

I think that the freedom of speech issue, the totalitarian demands, the insistence that people chant simplistic slogans, submit to the new orthodoxy. Sit down. Shut up. The denunciations, the #no debate? This is on explicit display. It has limited support. And its acolytes look like fanatics. There is a pushback against this BS.

They rushed to condemn a book they hadn't seen, that hadn't even hit the shops. They can try and spin it as much as they like but they can't walk back from that, ever. It's out there.
If they had any brain cells at all they'd hold up their hands and say, 'yeah I've been a dick'. But then we know they don't have any brain cells because they condemned a book they hadn't seen.

@AbsintheFriends another way of saying she’s on “the wrong side of history” maybe?

Yeah, maybe that wizened old multi-purpose chestnut. Ironic that Munroe Bergdorf is condemning the work of the most successful writer of our generation but can't even compose a coherent tweet to do it.

State Media have done a short vid on this, focusing on Prick News and their dangerous proximity to the wrong side of libel and harassment laws.

A women's coat is any coat that comes with a free gold lame bag.

I’m feeling better about this whole agenda today. The behaviour of the TRAs towards a beloved and thoughtful woman is plastered all over the media. People are seeing this shit. I am getting traction from people when I mention the behaviour of these ideologues whereas previously people reacted as if I had a weird obsession. Now they see the issue with their own eyes. Plus some previously silent journalists I follow quietly retweeting the Nick Cohen piece or some similar commentary. This is getting sunlight.

A list of killers who enjoyed dressibg as women ...further down in Munroes twitter feed ..this never happens ...

Sorry am twitter illiterate but @bunifoosh has a ton of stuff on men pretending to be certain things to gain access to women ...cant find the original trans / cross dressing thread.

I don't normally read crime novels, but was thinking of reading this in support of JKR and as an internal 'fuck you' to the woke twats baying for her blood.

Do I need to read the other books in the series first, or are they stand-alones?

I've ended up watching 3 series of Cormoran Strike on BBC iplayer. I wasn't a big fan after reading a very average novel I can't really remember a few years ago, but I've been drawn to watching it simply because of the madness gripping people over some perfectly normal and reasonable words.

It's formulaic, but I quite like the look of it and all detective fiction is predictable. At least there's not the usual lingering, sleazy shots of dead women .

The story of Strike and Robin starts in series 1 and develops but the crimes are standalone stories.

lazylinguist You can read it as a stand alone, but there are lots of references to events in the previous books, and it is very definitely a series that builds. If you're a not general fan of the genre, you might find four increasingly hefty books before this one quite hard going. I'm a massive fan of Galbraith and crime fiction in particular so it was no hardship to me to have read it through already, having bought it on Tuesday. I don't think she'll win many awards for writing style but she is a ferocious plotter and has created some wonderful characters.

The irony of all the accusations of transphobia is only clear when you find out 'who dunnit' and get a lesson in not judging by appearances and stereotypes. But obviously I won't spoil it here.

As well, all the way through Troubled Blood there are descriptions of just about every kind of discriminatory, misogynist and violent behaviour against women you can imagine, and JKR holds them all up to the light and shows how ugly they are. I think it's the most explicitly feminist of the series.

If you're a not general fan of the genre, you might find four increasingly hefty books before this one quite hard going

It's not that I don't like the genre, it's more that I've never actually tried getting into it. I'm definitely no stranger to very long books though! Right, I'll have a go at the first one then. Might buy Troubled Blood now anyway though - the more people buy it the better as far as I'm concerned!

• [Message from MNHQ, added at poster's request: Warning - this post contains spoilers]

JK Rowling has written a bit about Troubled Blood on Robert Galbraith's website:

' The changing face of feminism and ideals and stereotypes of femininity are also examined through the cast of characters. The vanished doctor was an ardent feminist who once worked as a Bunny girl. The complexities of Dr Bamborough’s life are mirrored in Robin’s own, because she’s approaching thirty, going through a divorce and asking herself how she could ever reconcile a demanding and sometimes dangerous job with motherhood. Meanwhile the suspects in Dr Bamborough’s disappearance include a womanising patient who seems to have developed feelings for her, a passive-aggressive husband who wanted her to quit her job to become a full-time mother, and a sadistic serial killer active in the 60s and 70s, who was loosely based on real life killers Jerry Brudos and Russell Williams – both master manipulators who took trophies from their victims.'

lazylinguist didn't mean to imply big books were not your bag!

Yes, do buy away and I hope you enjoy reading it. I had a copy reserved at the library, but then was both too impatient to wait to read it, and very keen to help sales as a gesture of solidarity.

Spoiler!!!

Oh well. Robin divorcing was 100 percent predictable.

The book is about female experience, so far as I can see (two-thirds in). About the sex based issues women face, as well as the ever present sexism and misogyny.

That's why ppl are having a tanty over the book. JKR again committed the great crime of centering female oppression.

Escapeplanning, that was kind of a big spoiler because I've only read the first two books. Your warning didn't give me enough time to avoid the rest of your post!

Thanks @AviceCaro

I’m confused (again). Surely by sometimes identifying as Robert Galbraith JK is trans or gender fluid.

As Robert Galbraith she / he comes under the Stonewall definition and therefore must be supported as one of the most vulnerable people in society?

EdgeOfACoin

I was reacting to 18:47 ArabellaScott who gave that away.

Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't realise I'd given a spoiler. Just took this off JKR's (well, Robert Galbraith's) website.

some activists are systematically training the world to avoid anything even remotely or distantly possibly to do with trans

I think this is a really important point. For example: five years ago I'd have had no problem employing someone trans - what could possibly be a problem?
Now, a trans employee would want special bathroom arrangements, pronouns on all internal communication, would push for Stonewall Champion status, et. But more than that, I'd be constantly walking on eggshells trying to make sure that I couldn't be accused of doing anything supposedly 'transphobic'.
Why would anyone potentially put themselves through that? I'd find an excuse to employ someone else instead (which of course is transphobic, but there you go, I'd play the odds).

What's annoying about lies like this is they become part of the narrative. We can all check now to see they are baseless propaganda, but in six months this will be cited as 'proof' and nobody will bother to check.
You see it already with articles referring to JKs 'transphobic' essay, or her 'transphobic' tweets.
In a year there will be references to JKs 'transphobic' novel, along with maybe a link to Penis News or something, and it will be accepted as truth.

Yes, alias, I find it really disheartening. The lies just pile up and ossify and become part of an 'accepted truth'. So now JKR is unquestioningly taken as 'transphobic', even though the whole characterisation was composed of lies and manipulative interpretations of actions and words. I suppose it's a sort of long-term gish gallop. How does one even start to unpick it, months later? People like their glib soundbites, easy black-and-white thinking (she's evil) and have no inclination to read, research, consider and apply critical thinking to anything.

Also, I've reported my post that quotes from the book above and asked for a spoiler warning to be added.

A womans coat is quite obviously a coat without any useful pockets

In my experience, it's one with tissues, sweet wrappers and biscuit crumbs, a pound coin for the trolly, for some reason a small child's pair of socks (sometimes used) in the pockets - it was generally bought by someone else in the family, and then I started wearing it when they abandoned it for a new one.

In the 70s my mum had a fabulous suede coat with a big fluffy collar. I suspect they probably mean something more like my nan's though - a grey-blue mid-calf-length thing with a broach on the lapel (occasionally daffodil/lucky heather/rose/some other flower aquired for some reason)