Fourth Post!

[hoisinsauce]

btw feel free to suggest/nominate post titles

Post about fandom! Or whatever! Whether it's a rave about some obscure series, or an essay dissecting every last reason why some internet-famous author should rethink their career, someone will probably read it at some point! We also just chat about life.

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Comments

Re: BOOKS - Ink Black Heart 🖤

[(Anonymous)]

DA

Interesting, I haven't read that far into the series yet but your issues with it sound a little like the issues I had with the Casual Vacancy (where I found her politics disrupted the book rather than working *with* it the way they did in HP, so they felt lecturey).

I also find your take on Strike interesting because it may be that I just haven't hit the worst stuff yet, but so far I get the impression she really admires him and she's trying to make an effort to make him 'gritty' to balance that out, but it's also like, well, Hagrid was her HP fave, wasn't he? And I always assumed Strike was like 'start with Hagrid but what if he's smart' (and then a veteran to make him gritty haha).

Now I'm trying to picture what a Hagrid detective agency would even look like

Re: BOOKS - Ink Black Heart 🖤

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting, because Hagrid and Strike feel totally different to me. Hagrid is hapless and friendly. He likes meeting people, he likes talking to them, and he puts energy into valuing the friends he has and cultivating new ones, even as he often misreads people. Strike walks around with such a chip on his shoulder, judges everyone (mostly accurately), and actively resists the pressures of any people (in practice, the women around him) to keep him integrated in any sort of social fabric. He's my favorite kind of disaster train - the one who's smart enough to know that he probably shouldn't, but who will go ahead and do it anyway.

He definitely is meant to be admirable in many ways - he's hard working, shrewd, values the truth and helping people - but those are preconditions for me to like him, not the reasons I do.

Re: BOOKS - Ink Black Heart 🖤

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

I think they are v different characters, but I always got the vibe she started with Hagrid to get Strike. Maybe it's just the voice!

Re: BOOKS - Ink Black Heart 🖤

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Hm, I'm having trouble seeing similarities between them other than being male and having messy hair? What am I missing?

Re: BOOKS - Ink Black Heart 🖤

[(Anonymous)]

Bulky guys that do things in a rough/clumsy way that kinda sticks out whenever they go someplace fancy, comfier in the underworld, not well-off, west country accents, family history angst, outdoorsy, both inclined to spend a lot of time alone. When with other characters, those other characters make them more presentable. I do think they have quite different personalities; Hagrid's written to be a (kindly) dumbass while Strike's written as v. smart, and Hagrid's more emotional. Strike's much colder. I don't think either of them would be pleased at the comparison. :P (I also feel like I read something at some point talking about how Strike came to be, and Hagrid was mentioned, but can't find it anywhere, so who knows!) But yeah, I don't think one could be mistaken for the other, but I think Hagrid was involved somewhere in the creative process.

Re: BOOKS - Ink Black Heart 🖤

[(Anonymous)]

Iiiinteresting. I think we might have different impressions of Strike, as I don't think of him as particularly rough or outdoorsy. It might be due to how in the first few books there's more of a focus on his relationship with Charlotte and how he feels out of place when he's with her, whereas in the most recent books there's more time spent on him fitting in comfortably in more formal settings. Goes to show that there is some character development. Food for thought!

Re: BOOKS - Ink Black Heart 🖤

[(Anonymous)]

I guess I think of anyone who could be in the army as quite outdoorsy (or at least, willing to sleep outdoors). I guess most of that happens offscreen and before the story starts, though. (And maybe rough-around-the-edges is closer than rough per se). And yeah, I've only read the first few so it might be that he changed!