JK Rowling's new book - A detective novel about a trans serial killer murdering women

Dirty Hipsters

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It's like she's trying really hard to make people dislike her.

"There are so many pathetic things about JK Rowling's new "cis man in a dress commits crimes" detective novel, but one of the main ones has to be that this writer who considers herself a master of mystery really just recycled the plot of Ace Ventura."
 

Revnak

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I will never regret growing up Evangelical solely because it means I didn’t read Harry Potter.
 

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I will never regret growing up Evangelical solely because it means I didn’t read Harry Potter.
I didn't read it, but mostly because "Wizard School" didn't appeal to me. I eventually saw the movies and found them ok(but I was in my 30s when I saw them).

Though like 90% of things that take place in school don't appeal to me either. Beastars was the last "School" thing that I enjoyed but honestly you'd be forgiven for thinking that school was basically a Drama club.

As for the OP,

Wasn't that the plot of Silence of the Lambs or am I remembering that wrong? Didn't Buffalo bill have some wierd, creepy "lady suit" thing going on along with his gender identity issues? It's been a long time since I've seen it and I didn't read the book.

It does sound rather tone deaf regardless.
 
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meiam

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I'm guessing this is a case where she's just doing it to spite peoples. It probably started with her saying something small that was taken as transphobic at some point and she decided to double down on it because nobody want to be seen as someone who changed their opinion because someone got mad at them. And now it's the hill she's ready to die. I can't see why else anyone would be willing to go that far on a subject that's so unimportant.
 

SupahEwok

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I didn't read it, but mostly because "Wizard School" didn't appeal to me.

Though like 90% of things that take place in school don't appeal to me either. Beastars was the last "School" thing that I enjoyed but honestly you'd be forgiven for thinking that school was basically a Drama club.

As for the OP,

Wasn't that the plot of Silence of the Lambs or am I remembering that wrong? Didn't Buffalo bill have some wierd, creepy "lady suit" thing going on along with his gender identity issues? It's been a long time since I've seen it and I didn't read the book.
Psycho too.

Honestly, it's been tried and done.
 

Trunkage

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Psycho too.

Honestly, it's been tried and done.
Yeah, all these movies shine a real good light on mental health issue. And, by shining a light, I mean making them seem like the worse possible thing and we should want to die before having a mental illness....

Then we wonder why suicide rates is way up
 

lil devils x

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Personally, I really like the Harry Potter books and movies and wish they would do more, I would like to see them written about the lives of their children. There is certainly enough content and back story there to do movies and series. These are some of my all time childhood favorites. Hell, I would even like fan fiction books and movies if they were able to do them well. My sister is even a bigger fan, her Halloween decor is Harry Potter themed, she recreates Hogwarts. This type fantasy style is more what I like than things like postapocalyptic or mech or superheroes. For me, this type of fantasy fiction is relaxing and enjoyable to immerse myself into their world as an escape to the troubles we are forced to deal with on a daily basis in reality. It is " fun" and uplifting, even when it turned dark, there was a current of hope and positivity that remained. I have a few harry Potter collectibles including my sword of Gryffindor and an Elderwand among other things.

I have had to learn to separate the art from the artist however, or I would not be able to enjoy any of my favorite things as the world has a long tribulated history of horrible things people have said and done. I wouldn't go out and build statues to these creators, but I will still allow myself to enjoy the stories, paintings, sculptures and other works they have created for what they are.

At this point, it just seems she is doing this detective novel sarcastically doing this out of spite. This isn't her first detective Novel, she wrote others pretending to be a man.
 

lil devils x

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I didn't read it, but mostly because "Wizard School" didn't appeal to me. I eventually saw the movies and found them ok(but I was in my 30s when I saw them).

Though like 90% of things that take place in school don't appeal to me either. Beastars was the last "School" thing that I enjoyed but honestly you'd be forgiven for thinking that school was basically a Drama club.

As for the OP,

Wasn't that the plot of Silence of the Lambs or am I remembering that wrong? Didn't Buffalo bill have some wierd, creepy "lady suit" thing going on along with his gender identity issues? It's been a long time since I've seen it and I didn't read the book.

It does sound rather tone deaf regardless.
Buffalo Bill was based on a real serial killer, Gary Heidnik.
 

Hawki

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I will never regret growing up Evangelical solely because it means I didn’t read Harry Potter.

Personally, I really like the Harry Potter books and movies and wish they would do more, I would like to see them written about the lives of their children.
They tried that with Cursed Child.

It didn't go down well. :(

At this point, it just seems she is doing this detective novel sarcastically doing this out of spite. This isn't her first detective Novel, she wrote others pretending to be a man.
I doubt that. There's no way she could have written the book that quickly if it was in reaction to the "TERF" accusations.

And I'd joke about how Rowling pretending to be a man is "problematic," but there's already similar arguments out there.
 

Terminal Blue

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Wasn't that the plot of Silence of the Lambs or am I remembering that wrong? Didn't Buffalo bill have some wierd, creepy "lady suit" thing going on along with his gender identity issues? It's been a long time since I've seen it and I didn't read the book.
I mean, from what we can tell. Yes, it's pretty much the same.

At the time, however, the popular understanding of being a transsexual was very different from our modern understanding of being trans. "Real" transsexuals were starting to appear in the media as sympathetic victims who had been born in the wrong body. They were shown as desperate, lonely people who only wanted to fit in, and thus the emphasis was always on how gender conforming they were. But the flipside of this is that any person who wasn't gender conforming or who wasn't heterosexual could not be a real transsexual.

Buffalo Bill is presented (in the film at least) as an autogynophile, a kind of sexual fetishist for whom being a woman is a perverse sexual fantasy. He is not gender conforming. His sexuality is ambiguous and predatory. Much care is taken to show how different he is from a real trans person. The film tells us that he can't be a transsexual because transsexuals aren't violent (yes, trans people are just inherently peaceful by nature). We find out he was refused a sex change because it was (correctly) determined that he was not really transsexual.

And at the time, this was backed up by research. Research which in retrospect is horrifyingly wrong, but nonetheless by the standards of the time it's pretty normal to believe. I find it hard to blame a straight, cis filmmaker from 1991 for not being woke enough to see past the queerphobic prejudices of the age in which they lived.

It's very different from JK Rowling still doing the same thing today, 30 years later, when the term "autogynophile" is only ever used as a slur against transwomen.
 
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B#tch can have her pathetic story. I did enjoy HP back in the day, but lost interest around the 3rd and 4th film. JK really needs to sit down, shut up, and get over herself.
 

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They tried that with Cursed Child.

It didn't go down well.



I doubt that. There's no way she could have written the book that quickly if it was in reaction to the "TERF" accusations.

And I'd joke about how Rowling pretending to be a man is "problematic," but there's already similar arguments out there.
She can actually put out novels pretty fast, so I wouldn't underestimate her ability to get it done quickly. I haven't read any of her detective novels, nor do I intend to. I am not really all that interested in detective stories. Though it is also possible she had already been working on another detective novel when she decided to " Alter it" out of spite.

Yea.. I meant GOOD harry potter spin offs and fan fiction.. not that mess...
 

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Buffalo Bill was based on a real serial killer, Gary Heidnik.
Buffalo Bill was more of an amalgamation of several murderers and serial killers. Ed Gein tends to be a big influence of a lot of serial killer lore (despite not actually being a serial killer). Pretty sure the whole "woman suit" idea in Silence of Lamb is based on Ed Gein.
 
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lil devils x

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Buffalo Bill was more of an amalgamation of several murderers and serial killers. Ed Gein tends to be a big influence of a lot of serial killer lore (despite not actually being a serial killer). Pretty sure the whole "woman suit" idea in Silence of Lamb is based on Ed Gein.
I think you are correct in that they based different aspects of the character on multiple serial killers, I just remember watching something on it a while back that was like this:
Silence of the Lambs : The True Story of Gary Heidnik

But according to WIki ( as much as that can be trusted) It says different aspects of his character was based on all these serial killers:
"Harris based various elements of Gumb's MO on seven real-life serial killers:[2][3]

  • Jerry Brudos, who strangled his victims, dressed up in their clothing and kept their shoes.
  • Ed Gein, who fashioned trophies and keepsakes from the bones and skin of corpses he dug up at cemeteries. He also made a female skin suit and skin masks.
  • Ted Bundy, who pretended to be injured (using an arm-brace or crutches) as a ploy to ask his victims for help. When they helped him, he incapacitated and killed them.
  • Gary M. Heidnik, who kidnapped, raped and tortured six women while holding them prisoner in a pit, where two died.
  • Edmund Kemper, who, like Gumb, killed his grandparents as a teenager "just to see what it felt like."
  • Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer (still unidentified at the time of the novel's writing), who, like Gumb, dumped women's bodies in rivers and inserted foreign objects into their corpses.
  • Alfredo Ballí Treviño, Mexican serial killer who murdered his boyfriend and then decapitated him. Also suspected of killing several hitch-hikers. [4]"
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill_(character)
Wiki sounds about right though.
 
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Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
I'm guessing this is a case where she's just doing it to spite peoples. It probably started with her saying something small that was taken as transphobic at some point and she decided to double down on it because nobody want to be seen as someone who changed their opinion because someone got mad at them. And now it's the hill she's ready to die. I can't see why else anyone would be willing to go that far on a subject that's so unimportant.
It would be hilarious if the pov character was a put upon author who was the best and prettiest author ever.
 
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Dreiko

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Sounds like a boring premise, I don't get the outrage, either pro or against this book. Wasn't there already a movie with this premise like 20 years ago? That whole "it puts the lotion in the bin or else it gets the hose again" or whatever it was.
 

Thaluikhain

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She already had a transgender murderer (or attempted murderer) in the same series. Ok then.

Personally, I really like the Harry Potter books and movies and wish they would do more, I would like to see them written about the lives of their children. There is certainly enough content and back story there to do movies and series.
You seen the prequel films or read up on Pottermore and stuff? If not, I'd recommend that as a way to make that feeling go away.

Sounds like a boring premise, I don't get the outrage, either pro or against this book. Wasn't there already a movie with this premise like 20 years ago? That whole "it puts the lotion in the bin or else it gets the hose again" or whatever it was.
...

Did you not read any of the other posts in the thread?
 

Dreiko

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Did you not read any of the other posts in the thread?
Nope. Responding to the OP, if I was responding to something else in particular I'd quote it.