Point of View

Robert Galbraith tells his novel "The Cuckoo's Calling" from the third-person limited omniscient perspective. This allows the reader to follow the thoughts, actions, and events that affect both Strike and Robin when they are together or apart from one another. This also allows the reader to get glimpses of Strike's personal life, and Emma's personal life, that would not otherwise have been possible (for example, if the novel had been told in the first-person perspective.) The narration is also reigned in by limited omniscience, allowing the reader to know and learn only as much as either Strike or Robin know and learn -and at times, now allowing the reader to know what Strike knows -to build suspense and increase the mystery.

Language and Meaning

Robert Galbraith tells his novel "The Cuckoo's Calling" in language that is swift and educated. This is done for primarily two...