Trans activists go for Rowling with string of one-star reviews
‘I won’t put money in her pocket’
JK Rowling’s latest book has been deluged by one-star reviews as the fall-out over her views on transgender issues gathers pace.
Critics of Troubled Blood, written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, have posted savage reviews on a major book website.
The fifth publication in the Edinburghbased author’s Cormoran Strike series was published on Tuesday and received critical acclaim from professional reviewers.
But it was also targeted by transgender activists, who panned it on influential Goodreads.com.
They included people who admitted they had not read the book but still gave it a one-star rating.
The novel – which features a murderer who dresses up in women’s clothes – initially had an average of 2.5 out of a possible five stars and has since reached 3.5 stars. But many reviewers who gave it one-star rating branded the author ‘transphobic’.
Mayra, one of more than 500 reviewers to give the book one star said: ‘I won’t put money in her pocket again. Do I feel bad about leaving a one-star review on a book I haven’t read? Nah.’
Another reviewer, Sam, said: ‘I don’t normally rate books I haven’t read but for JK Rowling I’ll make an exception!’ Another, posted before publication, read: ‘If you read this book, consider yourself a transphobe.’The Harry Potter author has also faced a backlash from some cast members of the Harry Potter films after voicing concerns on transgender issues.
Miss Rowling, who has homes in Perthshire and Edinburgh, has written about ‘erasing the concept of sex’ and taken issue with the phrase ‘people who menstruate’.
PinkNews characterised the book in one article as being ‘about a murderous cis man who dresses as a woman to kill his victims’.
The minor character wears a woman’s coat and wig to abduct a woman but the novel does not describe him as a transvestite.
Critic and novelist Joan Smith said there was ‘no trans element in the book’ and that it contained ‘a very positive portrayal of a lesbian couple’. She said it was ‘incredibly irresponsible’ of people to attack the novel – which has since had 500 five-star Goodreads reviews – without having read it.
Goodreads says the site will not tolerate abuse of its ratings system or reviews that are harassing or threatening. Gender plan to be axed – Page 21