The Cuckoo

The Cuckoo can refer to:

The Cuckoo (film)

The Cuckoo (Russian: «Кукушка», translit. Kukushka) is a 2002 Russian historical comedy drama film directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin. It takes place during World War II from the perspective of opposing Soviet and Finnish soldiers stranded at a Sami woman's farmhouse. "Kukushka" was the nickname given by Soviet soldiers to Finnish cuckoo snipers, who ambushed their targets from a purpose-built tree-branch-nest. Thus the title refers to both Veikko (the sniper) and Anni (whose name means cuckoo in Sami, and who is a lone woman living in the forest, much like a cuckoo).

Plot

September 1944. Several days before Finland, a co-belligerent of Nazi Germany, pulls out of the Continuation War against the Soviet Union, Veikko (Ville Haapasalo), a Finnish soldier, is turned in by his Finnish and German compatriots for being a pacifist and, in their eyes, a would-be deserter. As a punishment, the young man is placed in shackles, chained to a rock outcrop in a remote Lapland forest, left with nothing but a few supplies, rifle and ammunition - effectively made a forced Kamikaze kukushka sniper. To ensure his willingness to fight, they dress him in the uniform of the Waffen-SS, as Soviet soldiers felt little mercy towards SS men. Days pass, and after several failed attempts, Veikko succeeds in freeing himself and heads for safety, shackles still attached.

The Cuckoo (novel)

The Cuckoo (不如帰, Hototogisu) is a renowned Japanese novel published by author Kenjirō Tokutomi (Rōka Tokutomi) in serialized form between 1898 and 1899.

Synopsis

The Cuckoo explores the theme of a marriage coming to grief in which both husband and wife belong to the privileged class. Namiko is the daughter of a general. Takeo is a Naval officer, son of a baron now deceased. At first, they are happily married. Then three sources of unhappiness ruin it all. The first is Taneo, Takeo's cousin and Namiko's rejected suitor. Then there is the wicked mother-in-law. Finally, Namiko contracts tuberculosis.

Along with those sources of woe, Roka deals in conflicting values, traditional and modern. Takeo is torn between the absolutism of the family and individual moral authenticity. His mother urges him to divorce Namiko, whose illness prevents her from having children. Even though it means the end of his lineage, he refuses to take a course of action he considers inhumane and unethical. Takeo's choice is dramatically enhanced by the outbreak of war. He is called up for active duty, leaving Namiko unprotected. His mother, encouraged by the vengeful Taneo, takes matters into her own hands. She in effect dissolves her son's marriage by sending her wife back into her family. Namiko soon dies in despair. As Namiko lies dying, an old woman brings her a copy of the Christian Bible, which they discuss.

The Cuckoo's Calling

The Cuckoo's Calling is a 2013 crime fiction novel by J. K. Rowling, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. It is the first novel in the Cormoran Strike series of detective novels and was followed by The Silkworm in 2014 and Career of Evil in 2015.

Plot

In 2010, Cormoran Strike, a private investigator who is an ex-SIB investigator who lost part of a leg in a bombing in Afghanistan, and also is the illegitimate son of a famous rock star (by an affair with a notorious groupie), is broke, and his birth father's business agent is calling in the loan that he gave to Strike to open his office. At that point, Strike is hired by John Bristow, the adoptive brother of supermodel Lula Landry who had fallen from her balcony three months previously. Bristow wants Strike to investigate his sister's supposed suicide. Bristow's other sibling, a brother named Charlie, had been a schoolmate of Strike before his death, which came when he fell into a quarry while riding on his bicycle. Strike also meets Robin Ellacott, who has been sent to be his temporary secretary despite the fact he can barely afford her. Robin has just become engaged to her longtime boyfriend Matthew, with a wedding set for December. Although Strike only hires her for one week, she turns out to be much more competent than he expected, and they end up extending her stay.