[stylist] Book Review: The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

[Donna Hill]

Hi Friends,
After our discussion not long ago about the Harry Potter series, I finally
read Rowling's new adult novel, The Casual Vacancy. I expect to post this
book review to Goodreads, which I just joined as another way to promote my
novel. I thought I'd post it here first. It's a first attempt -- all done
today -- so I'll probably change or add something, if I know me. * grin*
Donna
***

The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling's first novel since the Harry Potter
series, is set in the small English town of Pagford. It follows seven
families through the aftermath of the death of the school's beloved rowing
coach. A member of the Pagford Parish Council, Barry Fairbrother's death
brings about a "casual vacancy," according to Charles Arnold-Baker's Local
Council Administration, Seventh Edition. Squaring off against one another,
two groups of candidates jockey for position to fill his seat. The primary
divide concerns their views on shutting down a methadone clinic and seeding
jurisdiction of the Fields, a concrete and steel, poverty-stricken
neighborhood whose children attend Padford's schools, to the city of Yarvil.

 

The first word that came to mind, after reading a quarter of the book, was
"drab." None of the adults was easy to like or care about. No one is happy,
healthy or noble, and there is little levity or wit. None of the adult
relationships even qualify as working reasonably well. Their teenagers are
lost and hopeless souls devoid of wonder. If I hadn't been a Harry Potter
fan who wrote extensively on the series, I would have given up on this book.


 

But, I kept reading -- albeit with the morbid curiosity of someone watching
a train derail. I found a character to care about -- Crystal, the
16-year-old daughter of a heroin addict.  I had the sense from the start
that I would be punished for my concern, and I was not mistaken. There are
no happy endings here. The few signs of redemption come at the greatest of
costs and are marked by the tiniest of gestures. She succeeds only in
portraying the utter depravity of human culture. 

 

The book must be considered in some ways to be well-written. Rowling is
mercifully gifted at concise summations of background information and the
dialog is realistically candid. The appearances of comments by "The Ghost of
Barry Fairbrother" on the Council's website provide some interest, if the
reader can get that far. Tess's thoughts near the end of the book, however,
sum it up best.

 

Block quote

But who could bear to know which stars were already dead, she thought,
blinking up at the night sky, could anybody stand to know that they all
were?

Block quote end