The Casual Vacancy

So poor J K Rowling must have really been dreading the release and critique of this, her first ever non-Harry Potter book. Everybody ready with knives sharpened in that ever British tradition of knocking anyone whose ever dared to be successful way.

“An adult book with swear words” the press shouted days before it's release, well yes we realised that! And it is a very adult book, as I can assure you the first few chapters are a little dull and filled with such a myriad of different characters as to make any readers head spin. You find yourself having to keep checking who is who, who is related and they are all a little dull so as to make none really stand out and hence it is a bit of a slog to get into this book.

I wasn't instantly gripped, like a book I'd been set for an English class I felt I had to keep going back to it rather than being drawn by a strong need not to put it down. I had the strong sense that her new publishers thrilled at having landed Joanne's next novel and giddy at the money they'd make from it had failed to find an editor with the backbone to tell the famous author that she needed to move the pace on a little, just in case she took her book elsewhere,

By half way through I was still a little non-fussed about the characters, some were beginning to show some redeeming features but the sheer small mindedness of the majority made them unlikeable and the book seemed to amble along at the pace of a snail. The last 150 pages will redeem it reviews said so I kept going.

Yes the last part of the book does become much more interesting, knives come out and suddenly everyone in Rowling's fictional village of Pagford are turning on each other. The big climax though excellent felt rushed. I found myself finding at least 100 pages of the book I had to force myself through could have been edited out and dedicated instead to expanding the bit that did hold true emotion and depth of tragedy. Instead much of the book rambles on about an election that doesn't really come to much and is actually rather dull.

It's not Potter, to be fair I truly believe that she will need several books before she finds her next real classic book. I'd read other Rowling novels in the future and this one is not truly awful but it's not truly great either.

This was a stunning book. Every human characteristic presented in a way that one can identify with: vile, disgusting and arrogant humans as well as noble, benevolent and good people. But most of the time, all these characteristics were all present in the same person at one point and lacking at another. It was very human!

The way the plot developed was similar to a Guy Ritchie movie: the focus of the story is on someone who is on the phone. She hangs up, the focus shifts to the other end of the line.

It was well written, intelligent and never boring.

I would actually give this book three and a half stars. For me, five stars are my absolute favorites and four would be for good reads. This was just below that only because it was hard to read, at least at times.

The vernacular was hard at times as was the subject matter. I'm a realist and feel like Ms. Rowling did a good job of not sugar coating what true life can look like at times. It was just hard, for me, to not get emotional reading about hurting children or abusive parents.

This was not an easy book to read. The characters in this book are rude, nasty just unlikable. At one point I was getting frustrated. I think that`s what the author wanted to do, see how a small town with just one death can transform into a war between parents and their children, students against students and spouses. A the end, which is not an happy ending you realize that this story can happen anywhwere.

There is no you-know-who that the whole world should be afraid of, there is no single hero with boundless moral authority, there is no global issues that tells epic stories. Each and every character are the villains and the heroes of their own story (more or less) and their challenges, as small as they may be, are real and relatable.

It started out slow and stoppable until I was half-way in. I thank myself now that I persisted.

This book made me cry.
It started out really boring, and I kept repeating to myself that this is not J.K. Rowling. This is some other writer, except for the criteria that distinguishes her from other writers which is the frequent usage of parentheses.
But the last 250 pages, they were a dream. They passed with me feeling a thing. I started flipping pages like a maniac, wanting to know what will happen.
And it was beautiful. This book is beautiful. J.K. Rowling can, so successfully, delve into the human nature while still being able to adapt it to our civilization. She was able to intricately weave a beautiful microcosm which reflects the macrocosm where we live.
I cannot imagine a person who can master writing about the deepest secrets of a variety of people in a small town threatened by civil war.
This was beautiful.
I loved it.
It made me cry.
I wish it never ended.

So J.K Rowling's first “adult” novel kinda underwhelmed. It was slow to start and took me time to get into. I did want to know what happened to the characters and that's why I stayed up until midnight just to finish it. Probably not a good idea because the ending does stay with you. I had some weird dreams!

The idea I took away from the book was be careful what you wish for. Some characters got what they wanted and it wasn't what they expected. And some got their come upance. Which was in an ironic way.

When I first began reading this book, I found keeping track of all the different characters and relationships to be quite challenging. However, after a little perseverance they felt like old friends.

Rowling is a marvellous story teller, and her characters are quite believable. They were all quite flawed, but aren't we all. I found Fats the worst of the lot - he was an ungrateful bully and a coward, and so pretentious with he search for an ‘authentic' life.

I am a huge Harry Potter fan, and while this novel is completely different, Rowling did not disappoint!

Once upon a time, there was a small town in the south of England. This town, Pagford, was filled with nasty, petty people who hid their vices and small-minded hatreds behind a mask of stereotypical British politeness. Then, a beloved member of the town dies, and the brittle facade that all these people were hiding behind slowly falls apart. I suppose we're meant to feel sympathy for them and their quiet tragedies, but the book is so fatalistic and depressing that you don't really empathize or identify with any of them.

And that's about it. After having read it, I'm not quite sure why Rowling wrote it, or what point she was trying to get across other than that people are often cruel, vindictive, and selfish, but I respect that she did.

Император в мультфильме “Мулан” сказал: “Одно рисовое зернышко может перевесить чашу весов. Один человек может изменить исход войны”. “Случайная вакансия” - яркое подтверждение тому,как смерть одного единственного человека привела к череде вполне ожидаемых событий и их неожиданным последствиям. Если вытянуть одну карту из карточного домика, то он не устоит и рассыпется, так смерть Барри Фербрайзера привела к разрушению тех связей, звеном которых он был.
В этой книге Джоан Роулинг уже не выступает учителем добра, противопоставляя его злу, как в серии книг о Гарри Поттере. Здесь ее голос - голос наблюдателя, описывающего грязь жизни провинциального городка.

I almost gave up on this book 30 pages in because it felt like JK was trying to cram in 7 books worth of “adult” themes that she hadn't been able to do in Harry Potter. But then I kept reading.. and I got really hooked on all the characters, and before I knew it I had read the whole book in one sitting.

The characters are insightfully drawn and the narrative observations are compelling–but this is not a “feel good” book. Where the Harry Potter series might be ultimately hopeful, this story is ultimately . . . Well, not entirely pessimistic, but pretty close.

I personally didn't find any of the characters to be lovable or even very relatable, but they were very full–to the point where sometimes I couldn't follow all the intricate politics of who was on whose side, etc. At some point I resigned myself to following along just to see how the plot would resolve itself. There were some big twists at the end, and it was not what I expected or hoped for–but it was satisfying in its own way.

Overall I have respect for the work and found it thought-provoking. It was a tough read, but worth it, I think!

Один мужик умер физически, а остальные - морально.
Начиналось все замечательно. Легкий игривый слог, сатиричные характеры, множество главных и не очень героев, многообещающий задел на склоки, дрязги и интриги... Вспомнился обожаемый Стивен Фрай с его злободневными сюжетами. На этой веселенькой, но скрипучей тележке взбирались мы с Джоан на горочку событий, а потом полетели к херам с этой горы, теряя колеса, доски и надежду на светлое будущее. И если сначала полет этот мог напоминать американские горки, то в итоге закончился каким-то беспросветным и оглушительным черте-чем.