2023 EDIT: Part of my 2023 clear-up, of books I no longer like, or am no longer interested in, or remember well as standing out, or find as special anymore, or I otherwise will not miss.
(Also I no longer support the author.)
Final Score: 3.5/5
Original Review:
'The Casual Vacancy' is J.K. Rowling's first novel written exclusively with adults in mind as the target audience. No magic, no escapist fantasy; it is almost scary in its cruel realism.
On the surface, it is in every way unlike a certain children's book series which made the author famous. So of course a lot of people hate it. And that's okay. Hate a book if you want to. Hate a book so long as it comes from reasons concerning the contents of the book itself. The writing, the narrative, the structure, the characters, the voice, and the amount of research shown; those things can and should be criticised in any book. Do not hate 'The Casual Vacancy' because it is not like 'Harry Potter'. That's not a reason to give something a low rating. Comparing a piece of work to another, more well-established work is unfair criticism. Hating something new and challenging just for existing is even more intolerable in my eyes. It shows narrow-mindedness, and a refusal to allow an author a chance to do what any good writer does: grow and try new and different genres and fields.
Do not read 'The Casual Vacancy' expecting 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard'. Do not read it expecting a fun trip to Hogsmeade or happy endings. Judge and criticise something as its own individual product, regardless of who the author is or what that author has done in the past that the general public more familiarly (and comfortably) associates her with. Regardless of whether the author had an impact on people's childhoods. Good writers strive to try different things, and given a chance they can succeed and be applauded for their versatility and for having a wider talent range than previously thought. Look at Roald Dahl, who didn't solely write books for children; a real, complex, vastly ambitious human being was at work there.
When I first heard about Ms Rowling writing a book which had nothing to do with 'Harry Potter', I was happy. I was glad that she was still writing at all, and had not let an incredible amount of fortune few writers can even dream of affect her lifestyle. Or made her give up on the job she loves or on the talent she possesses; what had made her famous in the first place.
Bottom line, if readers dislike 'The Casual Vacancy' for it's slow pace, its excessive amount of characters, its lack of likable or sympathetic characters, its vulgar content being too much, or that it might be too unsettling for some people's tastes, that is perfectly fine. These are criticisms of the book, not the author, and they are not comparisons to the qualities of other, totally unrelated books.
And 'The Casual Vacancy' is not for everyone. I can understand some of the negativity it receives, despite the fact that I ended up really liking the book.
Sorry for rambling on, I just get frustrated every time I see this book get a low-star rating and review because it is not like 'Harry Potter'. Nobody ever said it was going to be like 'Harry Potter'. Based on the author alone, most people probably assumed it was going to be a fun ride where good conquers evil and human beings are only really good or really bad, with nothing inbetween (yet 'Harry Potter' has remarkably complex characters and themes for a "children's" series of stories).
Rant over, on to the point of the review.
So what is 'The Casual Vacancy', J.K. Rowling's first adult novel, actually about?
Barry Fairbrother, a well-liked councillor of a small English town, Pagford, dies suddenly and unexpectedly. This leaves the seemingly-quaint town's inhabitants metaphorically going to war with each other over who will take Barry's place in a seat on the Parish Council. The death of a likable man (indeed maybe the most decent person in this book) in the first five pages exposes the darkest depths of the human soul, and reveals the greediness, bitterness, jealousies, prejudices, pettiness, selfishness, and/or the most futile fantasies of Pagford's residents. Nothing is what it seems. Nearly everyone has ulterior motives for doing what they do; they are all grey and complex.
Secrets and a collective fury and confusion are born and bred, and a chaotic puzzle plays out - who is as bad or much worse than all the others? Following a death, are they all the same in their living want of satisfaction and contentment? And of harming others along the way?
In my humble opinion, 'The Casual Vacancy' is a moving, mesmerizing and effective tragedy with a glimmer of hope on the horizon. It's not a mystery novel - Barry was not murdered - but a drama. Ms Rowling weaves all her story threads around in almost beautiful twists and turns. Each thread - a collection of subplots, with the councillor's death being the central plot which sets things in motion - connects, and each character gets to interact with the others in meaningful, character-driven moments.
'The Casual Vacancy' can be viewed as more of an examination of people than a story, and that is a positive criticism.
On first reading 'The Casual Vacancy', I immediately recognised Ms Rowling's superb and flowing writing style. She shows the same respect to her reader's intelligence as in the 'Harry Potter' novels. The language is engaging, and the atmosphere is slightly enchanting even when the most shocking and atrocious events happen. Jo's solid characterisations, and how she delivers individual dialogue exchanges, make every fictional person in the book memorable and lifelike.
I believed in everyone; my favourite character being Krystal Weedon, the aggressive poverty-stricken teenager with a heart of gold, whom Barry Fairbrother saw potential in (his death marks yet another caring and understanding person cut out of Krystal's miserable life); Terri, her drug-addict mother; Stu "Fats" Wall, the unrepentant school bully obsessed with living by different philosophies to avoid dealing with his own feelings and problems; Sukhvinder Jawanda, the bullied plain schoolgirl under tremendous parental pressure at home as well as at school; Samantha Mollison, the bored councillor-candidate's wife and mother wanting to recapture the carefree wiles of youth; Andrew Price, Fats's best friend with an abusive councillor-candidate father and a crush on the pretty new girl, Gaia Bawden; Kay, Gaia's social worker mother; and Colin "Cubby" Wall, the school head and Fats's long-suffering adoptive father who has a fear of being found out for possible pedophilic thoughts and acts.
They all felt sadly authentic to me - in their self-pity and refusal to move on in their lives and make themselves (and others) productive members of society. They are not all bad people, but they are deeply unhappy.
The adults are as bad as the teenagers, showing how not much has changed from previous generations; the residents of Pagford are making the same mistakes over and over again, and any vestige of hope is carelessly snuffed out. In reading 'The Casual Vacancy', I was witnessing these people's paths to self-destruction. Most of the characters are not "likable" in the basic sense of the word, but they are interesting and have their own distinguishable quirks and fatal flaws; similar to the characters in Mervyn Peake's 'Gormenghast' series. They are aware of the dangers of their actions and how their decisions affect others. But they keep allowing themselves to be tempted by the forbidden fruit of the cardinal sins of laziness and selfishness.
The further tragedy is that each person in Pagford, in spite of his/her position and efforts, is overall worthless. They live in one of the many tiny villages in Britain, so why does it really matter who will be elected at the Parish Council? A wanting to be more than the sum of his/her parts can in fact turn into a fall from grace, not a rise to fame and fortune. How far people - stubborn, ignorant, desperate people - will go to get what they want out of life is the major theme of 'The Casual Vacancy'.
No human being is the same. We each have different experiences, and feel and react to things differently. Ms Rowling understands this and writes wonderfully diverse people with their own pasts and struggles to deal with. This novel is not entirely unlike 'Harry Potter' in a way, and I'm not just referring to the writing style. Issues of social prejudices, family feuds and cultural animosities feature in 'The Casual Vacancy' as in 'Harry Potter': unsurprising, since these subjects are important discussion topics for adults as well as for children. The names of Barry Fairbrother, Pagford (Padfoot?) and Gaia also bring to mind Harry's wizarding world, in books aimed at all age groups.
'The Casual Vacancy', however, is definitely not for all age groups. It contains issues such as self-harm, drug use and going turkey, pedophilia, racist bullying, child abuse, child neglect, unsafe sex, and the flawed state of public houses and schools. There is a lot of swearing and casual usage of the F-word and C-word - impressive for a former children's author who is also a Christian. I didn't see it as Ms Rowling trying too hard to be adult (for the most part, anyway, but this didn't bother me so much either). I saw it as a chance for her to really show a great understanding of the state of modern humanity and the psychological depths of people who grow up expecting to be seen as pure and chaste; in this case people living in a small English village with a complex history. Those who live in a corrupt, barely-surviving little town keep on pretending that everything is fine; that no problems and struggles exist.
In writing 'The Casual Vacancy', Jo Rowling, as I interpret it, takes an opportunity to expose what is normally accepted in class-dominated societies as bullshit: and the lesson is that no matter where people come from, anyone can still be a bastard or a prick. A rather brave feat, and one any writer of experience can execute well.
Everybody has a choice to change themselves, and a chance to help others to change, for the better. For future generations. To make the world - not perfect, for that is impractical thinking - at least more bearable.
In conclusion, I do see a few justifications in the criticisms of 'The Casual Vacancy' - it is rather slow-going and it did take until around half of the novel for me to decide if I really like it. I find it to be worth the time; for the enjoyment and understanding of the themes to fully sink in.
It is not for the faint of heart, and the serious subjects and issues are written with no mincing of words: this is real life, and it is not always pleasant. It is not always pleasant to admit to. But ignoring them can be much worse and lead towards devastating consequences.
There is a quaint, shimmering beauty to this novel about the worst that people can be.
Final Score: 4/5
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