Author: J.K. Rowling
Version: Hardcover
ISBN: 9780316228534
Published: September 27th, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company
Number of Pages: 503
Genre: FictionSYNOPSIS: In small town Pagford, England the normal routine of its inhabitants has a wrench thrown into it when Barry Fairbrother dies on the night of his wedding anniversary. As a Pagford Parish council member his death becomes the talk of the town pretty quickly. Howard Mollison, the head of the Parish Council, hears the news with a secret thrill because Barry Fairbrother was his enemy. Now that Barry is dead Howard is hoping to fill his seat with not just an ally but with someone that will follow his lead in all things, his son.
Dr. Parminder Jawanda hears the news in the local deli and finds that her world quickly begins to crumble around her. Barry Fairbrother was her best friend in the whole town and without him she has no one on her side. Krystal Weedon, a teenager from the wrong side of town who had never had any one believe in her, hears the news and feels that it's all over for her. With her mother addicted to drugs and her bad reputation and record at school Barry Fairbrother was the last person she had, had who truly believed in her.
In such a small town the news travels quickly and things begin to go off kilter a bit. The underlying war between Pagford, Yarvil (the neighboring larger town) and the Fields, the small area where the poor, out of work, and drug addicts live, turns into an all out brawl. Howard Mollison wants to move the property lines of the Fields from Pagford Parish into the Yarvil district and close the addiction clinic. And so he begins to rally his troops around him and starts making the moves necessary to put his son on the council. Meanwhile violently trying to save the clinic Parminder and those that are like minded start trying to put one of their own in the seat.
While their parents are grieving and trying to figure out what move to make next the teenagers of the town begin fighting their own battles on many fronts. Including ones with their parents trying to find a certain sense of independence from their various tortures. Hurtling to a dark and frightful head the town finds itself quickly tumbling further and further away from what they know and all that they believed to be safe. Secrets become uncovered and the tightly wound lives of the Pagfordians begin to unwind in the worst ways. All because one man died leaving an open seat on the council, leaving a casual vacancy.
REVIEW: I'm sure most people that review this book will talk about J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter but I'm not going to except to say this, I really loved the series and her writing and was interested to see what she had to say in a different genre. I was not all that impressed to tell the truth. I knew going in that she had written this for adults, that it was supposed to be dark and that it was 'very English.' I was prepared for all that and went into it open minded. It shut down pretty quickly.
I was confused as to why the first chunk of the book was dedicated to people discovering that Barry Fairbrother had died. I read that book cover to cover and I still don't understand why it was so important how people found out that he died. I kind of get the importance of him dying and all the repercussions of that but it made no sense to me that how people found out was so important.
Her writing was well done as it always seems to be. Intriguing and well thought out, descriptive and poetical in many ways. But the story wasn't anything special and it wasn't all that people made it out to be. Sure there were dark parts to it, and yes there were swear words put in there and she even talked about sex but none of this makes it a good adult book. Now I know that she said in an interview that this book was going to be a very British book and that she wasn't sure if her American audience would like it. I don't want to be rude but that is no excuse. Look at "David Copperfield," by Charles Dickens, "Sense & Sensibility" by Jane Austen, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," by Lewis Carroll all British novels by British authors that translate beautifully. These are books that were meant for their particular time and place (although yes an argument could be made that Carroll's 'Alice' is appropriate whatever the setting), but people are still reading them today and falling in love with them. Being a "British" novel doesn't excuse a poor telling of a story.
Some of the stories within the main framework were indeed dark and sad but the way I heard it I was taken aback but how average the darkness was. I don't mean to take away from the story in any way shape or form but don't expect darkness at every corner it's just not there. And though the characters are all high school age and older, except for one three-year-old, the fact that she adds swearing, sex, and drugs doesn't mean she is automatically now an adult author. Don't get me wrong, I am a HUGE fan of J.K. Rowling and think that she is immensely talented and I eagerly await her next book because I think that she has a great adult fiction in her, but to me right now she is still J.K. Rowling the genius behind the Harry Potter Series.
I'm not going to say don't go get it because that's like saying don't think about a bright pink elephant walking through Times Square because the first thing you'll do is think about a bright pink elephant walking through Times Square. Or you'll think about not thinking about it and let's face it that's the same thing. Sorry tangent, anyway "The Casual Vacancy" is just too much of a mystery to people, everyone is going to buy it. To read it in some form or another because we all have to see what this great woman who has launched something so untouchable like Harry Potter has to say next. But maybe wait until you can borrow a copy from a friend or check it out from the library because I don't know if it will be worth it to you to own. Alright so I mentioned Harry Potter once or twice but I couldn't help it, that is what she is known for and I did say she was a genius and that it was untouchable so really I can't be fined.
I guess what I am saying is this, I didn't love the book and I didn't hate it. It was just ok and I mean that, it was simply and completely ok. But don't take my word on it, after all what do I know? This is one that people are going to read no matter what I say, it's just one of those books, like the Seven Wonders of the World, you have to see it to believe it.
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