The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling

When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? Blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising, *The Casual Vacancy* is J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

Loved the layers and layers of characters. Loved the political and social criticism.

May try this again in print, but didn't work as an audiobook for me.

Precise rating: 4.5 ⭐

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.