The Casual Vacancy

By: J.K. Rowling

Narrated by: Tom Hollander

Length: 17 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early 40s, 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 at 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.

©2012 J.K. Rowling (P)2012 Hachette Audio

She did it again

Wow! Not what I expected but she managed to capture so many aspects of human emotions and actions. Great book

Blew away my low expectations

The character development was a masterpiece. I was concerned it would be in the Harry Potter style though, after reading, HP has nothing in common with this book. J.K. Rowling proves she is one of our greatest writers.

Rowling can create despicable as well as loveable

When I finished listening to this book I immediately wanted to talk about it. My initial feeling was one of bafflement, mostly because, while this book was not what I consider "enjoyable" by most of the definitions I use for that word - I did enjoy it.

I tend to be drawn to books that will allow me to disappear into them. I want to escape from reality and inhabit a different world for a while, fall in love, have grand adventures, make new friends. This was not the book for any of that. Instead The Casual Vacancy keeps you right here in "the real world". More than that, it shines an unforgiving light into all of the dingiest, ugliest, saddest and most tragic corners of the world and introduces you to a whole town full of despicable, ugly and tragic characters and it does it in a gorgeous way. The world is painted with the skilled brushes of JK Rowlings fantastic command of language and brilliant story-telling.

This is the first Tom Hollander narration that I have listened to. I have listened to A Lot of audiobooks though, and have experienced that a narrator can make or break a book in audio format. I enjoyed Tom Hollander very much.

Like the rest of the world, I became a fan of the author through the charming and magical world she created with Harry Potter. Those audiobooks are some of my absolute favorites. I have listened to them over and over - they are a great thing to just throw on when I am bored and have nothing new to listen to. It has been my experience that JK Rowling's books have many and unexpected layers, so I WILL be listening to this book again once it has had a bit more time to digest in my head, though I don't see it going onto my list of often repeated files.

Because I do enjoy that world so much I really wanted to support the author in this newest endeavor. I went in knowing that this was an adult book, not a fantasy/sci-fi book and most definitely NOT HP. Even so, it was difficult to divorce myself from those preconceived notions and just give this book a shot on it's own merits. There were a few spots in the book where I found myself pulled out of the story a bit by the swearing. I found myself wondering how much of it was necessary to the story and how much of it was an artifice to break from the HP mold. I do not have an issue with swearing, and it is clear that some measure of it is completely appropriate, and perhaps even necessary to illustrate the world created in The Casual Vacancy. There were still a few spots where it seemed - contrived almost - and reminded me that I was reading a JK Rowling book rather than getting me to forget about the author and immerse into the story.

I don't want to live in this world (even though I am aware that I do). All in all though, I am glad I made the purchase, and though this book had a lot of hurdles to jump - I think that it was worth the effort to experience what I view as a piece of art. The characters in this book are not the loveable oddballs of HP, but they do show that Rowling can create the rainbow of despicable humanity just as well.

I don't feel like I have said a whole lot to really encourage anyone towards this story, but I do think that any book that makes you think, makes you want to talk about it, makes you pause and reassess the way you view the world, is a good book. The Casual Vacancy did all of those things for me. Instead of wanting to escape into it's world it made me relieved to return to my own. Instead of falling in love with the characters, it made me recall why I love the people in my own. Instead of making me want to escape, it actually made me want to take action.

Pagfordians Serve a MEAN Spot of Tea

(Second writing)
*Making the leap from the world of magical youth to all-things-adult is not always and easy transition...how many jaws hit the ground when Hannah Montana dropped it like it's hot with a pole on the Teen Choice Awards, a move unanaimously considered by critics to be *inappropriate* and *ill-advised*. I am NOT saying this book is inappropriate or ill-advised -- only noting that there is always a risk involved when a anyone makes a 180* turn from the iconic role people have readily and so fondly associated them with. And this is a certainly a complete change of direction from an enchanted world to a mean gritty village on the opposite pole.

Apparently this turn-about was also difficult for the professional critics (and amusing): 1) Time magazine went so far as to *award* Rowling the Booker Prize, raving that it is *brilliant* and full of *literary intelligence*, going on to quote, "Rowling shows off a new descriptive dexterity, an extra verbal gear that until now she kept in reserve: a used condom in the grass is 'the gossamer cocoon of some large grub.'" 2) The NY Times called the novel *dull* and *crudely staged*, quoting the exact passage (that so moved Times Entertainment) as an example: "a gross description of a used condom 'glistening in the grass beside her feet like the gossamer cocoon of some large grub.'" Who am I to argue with the pros...

My unprofessional opinion: I agree with Time Magazine somewhat, but I experienced what the NY Times observed. I struggled to stay with this and admit I probably would not have were it not for Rowling's name and my expectations. Any book about hard drug abuse, violence, rape, bullying, suicide, and skanky sex, is of course a demanding read...combined with a roster of mean and nasty amoral characters-- and the demand is not worth the reward. Yes, the wretched characters tugged at my emotions, (the teen characters were the highlight of this book), but they were largely already so irrevocably damaged, or so repellent that it was logically impossible to cling to any hope. The first 2/3 of the book is burdened with descriptions, the dreary town, the residents, the politics, the history, the mundane day-to-day -- so slow and ponderous that it feels almost like it is written in real time. The novel picks up speed towards the end, but not the mood -- depressing and disparaging, perhaps Rowlings views of some of society, and her rally for change.

There are moments of brilliance, some great socio-political agendas going on, and some satirical humor, but I have to disagree with reviewers that compare this to other great English novels and their dark humor. The humor here is much darker than the British classics; it's black, mean-spirited schadenfreude and I almost felt guilty for even thinking of a grin. There will be some that will pass on this book because of the subject matter or be turned away by the language, others will find it slow, some may not be willing to allow Rowling such a reversal, and I'm sure there will be those that unfairly compare this to her monolithic HP series. Myself, I'll be recommending Casual Vacancy very judiciously to just a few friends. Rowling is an immensely talented writer and thinker, and I understand where she was going with this, I just couldn't go there with her, but admire her willingness to explore and take us along. I'm looking forward to her next transition, and not looking back. Even with the *brilliance* and *literary intelligence*...this just wasn't my preferred cup of tea.

The latest Rowling book, not like Harry Potter.

We have all been waiting for the Rowling book that would come after the Harry Potter series. What has finally appeared, five years later, is well written with well developed characters, but the book itself was disappointing to me. The plot revolves around a man on the Perish Council, (for U.S. it would be town council, I think). The man who is the catalyst for the book takes his wife out for an anniversary dinner in the first chapter and drops dead on the restaurant parking lot from what they assume is an aneurism. But his death starts a whole series of events. There is a perish council election coming up, because of his death, to fill “the casual vacancy.” Whoever is elected will determine what happens next with the money in the perish. The man who died, named Barry, wants them to put more money into a drug rehabilitation program and provide more money for services for those who are poor. But most of the council does not want to even keep the program open. They want to cut back on providing any services to “these people who don’t work” and shut down the rehabilitation methadone program. So this is the backdrop for all the things that happen. We are introduced to amyriad of characters, most of them very unpleasant, with their children, equally unpleasant. The book reminds me of Elizabeth George’s “what happened before he shot her” but it is much more relentless with the most sympathetic character being the ungovernable teenage daughter of a drug addict. It’s also quite long. And if it hadn’t been Rowling, and if I hadn’t liked Harry Potter so much, I probably wouldn’t have finished it. The Harry Potter books were dark, but she managed to put some lightness in them here and there, and the reader liked several of the characters. That isn’t true here. So my final conclusion: the book is interesting but disappointing to me.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Originally posted at: A Girl that Likes Books

Why I read this book?

Ever since the book came out I wanted to read it even though it got so many bad reviews from a lot of people. Having it available as an audio book gave me the option to give it a try, without getting the physical book.

What's the book about?

This book tells us how the lives of several inhabitants of Pagford after Barry Fairbrother, a member of the parish council dies.

What about the main characters?

This book has several main characters in my opinion; this "main lines" will tell the story of all at the same time. I found both Crystal and Suckhvinder as different as they are, they were very well written, and I could feel for them more than empathy. I had a bit more of a problem sympathising with any of the adults in the book, since they all seemed whiny and funny enough, behave as teenagers as much as the teens themselves. I found Samantha very entertaining, but even then, it didn't fully click.

Final thoughts

I believe that most of the people who were "disappointed" at this book it was because they were expecting something like Harry Potter...and this is so not that type of book.
Now that we have established this, I will tell you that I actually quite enjoyed the book. For a book with so many characters it was easy to follow what was happening to whom. There is a lot of social critic without being a "soap box" book.

Funny enough this book reminded me of Under the Dome, simply because of how a single event modifies so drastically everyone else in a tiny town. In a way the people of Pagford are also under a bubble, except that in this case is of their own construction.

There were some very crude moments but this brought deeper "humanity" to the characters and by the end the felt quite tangible for me. The end was unexcpeted enough to surprise me, but not out of the blue in a way that would've ruined the whole dynamic of the book for me.

I really enjoyed Tom Hollander as a narrator, his tone is very pleasant and although, as non native speaker, I'm more used to an American accent I had no trouble whatsoever following him.

I wanted to like this but didn't.

Wow this book was hard to finish. The only likeable charecture dies within the first few paragraphs. Everybody else is so self involved that they can't see the damage they are doing to all those around them. The narration is excellent but does not make up for the general meanness on display here. Also I found some of the charectures motivations to be a little weak.

A Computer Glitch Rated This For Me

I might not have written a review, but the ratings for Overall and Story happened through a glitch in my computer while downloading and I don't want to leave the wrong impression. While the performance by Tom Hollander deserves five stars, this is a two star story for me.

I approached this book with nothing but good will for Rowling and an expectation that this would be unlike Harry Potter. What the lame publisher's summary and the pre-publicity didn't say was that it contained significant sexual content and explicit language. It also didn't indicate just how depressing and bleak the story would be.

The problem is that this is the kind of story I usually avoid at all costs. I find no enjoyment in vicariously suffering with others. There isn't a single individual in the story for whom I found a true sympathy--sympathy in the sense of making a connection and pulling for them rather than feeling sorry for them. I read books for enjoyment, entertainment, to learn, to be uplifted, or even to escape. My life contains enough stressors of its own not to need to find more of them in my reading material. I am not entertained by the misery of others . Perhaps as a school psychologist I am more aware on an everyday basis of the various conditions of life described in this book, and need no primer on poverty, drugs, violence, sexual assault, child abuse, bullying, poverty, neglect, weakness, and self-absorbtion of others. I certainly don't desire to fill my off hours wallowing in such miseries.

The two stars I would have given the story are for its being well-written--for what it is, rather than what I wished it to be--and the clear-cut characterizations. I don't think I would want to actually meet any of these people, but I did feel I had a clear view of who they were.

I wish the publicity had been a little less coy about revealing the true tone of this work so that I might have been more prepared. This sort of story simply isn't my cup of tea and I will be far less likely to buy a book by J. K. Rowling in the future. I had hoped to like this book and had been willing to accept something completely different from the author of Harry Potter, but this is outside my ability to enjoy. If this is what Rowling feels the need to write, she's perfectly entitled to do so. I'll exercise my right and not read it. Perhaps her future books will be less grim, but it will take a lot of convincing before I try another one.

Rowling is a great storyteller

Maybe in an attempt to distance herself from our favorite child wizard, the story has a very real, somewhat depressing tone to it.

Rowling reminds us how "unmagical" can people get - the characters of this book are selfish, small, insecure and misunderstood. I believed her, and gulped down this book in a heartbeat.

Highly recommended.

Struggled

I think Ms. Rowling is a master wordsmith however, I struggled with this story. A bit slow and confusing at the beginning. I look forward to her next book though. The narrator Tom Hollander is superb!