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

I wanted more.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Casual Vacancy to be better than the print version?

unknown

What did you like best about this story?

depth of the characters

Which character – as performed by Tom Hollander – was your favorite?

Chrystal

If you could take any character from The Casual Vacancy out to dinner, who would it be and why?

Guya, she has potential to be more.

Any additional comments?

Whis the book was longer.

A Rough Look at the Reality We Fear

What made the experience of listening to The Casual Vacancy the most enjoyable?

The narrator was able to convey the many characters in a way that one could quickly differeniate them.

What did you like best about this story?

The adherance to the realities of life in the 21st century from the raw descriptions of life on the seedy side to the petty prejudices that all humanity can fall prey to.

Which character – as performed by Tom Hollander – was your favorite?

Crystal. The only character who seems to accept and wrestle with the realities of her life.

If you could rename The Casual Vacancy, what would you call it?

Its Just a Veneer

Any additional comments?

This was a difficult book to read. After you have read about half the book, you realize that the author is without hope for the 21st century western 'civilization'.

Not what I expected

As a huge fan of J.K Rowling’s writing from the Harry Potter books, I must say I was a little bit disappointed in this book.

I knew it would be very different than the HP books, but I was struggling to find the J.K. Rowling I know and love in this.
I may have to read/listen a second time to get a more full comprehension, but upon first reading I was really confused. The gallery of characters in this story is huge and it took me a long time to figure out who was who, who was related and friends with whom. So many characters and storylines to keep up with and sort out.

When I finally managed to get a good overview of the characters and their relation to each other, I am (upon first reading/listen) confused about what I am supposed to take away from this story.
Which confuses me even more because I usually really enjoy stories like this in film form.
I usually enjoy movies where nothing much really happens, but we see the characters face something and develop and their relationships.
But with this one, I am really unsure of what the “message” is supposed to be, what are we supposed to feel after reading this?...

!!!SPOILER ALLERT!!!
….
….
….

Is it that everyone has secrets? Is it that even a tragic event like a small child dying and his sister’s subsequent suicide does not change people’s opinions and outlooks on the world?

I am just not sure…

Tom Hollander did a very good job on this though. I know him from other roles and really enjoy him as an actor and narrator. He did a very good job of differentiating between characters using his voice and accents. Well done Tom.

Definitely worth a read

I knew this book was going to be hard to review, being such a fan of Harry Potter and knowing/hearing that this was Rowling's attempt to shrug off her YA shackles and drop some f-bombs. Anyway, I feared there'd be a bit of over compensation (and felt it was a bit over the top with swearing, sex, abuse and drugs). Despite really wanting to set aside my preconceived notions, I didn't really enjoy the story. There were far too many plot-lines and characters, to the point I had to look them all up on wikipedia and keep a mental cheat sheet, and every single named character is a POV character at some point. There must've been 30 or more. Not only does it get confusing, but it waters the main characters down quite a bit.

Backing up a second, I want to say I totally see what she tried to do and I appreciate the effort, but it didn't really work in my opinion. See ultimately this is a book about small town politics and gossip. So the book opens with the death of a well known town official and then we get shunted along through POVs as the gossip mill churns from person to person. It's a great idea and a cool effect, but as a method of introducing us to ALL the main characters in short paragraph sized chunks, it failed to cement any of them for me. They were just names until several chapters later when you realize they are all important characters to the story.

The characters themselves were, as I said, a little watered down. I felt that Krystal, Fats and Sukhvinder were the most well developed or at least the most interesting. All the others felt like checks on the cookie cutter checklist, though admittedly with occasional moments of brilliance.

The strength really came from how cluttered the plot-lines seem for most of the book, weaving back and forth all over the place and then suddenly it all erupts into a cohesive narrative that's instantly captivating and almost frightening as you grasp the scope of the change befalling ALL of the characters and how changed the entire setting becomes. The ending almost got it 4 stars, but I just didn't care enough about more than half the plot-lines, making it a bit of a slog to keep the names straight and get through the story. Obviously don't expect Harry Potter, but it's worth checking out if you're good at remembering a large cast and their motivations.

I loved it

In having ADHD it is hard for me to focus through the entirety of a book. This audiobook not only made it a joy to read but also allowed me the opportunity to enjoy reading a full sized novel again.

This is not a magical book, it can't be.

Oscar Wilde's famous line "The good end happily and the bad unhappily, that is what fiction means" sums up the hero's journey that is the Harry Potter series. Inventive and imaginative, the reader enters a world that could never be, and encounters characters full of the greatest attributes of mankind: kindness, loyalty and courage prime among them. Goodness inevitably triumphs over evil, and the victory is won by not a single hero, but a band of friends exhibiting humanity at its best.

Humanity is not at its best in "The Casual Vacancy", far from it. Readers who found it exhilarating to imagine themselves soaring through the air on a broomstick or a hippogriff are rudely dropped onto the hard asphalt of contemporary class and racial bias. It is not a pretty sight or enjoyable experience. It is not meant to be.

I responded the same way many readers did by realizing that there isn't a single character that is not deeply flawed, and in many ways, unlikeable. The one person we would actually like to have as a friend dies at the outset of the book, and even he has imperfect relationships with those closest to him. His presence created equilibrium between warring factions driven by prejudice and mistrust. His death upsets the balance and begins a cascade of events which ends in tragedy. A more hopeful book would have the characters experience epiphanies which would change them internally and the world around them externally.

But this is not a hopeful book. I don't think it was meant to be. The author masterfully weaves the strands of the plot until all the characters have to look at themselves deeply if they are capable of it. Many of them are not, and are not changed by the losses they experience. This is where fantasy and reality collide, good is not going to triumph over evil, and that is depressing and heartbreaking.

The point, I believe, is that complex problems do not have easy answers, and sometimes have no answers at all. The Potter series is about finding the hidden power within you. This book is about the hidden powerlessness we feel as a society when confronted by the fear of those who are not like us. While we have best of intentions, our fear triumphs over our desire to do the right thing.

I believe Ms. Rowling's intent was to make us think deeply about intractable problems, and I think she was successful in doing so. It is not an enjoyable read, but it is an important one. It makes us uncomfortable, this time she didn't want to entertain us with fantasy, but to give us a big dose of reality as seen by a skilled storyteller.

Really Enjoyed It!

I never read the Harry Potter series, my kids were too old at the time and its not my genre. However, I can see from her adult books that JK Rowling is a gifted author. She develops great characters and interesting storylines, intersecting them all. She has great insight into why people behave the way they do. This is a story about a like little town where everyone has some connection to their neighbors and nothing is what it seems to be to. She describes what goes on "behind closed doors". The narrator was excellent bringing all the characters to life. I did not want this book to end!

In defense of swearing...

This great story is not going to be to everyone's liking. Unlike the Harry Potter books the author is famous for, this story does not have a set of clearly defined goodies and baddies, nor are there any characters that are particularly likeable. The book does not have a happy ending where good triumphs over evil, nor does it have the "feel good" escapist factor of a fantasy novel. It is not a moral or positive story that shows how the goodness of the human spirit can overcome great adversity.

By contrast, this book shows an extremely realistic depiction of modern life in Britain. It vividly portrays the interactions between a set of multi-dimensional, colourful yet credible characters in a small town setting. The book explores complex social and political problems in the context of this microcosm in a balanced way without simplifying the issues or portraying people holding one viewpoint in a better light than those holding the opposite viewpoint. To me, the book had the feel of a contemporary Charles Dickens' novel because of its fantastic and richly described characters and its focus a small slice of the world. The book is a real page-turner and whilst dark, it is quite funny in places.

Many reviewers have commented on the amount of swearing in the book. I disagree with the opinion of some that the use of swear words is gratuitous and is just there to make the novel appear "adult". On the contrary, I believe that every word - including the swear words - the characters in this novel utter are there to reflect and express those characters' particular identity and circumstances. I believe that it is extremely realistic for teenage girl growing up in a very deprived area to frequently swear at her heroin addicted mother - and everybody else. It would not be credible to me if this girl spoke in any other way. "Gosh mother I am terribly sorry to bother you but I would appreciate it if you would reflect upon the fact that your continued heroin use constitutes a blight on my life...".

excellent for 2nd reading, knowing the characters

Any additional comments?

The whole village is in on the game! Worth the effort to keep up with the characters. Pagford and Peyton Place have many secrets!

Enjoyed the movie just as much. Both book and movie are better the second time through, with more familiarity of the complex setting and all the characters.

Spot-on human behavior, in my opinion!

Pagford- a zillion light years away from Hogwarts

I love and admire JK Rowling, & she is an incredibly talented writer with a vast range. Even before our son was born, my wife & I read the Potter books, and loved the movies. I'd finished the second Robert Galbraith novel before realizing it was a pseudonymous way to publish a new series for Rowling. And I've been jonesing for the next novel of that series.

I'm not sure why I've waited so long to tackle The Casual Vacancy. It is undoubtedly a superior piece of writing with deep, deeeeeep characters and storylines. Quality is top tier.

But I'd be lying if I didn't say it was a difficult read, at many junctures. I had to walk away a couple of times due to its deepest darkest - but it's very, very real ("Fats" would say "authentic")- subject matter.

Still, it manages to lay bare many of the festering facts that bubble up in every community, without ever preaching or presenting anyone as unscathed or truly innocent. It's a powerful, often painful, book. I see Wikipedia has labeled it as a "tragicomedy", which goes to show how foolish labels often are. There's not much comedy here. Prepare yourself for a whole heaping of reality, though. And do not doubt JK...she has serious mojo in those writing chops, and she can tackle anything. But "feel good" this is not. Excellent. But not heart warming.