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

Those Pagfordians know how to spread the s*#%

I've never read any J.K. Rowling, since I don't really like children's literature (or even young adult), but thought her writing might have something to recommend it since so many youngsters rave about her books. Also, as a mystery/thriller fan, I'm usually bored by mere daily-life stories, so really stepped outside the box on this one. It starts with a death and ends with about the saddest funeral scene ever, which are commonplace enough; but what goes on between those pages was amazing. No murderers, but one serious plan and one guy who thought he himself was one. How did J.K. invent a personality like that? Plenty of intrigue, too, so I didn't really miss the mystery.

Plus, Tom Hollander is such a great reader I hardly noticed him at all, which is how it should be. I looked for more books read by him, but guess he's too busy being an actor to narrate much. Figured he must have something else going on, or there would be hundreds I think.

I don't know how J.K. could create a sequel, but will be looking for more like this.

Grim and Compelling

If you're a Harry Potter fan, then you'll understand when I say that reading "The Casual Vacancy" is like reading a novel set entirely in Little Whinging. If you haven't read the Potter books, suffice it to say that throughout this listen I felt as if I were driving by a tragic car wreck...and just couldn't look away. The characters are real and flawed. The story is dark and raw. The plot twists kept me guessing. I didn't particularly love any of the characters, and yet I was drawn to them, and I wanted to know how things would turn out for them. But there was no relief from the meanness and pettiness of ordinary life in a small town like one finds in the Potter books, no Hagrid or Dumbledore popping in to whisk us away to the world of magic and adventure. Not that I was expecting that. I knew what I was getting myself into. But I couldn't help wishing for such a thing throughout the listen. Still, I resonated with the social commentary, and I found J. K. Rowling's writing to be just as satisfying as I always have. The narration was highly enjoyable. Tom Hollander did a great job of portraying each character with a distinct voice.

Quickly Became One Of My Favorite Books

In a world where books like Fifty Shades of Gray and the Twilight Saga are glorified it is refreshing to actually have some real writing come into the mix. Seamless writing and a wonderful performance by the narrator this book is well worth the listen.

hard to start, but an amazing book

In all honesty it took me a few tries to get through this book. It starts out slow and the author takes her time. The first few times I stopped reading thinking that Ms Rowling was really not reaching me. However, I somehow managed on maybe a 7th try to get through the initial parts, and I cannot recommend this book enough.
The slow start in retrospect does make sense, it sets up the mood for the main point of the book. The banality of the middle class struggle, the author develops characters like no other writer that comes to mind. She makes these regular people interesting through their mundane every day interaction. There is a level of empathy that is generated as the book progresses that is both subtle and staggering.
I think while this is a departure from Harry Potter, it is not a departure for Ms. Rowling. She has a tremendous gift for allegory, for relating her story and characters to the reader. For reaching us where live with things that matter, not statistically or conceptually but where we live without bleeding hearts or over intellectualized gibberish.

interesting but not enthralling

pretty good book with interesting characters. not as engaging as I had hoped. too much foul language.

Absolutely spellbound

Decided to only listen while at the gym and cooking. I have spent a minimum of one hour at the gym every day and made a home cooked meal every night. I have never dreaded the ending of a book so much. The story is lavish and wry and the narration is excellent.

Compelling

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I highly recommend this book. It can be difficult at times, as the characters are somewhat raw, and sometimes thoroughly unlikable. However, the story is compelling and drags you along even if you want to give up on the lives and petty concerns of the inhabitants of this small town. By the time I reached the end, I was sorry it was over, and sorry that I would not be traveling farther with the inhabitants, about whom now I want to know more. It was beautifully read.

It's Been a While

It's been a while but this made quite the impression on me. It was her first book I read after the Harry Potter series and it was obviously much different. What impressed me was that with so many characters, I felt each were very well developed and unique just like life. Years later I have read the Cormoran Strike series. While I enjoy them, one of my major complaints is that the two main characters are nowhere near as believable as this novel with it's influx of main characters. Very impressed and am looking forward to rereading it.

Loved this story!

JK Rowling is a great story teller. Love the characters! Loved Tom Hollanders narration!!
Will think about the characters for weeks to come.

Unexpected - and realistic

Narration was excellent, but the story was not what I expected at all. It is not a bad story or poorly written; quite the opposite. But it just felt like Rowling had been hanging on to all her experiences prior to the HP years, desperate tell that story, with all the swearing, mindlessness, poverty, bigotry and depravity all the while she was writing about Hogwarts, and they all gushed out in one long torrent.
It was a bit like I imagine a modern day Grange Hill might be.
It was thought provoking for sure, and of course, very well written. And very, very realistic. These people could just have easily inhabited inner London, or any of the council estates in the Home Counties, as in a West Country village like Pagford. But aimed at an adult audience, as opposed to the young adults in the Hogwarts audience? Not sure about that. If it is purely social commentary, it does very well. As a story of modern day, mindlessness that can so poison modern-day life in so many towns and cities it is spot on. And she doesn't pull any punches. But it seems like it was written with the same audience in mind, those who grew up reading HP, as well as baby-boomers and the intervening generations, as a cautionary tale. Certainly many of the characters behaved mindlessly, selfishly, living their meaningless lives without any real hope or aspirations. None of the characters, with the exception of Krystal, behaved like grown ups, like adults, which is a little ironic given her teenaged years.
With that all said, it is certainly well worth the time to listen, though it takes some time to get into it, and it won't be to everyone's liking. Though that is the point, I am sure. It grows on you, like a (hog)wart. And be ready for the warts and all depiction of modern-day life in small-town England, and don't expect anything of the class of Cormoran Strike or the magic of Harry Potter.

Regarding the swearing. I am an Englishwoman who has lived in Kansas for 18 years, but I have to say that I found the language and bleakness to be very realistic. Many Americans have a rather rose-coloured view of the English, that we are all so very polite, speaking the Queen's English, that the villages with their thatched roofs are all so quaint, just like the people. Well, guess what: quaint we ain't. We swear. A lot. A very lot. Not everyone, of course, but the amount of swearing and the words used, by the characters who used them, are realistic, almost painfully so, even twenty years ago. So the swearing in the book, while not particularly entertaining (but I don't think this was intended to be light-hearted entertainment, more social commentary), are not gratuitous, but gritty and very true to life.

Give it a whirl. it may taste strange to begin with, but as you become acclimatized, you'll begin to like it.