• The Casual Vacancy

  • By: J.K. Rowling
  • Narrated by: Tom Hollander
  • Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (294 ratings)

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The Casual Vacancy  By  cover art

The Casual Vacancy

By: J.K. Rowling
Narrated by: Tom Hollander
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Publisher's summary

Shortlisted for: UK Author of the year – Specsavers National Book Awards 2012

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early 40s, the 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 facade 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 parish 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?

A big novel about a small town, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults. It is the work of a storyteller like no other.

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

What listeners say about The Casual Vacancy

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Completely lost me

Sorry Ms Rowling, your Potter series were truly inspired but I have to say this did not work for me on any level. A shame really but as they say you cannot be all things to all people and you deserve all the credit for your past work, stay with the genre is my suggestion.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Boring

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

No one

What could J. K. Rowling have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

I don't think anything could save this story. The whole thing just dragged on.

How could the performance have been better?

Nothing could have improved the performance because the story was so boring.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Very diappointed.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Never could get into finishing this book.

After Harry Potter and fantastic beast I thought I would love anything that’s JK Rowing wrote. But this is one book I could not get into. And because of this I never finished it.
I was dreamily disappointed. Maybe I was just expecting Harry Potter or the fantastic beast can I couldn’t get that out of my mind.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I couldn't even finish it - yawn!

I kept waiting for something to actually happen in the story - to no avail. Introduces new characters every 5 minutes to no effect. I couldn't finish it. I went in with open eyes - not expecting anything like HP but still very disappointed.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Well read but not worth the read, disappointed

It’s like a normal English village told with exaggeration and even though the story is told from two sides (adult and teens) it’s not enough to care the slow and boating story

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