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

NOT Harry Potter...but a very good story

Those of you who are expecting Harry Potter will be very disappointed. That said, I found it to be a very good story about prejudices, life patterns and expectations.

I will say that is can be difficult to keep all the characters straight at first, but stay with it. About a quarter of the way through, I found myself dying to see what each of the characters would do next! This book is about warfare. Class warfare, economic warfare, generational warfare and - of course - the war between the sexes!

It's easy to pigeon-hole the characters early on into the good, the bad and the ugly. As the story progresses, however, each character develops in unexpected ways. I won't give away the ending, but if you have any kind of social conscience at all, you will be rocked.

This story was wonderfully narrated by Tom Hollander. He gave a very nuanced performance that caught the characters perfectly. I will look for more books read by this talented actor!

While this book was certainly not written for youngsters, Rowling definitely understands how teenagers and young adults view and deal with the world. If I could offer any constructive criticism, it would be to round out the adult characters a little more.

Overall, this is a very engaging story. Well worth the investment of time & money.

Well Written, But Not Much of a Story

In no way did I expect this book to be anything like (or as good as) the books in the Harry Potter series. Even so, I expected better than what it was. The Casual Vacancy is a dull, slow-paced novel about small-town politics. When a local council representative dies, the council is left with a vacancy. The bulk of the story is about the political maneuverings and relationships among the people expected to fill the vacancy (and their various supporters and detractors). While there is a lot of conniving and backstabbing, it's mostly about petty things, and I struggled to stay interested in any of the characters or their storylines. The book itself does not end with the election of the new council representative, which I had been expecting. Although the reader does indeed find out who fills the vacancy, the book continues on for another 90 pages or so bringing some of the other characters' storylines to an end. Finally, the book ends with a rather odd conclusion to one of the book's secondary storylines--and didn't really leave me all that satisfied. I am giving this book three stars only because the author has given me such joy from the Harry Potter series. Also, the book is incredibly well written--even though it's not a great story. The book probably deserves only two stars, but I want to give the author some credit for at least trying something different.

Engaging Story, Brilliantly performed

I have not read the Harry Potter series, and therefore had no particular interest in reading any of J.K. Rowling's "adult novels." I came upon this one literally quite by accident, when my husband and I were stranded on a mountain top on Vancouver Island with a dead battery in our rental car. Fortunately we found shelter in an empty ski lodge where this book was on a shelf among many others--I became immersed in it while waiting 2-1/2 hours for the tow truck, and was very sorry to have to put it down. As soon as I was able, I started it over in the audible version. It is a compelling story about small town politics, parental incompetence, cultural chasms between middle class and the poor, gender relations, bullying, and poverty--among other themes. Two of the strongest messages have to do with how otherwise well-intentioned (and not so well-intentioned) parents have no idea what is going on in the lives of their children and how they damage them in their ignorance. Another theme is how little middle class people understand the challenges poor people face, and how difficult it is to uplift themselves from the cycle of poverty. A third overriding theme is the utter hypocrisy of the middle class. This book is a real page-turner, and though many of the characters are despicable people we "love to hate," in the end they become more humanized as well. None of us is perfect. We love to gossip because it makes us feel superior but we don't know how much damage we can do.
One of the greatest strengths of this audible edition is the narrator. Tom Hollander captures the essence of each character in his voice regardless of age, gender, local/class accents. I have been listening to audible books for about 15 years, and he is one of the very best, if not the best, I've ever heard given the challenges of representing such a large array of voices. Thank you for this wonderful experience!

Brilliant!

Where does The Casual Vacancy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 5%

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Casual Vacancy?

The ending was masterful!

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

Chrystal

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I enjoyed listening to it a chapter at a time before going to sleep at night, but in the end I listened to the last few hours at one sitting.

Read like a script from Benefits Street

Would you try another book from J. K. Rowling and/or Tom Hollander?

Yes, I enjoy her writing.

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

Focus on one or two main characters rather than try to bring in the entire town

Do you think The Casual Vacancy needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No. I would definitely not read/listen to any more of the horrible little people in this nasty little town.

Any additional comments?

I just finished the audio book of Robert Gilbrath (J.K.Rowling) all 17 hours and 55 minutes of it. Every grueling second of it.

I couldn't tell if the random numbers being announced during the reading were chapters, scenes, or plot lines. i.g. 1 Barry 2. Mary They seemed to have no possible connection to the story. Not the narrator’s fault, he didn't write it.

If it were not for the quality of Tom Hollander’s reading, or if I had to read the book. I would have pitched it at chapter 17. If I could have figured out which chapter, part, I was listening to as they seemed to randomly be called out at some scene changes.

Over all it began to read like a script from Benefits Street reality show.

Did I learn who the characters are, and how a small inbreed community is able to draw lines of inescapable class warfare and create even creepier life choices. Yes, were there heroes and villains and did they grow and develop: Maybe. The story could have done better as a short story. Would I recommend it? Probably not.

Disappointed

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The novel is very well written - as all of J.K. Rowling's novels are - but I was very disappointed in the story line.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was - in my opinion - just as disappointing as the rest of the book.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No, I would not go see this book as a movie.

Amazing characters!

The author did an amazing job intertwining the lives of the characters. Very well read as well.

WoW! Amazing Real Life Story

I may be the only one on here that has not read Harry Potter and I chose this book not even realizing this was from the same author. So, my review may be completely different than the many others down there.

SPOILERS BELOW

I enjoyed Rowling's use of descriptives and her flow of words. It was a steady read, not one that in the beginning had me dreading putting it down, but one that made me want to pick it up again. I was always content with going back to it until toward the end when I didn't want to put it down at all. But don't get me wrong, the whole book is worth the read and just as important.

What amazed me about the book is there were so many characters and Rowling got me involved every single one of them that I felt like they were truly people I knew. She didn't go overboard with repetitive descriptions or overdone descriptions, she did it just right. There'd be a little mention here and a little mention there, and if I wasn't paying attention I'd miss it.

The story itself was so different than what I'd normally pick up, but I'm so glad I did. I was immersed into the lives of the occupants of these two towns and lived all of their messed up sh*t, because really these people were messed up. I mean were talking real life sh*t. There were drugs, morning after pills, computer hacking from teenagers to talk sh*t about their parents, and adults so critical of other people. There were affairs and love loss and cutting and death. There were no magic spells to undo all that was done. I mean, there was even more shit than I've mentioned, but it was so real and something I could have pictured so well that I felt like I was watching a movie.

Rowling took me on a journey of so many feelings that now that it's over I'm feeling a bit spent. I think this was an excellent book with a very touching story to tell and like in real life not everything is resolved. Some people were able to achieve redemption and happiness and others there lives were no better. But it was their story that made a difference. Excellent work J. K. Rowling!

All about the characters

It started off a little slow, with a lot of different perspectives. I found myself wondering why on Earth I cared about this small town drama. But as the story progressed, I became more and more invested in the characters that were so painstakingly brought to life. By the end I was nearly in tears. This is no Harry Potter. It's as opposite as JK Rowling could get, and is quite an achievement.

WELL BEYOND POTTER

Where does The Casual Vacancy rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This one is top shelf. I drive long distances and make it a rule that I can only listen when I'm in traffic. I broke the rule with The Casual Vacancy.
Clearly Ms. Rowlings has studied the human condition. Her depictions of personalities, human behavior, internal suffering seemed spot on. Providing a gamut of emotions and often humorous account of social situations was beyond entertaining.
Narrators can make or break a book. Tom Hollander was a joy to listen to as he had so many English dialects down pat.
Please don't think that this is remotely Harry Potter - although they were lovely. This is for big kids.

What did you like best about this story?

The way she wove the fragile adults and their personalities among the teenagers and their growing pains.

What about Tom Hollander’s performance did you like?

Each voice was so clearly distinct. No confusion. All great Brits yet so diverse.

Who was the most memorable character of The Casual Vacancy and why?

Tough one! I enjoyed them all, but Samantha hit a home run as the unhappy middle aged woman losing her looks and frustrated with the reality of her life. She was fun to conjure up an image.

Any additional comments?

I wish it were longer. The ending was certainly surprising.