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The Casual Vacancy, by JK Rowling
Feb. 12th, 2013 04:58 pmNothing like Harry Potter whatsoever, in case anyone was actually wondering. I’ve picked it up several times in various bookstores, and put it down again, not wanting to spend $20+ on something I wasn’t sure I was going to like. Finally I put a hold on it at the library, and it turned up last week. I was the first borrower. Shiny.
The vacancy of the title is an empty seat on a town council. The incumbent dies in the first chapter, leaving his seat to be a bone of contention among the remaining councillors and other townspeople. There are factions, political issues, classism issues, and simple intrapersonal feuds. There are dysfunctional marriages, dysfunctional partnerships, and dysfunctional parent-child relationships. There are drug abuse, child neglect, and sexual assaults.
I’m not entirely sure why I finished the book, to be honest. Possibly because I kept wanting to see how much more horrible the people in it could manage to be to each other, or whether someone would eventually behave well (spoiler: they don't). None of the parts are particularly pleasant, but somehow the whole becomes fascinating. Like watching a train wreck in progress, to coin a cliché.
The vacancy of the title is an empty seat on a town council. The incumbent dies in the first chapter, leaving his seat to be a bone of contention among the remaining councillors and other townspeople. There are factions, political issues, classism issues, and simple intrapersonal feuds. There are dysfunctional marriages, dysfunctional partnerships, and dysfunctional parent-child relationships. There are drug abuse, child neglect, and sexual assaults.
I’m not entirely sure why I finished the book, to be honest. Possibly because I kept wanting to see how much more horrible the people in it could manage to be to each other, or whether someone would eventually behave well (spoiler: they don't). None of the parts are particularly pleasant, but somehow the whole becomes fascinating. Like watching a train wreck in progress, to coin a cliché.
