The Casual Vacancy

First of all Please give it a try ... It's not fair that most of the "One Star Ratings" are just based on the first couple parts of the book which -I admit- a real exhausting read specially the first part which is over 170 pages but afterward it's really deep, emotional and interesting story.Secondly, The Casual Vacancy's really an extreme opposite of the Harry Potter series and it's unsuitable for some of the Harry Potter's readers so it's also unfair to be reading it expecting it'll be the same kind of entertaining as Harry Potter's and here's why..1- Ironically the Harry Potter Series starts with the boy who lived, while this one starts with the man who had died. It's funny how Rowling deals with life and death. As Harry's being alive was what made the novel. The death of Barry Fairbrother was what has affected the lives of residents of the small city "Pagford" and every character through the novel and affected their motivations.2-It's not about magic at all ...It's realistic, raw, ugly most of times, unpleasant life. And that's not bad thing since it's a totally different genre ... and Rowling is really awesome in drawing the life of small town, its history and the people living there whether the rich, the middle class or the poor.3-There's -almost- no mystery events at least for us -as readers- only some parts of the ghost's posts plot. But it's not bad since there are many hidden parts at every character that was really fun to discover in further read and learn more about their lives.4-There's no actual Good Vs. Evil Plot. There's no Evil at the whole story and no pure good person either. At some points you'd feel the character is really bad, awful, arrogant and hypocritical and the same one you'd find them later just a victim of their terrible circumstances. That's why when you first meet a character especially in the first Part - which is over 170 pages- you'll find out that you really dislike and can't feel sympathy toward the characters. For example:Krystal Weedon, First impression that she's an awful teenager, you'd even feel it's weird that last thing Barry did was writing about her for the newspaper.. But you can't help notice that she's a true heart-breaking girl trapped in her terrible circumstances.Also Kay when first introduced from Gavin's point of view was a terrible messy lady, but later you'd find out that she's not that bad. , she's a sincerely caring woman after all, away from the hypocrisy that existed at other characters.I believe that all of the characters are in their own shade of gray, there's no black and white... not totally good or totally bad except a character or two that more into the black side. That's exactly how people are in real life.5- In Harry Potter series the whole story is from Harry's point of view (POV) except 5 chapters from the whole series. It's totally the opposite here the book is in 7 parts every part got many chapters each chapter coming from one of the characters' perspective, even sometimes it switch from a character to another at the same chapter.. Which many reader find it's bad and a weakness of the novel .. But it's not bad at all , it may be confusing alittle but the novel introduced so many characters so quickly. So it's better to get a wide perspective to learn about each of these characters, rather than just one, and to learn more about their lives and past. Rowling's writing skills was in real test here and I believe she did it right. Especially at the last Part which wasn't in chapters. It was really amazing. It's like a journey that I've really enjoyed after all.6-For sorry the language is so much "tougher" than you'd imagine the Harry Potter author would write, I was in shock when I've read it and her statement:" "There is no part of me that feels that I represented myself as your children's babysitter or their teacher. I was always, I think, completely honest. I'm a writer, and I will write what I want to write."However, the language is not un-common from the middle class, even the higher one that presented in the story.There is one common point between The Casual Vacancy and Harry Potter series which is The amazing friendship between the adolescents, their romantic interests the bullying which drawn here in amazing way , the adolescents characters and their relationship issues with each other or with their parents was a one of the basic plots at the novel and the most well written one and some how the most heart breaking .I know it's not a real review But to sum up what I feel about the novel, without spoilers ... It's a Journey into realistic characters, in a small town after a certain event... When you finish that journey you'd may feel the tragic ending left u heart breaking BUT the very optimistic scene by the end -although it was like a flash back- will cheer you up and there's a touch of sweet hope that presented at the final part with some changes in a character that lead to peace after all. And without more spoilers the ending really will leave a nice feeling after all and I'm sure you may back to re-read the book in more appreciation.P.S. When I start part 3 I was totally into the characters so when I tried to re-read the first part at least the character introducing parts and find out it's not that bad you should try it as I've said before the first part is exhausting read just at the first read.P.S.2 Try to imagine your favorite cast for the characters for example I don't know why the beginning made me recall "Desperate Housewives" so I mix American cast of the show with the some adults and the adolescents from Harry Potter cast except for Krystal was Miley Cyrus in my mind.

If I had to go off my own enjoyment factor, I would rate it a one. If I am rating it based on the writing, I give it three stars. But seeing as I think I should write the review based on both, so I will give the star rating based on writing and my one star review in here. :) Seeing as there are numerous reviews already, I won't go into a synopsis of the book as I do in so many of my other reviews - so I'll just get to the meat of everything.This book, to me, seemed like a Jerry Springer show taped over an entire town. It showed the darker side of everyone, and the corruption that lies hidden behind this small town. I had a very hard time even getting involved in the world. I understand her need to set up all the characters from the beginning so as we got into the story, we would know who everyone was and where they all stood. But I did have an issue with keeping up with just how many characters there were. I almost felt the need to pull up a spreadsheet and write things out. (I almost did... But figured that would take me out of the story too much.)And like this Jerry Springer show (I'm running with a theme here. LOL) it seemed that some of the stuff was scripted WAY over the top just for ratings. Some of the scenes could have been cut and not hurt the storyline whatsoever and kept the plot moving along. I don't mind reading long books. For me, the longer the better when I have time (especially from JKR), but I do have a problem with reading a long book that has scenes in it that seem to be there for shock reasons alone. The first one occurred fairly early in the book and literally made my stomach churn. When she talks about a child's private parts and what it did to another child seeing it - I seriously wanted to vomit. It wasn't pertinent to the story at all, and like I said, screamed "JERRY! JERRY!" to me. Just extra stuff that could be thrown in to shock the readers.Was her writing descriptive, yes. Did the characters ever really seem to come into their own? Did they seem to really grow as people and have a reason for being in the books. Well, yes and no. The characters seemed very flat to me - some overly stereotypical. Some of them seemed to at least have the courtesy to think upon their poor actions and show a bit of remorse, but it didn't seem to be the case throughout the book. I know that not all of them would either because of this real-life setting she was providing, not everyone will be able to overcome their own ignorance to see what is happening around them, and make a change for the better. That is real life.So while this story wasn't for me, I'm sure there are a lot of people who may like this darker view on life. This pessimistic (and sometimes revealing and shocking) take on small-town living. There was humor scattered throughout the book, which I had expected from her, but I longed for characters that I could relate with on some level, and maybe in a darker time in my life, I could have. But more than anything it reminded me of why I refused to watch the Jerry Springer show after a while. It's too depressing to see how humanity is innately crooked, self-serving, and in some aspect, just evil and vindictive. I read for escape,even in the adult novels I read: however, this one left me pondering if I really wanted to consider myself part of the human race any longer. The people just seem to cruel if this is typical of how people out there think and shows their true motivations for their actions.Will I read anything else that comes from JKR? Most definitely. She has a gift for storytelling, and just because I don't love everything she will ever put out, doesn't mean I condemn her for the book, nor will I swear off her writing. I will judge each book as it comes out based on its own merit. And again, this book wasn't for me, but there will be some that embrace it fully and love it.And just as a side note... I have seen many people judging the book on its price. Last time I checked, we live in a place where people can sell their wares for whatever price they choose. If we deem it worthy enough to pay their price, then it is ours. If we say, "that is WAY too much for me for that item," we don't buy it. If it doesn't sell well for the price being asked, then generally, economics dictate that if you want to sell your product, you lower the price. Seeing as this book hit number one the instant it went on sale... WELL... to me it shows people are willing to pay for her work. It's like a painting. Some people look at an abstract work of art and think, "I wouldn't pay $5 for that!" while others are screaming out price tags in the thousands. Value is all in the eye of the beholder. If you want it and can't afford it, you save up. If you can afford it and you just think the tag is too high, you don't buy it. You don't scream at the creators. To them - this is what it is worth right now. Maybe it won't be like that later on, but it is for now. Yes, I know eBooks take no other cost to produce than the original formatting, cover, yadda yadda yadda, but hey, if you made a pretty shiny bracelet that took you $1 to make, but people were offing you $20 a pop for each one - tell me you would say no. On a response here, sure you would or could say no, but like many of the characters in JKR's book, you would take that money and run. After all, it was YOUR hard work, and you should be able to reap whatever profit you could from your work. Just my own two cents. :)

Habiendo leído hace años "Harry Potter" creí que el primer título 'maduro' de J.K. Rowling iba a tener la misma sustancia y personajes inolvidables. Me equivoqué de manera terrible. Normalmente tengo mucha paciencia a los libros (cosa aprendida al leer a Umberto Eco) pero en este volumen no pasa nada ni a las cien páginas ni a las trescientas, lo único interesante es la muerte que desata la historia y uno o dos arcos argumentales dentro de la misma. Lo demás es paja y una avalancha de personajes y situaciones totalmente prescindibles y olvidables.

O tema é provinciano, local. A história não flui. É um livro extremamente entediante, que nem parece ter sido escrito pela mesma autora da série que a tornou famosa. Não recomendo.

初めはあまり期待はしていなかったけど、後半はぐっと吸い込まれた。

still reading and no comments on the book but delivery and cost seem to be satisfactorily reasonable.

作者の努力は認めますが、作者は自身の変わった生活環境、桁違いの豊かさに慣れていないような気がします。子どもの読者を主体とした作家として成長されるよう希望します。