JK Rowling's new book: The Casual Vacancy

[ccollinsmith]

I've read 5% (about 25 pages of a 500-page book, I think). She's a good storyteller, but I'm not sure that I'm fond of how she's going out of her way to make certain we know it's an adult book. It's almost like she's trying too hard.

[xhanax315]

Originally Posted by ccollinsmith

I've read 5% (about 25 pages of a 500-page book, I think). She's a good storyteller, but I'm not sure that I'm fond of how she's going out of her way to make certain we know it's an adult book. It's almost like she's trying too hard.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who got this feeling. I first felt this while watching all the interviews before hand. Now I'm about one hundred and fifty pages in and I can understand her take on it, but I think it was over-stressed. As someone mentioned before, it is definitely a different tone than we're used to from Jo, but I'm rather liking seeing her in a different limelight. It's a different side of her that we hadn't known existed. Also, they keep saying its specifically for adults, but haven't they yet noticed that those of us who started reading Potter back in the early 90's are adults now...?

[RebeccaMatthews]

So apparently if you pre-ordered the new book through the book chain here in Canada you get a partial refund/credit if you pre-ordered before a certain date because they had a promotional pricing set up after I pre-ordered it back mid-August. Yeah, wasn't too pleased when I went to the store this morning and saw it. I was too annoyed to ask the sales person about it so I took to Facebook to complain to the company and was told to call and sort it out.

I'm just over a 1/4 of the way through the book, and I've had it since 9:30 this morning. The last time I struggled to get through a book that wasn't required reading was when I went to read the Host by Stephenie Meyer. From what I've read, I wish there was some sort of appendix in the back listing all the characters and where they live/what their relationships are to Barry because I'm finding that part of the story confusing.

[ArryGrotter]

I'm at Section 3 of Thursday in Part 1 (Is anyone else thinking the whole chapter thing is a bit crazy ?) so I'm about a quarter way through. I won't discuss the plot because I don't really think I can comment on that until I finish.

I agree at first some of the more 'grown-up' things in the book are a bit too forced, but most of it does make sense, for instance Terri and Krystal's use of a certain word at least once in every sentence. There are people that speak that way, and I can think of a few I personally know (as a side note, I do find the use of apostrophes to convey accent, like she has done for Hagrid and Fleur in HP, a bit irritating here). I have to say that it seems very weird for a book by Jo having quite a few references to genitalia in it However, it is marketed as an adult book, and not because people still think HP is mainly read by 5 year olds but because it does explore a more gritty 'adult' (I hate using that term because to me adult means maturity, which swearing, nudity, etc. is not really a measure of, in my opinion) side which I wouldn't want a pre-teen to read.

I'm finally getting all the relationships between each of the characters now. What I do like about the book is that we get all these alternate narratives. Whereas HP was the story of a single person, here we get inside the minds of at least 10 people so far. I'm happy she stuck with third person too, where we feel like we as the audience are taking a more examative broad view of the society, rather than just shifting between people's mind ( plus I just don't like first person )

Still feel like it's in introductory mode, though, possibly just moving on. It was a bit tiring to continuously be introduced to more and more characters (all 10 sections of Monday at least), but it does show that Jo is very talented at fleshing out multiple characters and storylines. I am looking forward to see how these all inter-relate and conclude.

Oh and something else (which I can recall as I am doing it too) is anyone else getting a little fidgety whenever there are paragraphs in parenthesis? Very rarely (if ever, as long as I am recalling clearly) did Jo use brackets for anything longer than a sentence in HP. I don't see it as an improvement to her writing to use them continuously in this book.

[canismajoris]

Originally Posted by ccollinsmith

I've read 5% (about 25 pages of a 500-page book, I think). She's a good storyteller, but I'm not sure that I'm fond of how she's going out of her way to make certain we know it's an adult book. It's almost like she's trying too hard.

Well, I mean I haven't read it and don't plan to, but it's possible that first, she knows people will compare it to HP no matter what, so she wants to draw a line in the sand (in the hope of being taken seriously in the future), and second, I suspect many readers are actually comparing it to HP and that's why some of it seems odd or inelegant.

[BubblyShell22]

I might give it a shot, though I'm not a fan of politics myself, and I remember reading on here that it's a political novel. Is that a very heavy plot for the novel, or are there other elements within it that make it not seem as bad? I know with HP there were political elements with the Ministry, but Jo had a bigger plot with those, so that part of it wasn't bad for me. I'm just curious as to whether I would like it or not.

[ccollinsmith]

I'm about 50 pages in, and I'm hoping that she will eventually introduce a character that I like.

[merry18]

I think the forced nature of adult-like themes wouldn't feel so forced if the media didn't keep saying "not for kids!" over and over again. It feels like the strong themes are more noticeable to me because the media had talked about it so much. If I had gone into the book with just the knowledge of it being an adult book without the outside sources constantly bleating about how different it was from Harry Potter, I don't think the heavy themes would have stood out as much.

I'll get over it. I do love political commentary.

[Wab]

Originally Posted by ccollinsmith

I'm about 50 pages in, and I'm hoping that she will eventually introduce a character that I like.

I think that's pretty much the point. The adultness of the book lies not so much in sex, drugs and bad language but the scathing commentary and lack of a comfortable good triumphing over evil narrative.

Laura Miller It is rigorously, blackly realistic and committed to a merciless and sardonic scrutiny of human nature. It refuses utterly to offer the comforting narrative conventions of heroism, a clear-cut distinction between good and evil and the promise of redemption... Chances are none of these people will be deemed sufficiently “likable” by the pop-culture-coddled, uplift-craving audience that makes up a goodly portion of Rowling fandom. But hats off to her for not toning things down an iota in order to please them. “The Casual Vacancy”: Rowling on fire

[ccollinsmith]

Originally Posted by Wab

I think that's pretty much the point. The adultness of the book lies not so much in sex, drugs and bad language but the scathing commentary and lack of a comfortable good triumphing over evil narrative.

I didn't say anything about comfortable good triumphing over evil stuff. I'm quite accustomed to texts that do not give the reader easy characters to root for.

But if the author is drawing a lot of characters that I don't want to spend time with, then there had better be a payoff - such as, in the profundity of the observations or the elegance of the style.

Since this book seemingly offers no payoff of that sort, then I want to find at least one character that I don't loathe. Otherwise, it's just excruciating, and I have much better things to do with my time than spend it with these people.

I'll finish the book and hope that it rewards the time spent, but so far I'm not seeing it.

ETA for context: One of my favorite books of all time is Notes from the Underground - an extremely unpleasant but brilliant text that I first read at 19. Dostoevsky "sold" me in his first three sentences, and I just devoured the book from there. Despite its extreme unpleasantness, Dostoevsky's text has (imo) a huge payoff.

I'm 50 pages in to Rowling's new book and (for me, at least) she has yet to make the sale. Right now, the only thing pushing me forward is the author's name.

[Schlubalybub]

Well, I've got the book, but I can't start reading it until tomorrow. I think that once I start reading the book, I'm gonna forget that it's a JKR book. I manage it with other books where the author is the same but the characters and storylines are different. I think that I can read a book as a stand alone book without relating it to other books by the same author unless they are part of a series.

At least I'm hoping I'll be able to...I won't be able to say for definite until I start reading it

[Unrepentant]

I'm loving it, but it's... very difficult. It demands a lot from the reader, but if the reader lives up to the book's demands, the book rewards you with a stunning tale of small-town cynism and tragedy.

My friend (and a lot of you guys, it seems) is worried that JKR would try too much to write "adult" so that the novel would seem forced, but the language here is just.. wow. JKR really lives out her fetisches for weird words and entangling descriptions in this one, and I really gets the sense that she felt kind of "limited" writing HP, and that she really enjoys taking out new ideas in book writing here. And BOY has she developed since after DH.. yes, The Casual Vacancy will probably shut people who render JKR as a flawed writer speechless!

The language is, as expected, much more difficult, and I have to struggle with some of the words. But once I get past them, I resume my reading flow
So what's really "demanding" about the book is that it's.. first of all, the cast of characters here is quite confusing, since there's so many of them, and they're nowhere near as "distinguishable" as the HP ones. And they have so common names* - Howard, Samantha, Miles, Gavin, Kay, Krystal, Andrew, Simon, Tessa, Colin, Stuart.... so the first 50 or so pages you're really struggling with keeping all of the names in your head, and keeping track of who is who, who loves who, who hates who, etc. Also there's not a locked perspective like in HP, so every chapter tells the story of a different character in the book. The characters are all a very varying age, which is cool, because it means people of all ages can relate to them. Personally, I relate most to the teens, mostly because I can see drafts of HP in them, haha. There's this guy infatuated with the class's prettiest girl, and JKR really KICKS in describing teenage crushes, and there's def some Snape/Lily resemblance here.. and I'm very intrigued by Fats, who says "honesty is my weapon", and kind of stands to me as a smoking, bullying version of Luna Lovegood.

I can't say too much about the plot yet.. but the whole concept with an election that is supposed to be held in this deranged town with these pelicular characters centering it, it can be nothing but incredibly tense. So far, nothing has really happened apart from Barry Fairbrother dying and people being messy about it, but there's a sense in these first chapters, a sense that the book is just waiting to explode. Rather than feeling drawn-out, I more get the feel that JKR really takes her time, carefully constructing a stage with this idyllic town, and these intricate characters.

The book is quite vulgar, but just like the language, it does not seem "forced" at all. Rather really natural, kind of like JKR tells things that everyone thinks, but does not dare to say. [staff edit - not FF]

The overall tone of the book is very crude, very cynical and grey. This is a story about a small town, where kids smoke, parents are unhappy and anger is common. It's not very happy - but at the same time, it's intriguing, almost alarmingly precise in it's descriptions, and it definitely affects you. The closest thing I come to as a reference is the movie Fish Tank, they both share the same harshly realistic portraits of British society's darker sides.

The Casual Vacancy may not yet have me in it's firm grip, in a state where I can not stop reading - but it will. I am certain of it. These whole first 140 pages is indeed incredibly promising, and as I take the remaining pages in my fist, I can't help but feel baffled and curious about what will happen at the next page.

[RebeccaMatthews]

For me, once I got passed part one and into part two and onwards, the book became more enjoyable to the point that I nearly missed my buss this morning because I was more interested in reading the book.

I'm finding that had this not been a JK Rowling book, I would've been less inclined to read it unless it was being made into a movie where either there was an actor I liked in it or the marketing for the film pulled me in. It's her name that initially pulled me into reading this book because based on just the description I might not have read it.

[ArryGrotter]

I just finished it. I really don't know what to think.

Spoiler: show

There isn't really any resolution, to be honest. It kind of just felt like things happened. And I'm very surprised that we did not get any resolution to the conflict over the borders and the drug clinic. Krystal and Robbie's deaths were poetic, but they kind of just happened and we just briefly got a snapshot of what effect they had, and that was the end.

I think my overall view is that it just was too long for little pay off. Yes, there were some interesting situations and some interesting characters, but it just felt very anti-climatic.

[ccollinsmith]

Originally Posted by Unrepentant

I'm loving it, but it's... very difficult. It demands a lot from the reader, but if the reader lives up to the book's demands, the book rewards you with a stunning tale of small-town cynism and tragedy.

William Faulkner, Virginia Woolf, and James Joyce demand a lot from the reader.

I'm finding this very easy to read. Just less easy to enjoy... at least in the early going.

Originally Posted by RebeccaMatthews

For me, once I got passed part one and into part two and onwards, the book became more enjoyable to the point that I nearly missed my buss this morning because I was more interested in reading the book.

I'm finding that had this not been a JK Rowling book, I would've been less inclined to read it unless it was being made into a movie where either there was an actor I liked in it or the marketing for the film pulled me in. It's her name that initially pulled me into reading this book because based on just the description I might not have read it.

I finally started enjoying it when she got to the backstory. And yeah, I probably would not have gotten that far if the author weren't JK Rowling.

[gertiekeddle]

Originally Posted by ccollinsmith

I'm finding this very easy to read. Just less easy to enjoy... at least in the early going.

Agreeing. That's the only similarity I still see to HP (but I have to say I haven't yet finished the new book). While both come along fully different, I believe for the actual complexity of topic the writing style in both is 'easy to grap' (since I believe HP is very easy to read but way more complex by many levels of content and actual witty word plays etc, too already). For me it's a strength JK has and which I like. (In this case - complex writing style can be fascinating just as well and many other authors never manage to write 'easy' by still entertaining their readers). It's interesting to see that it works with a fully different book too.

I finally started enjoying it when she got to the backstory. And yeah, I probably would not have gotten that far if the author weren't JK Rowling.

I wonder if that's the little benefit the author pulled out of all her fame - being able to write a book which a newb-author just couldn't since it kicks in too late. I'll have to finish the vagancy before I'm sure if I like that she took her possibility to do that experiment though.

[Schlubalybub]

I'm about halfway through the book now, and although I did find that the beginning was a bit of a struggle, as (as others have said) I was having difficulty remembering who was who and how they were related to each other. I am enjoying it though, and I really want to know what's happening next, I just haven't found myself with as much time as usual to read. A lot of the characters aren't very likeable, but I am finding myself going through a range of emotions with the characters.

Hmm, the language. I find that the language isn't very shocking to me until I remember who the author is, then it hits me a bit. However, I don't think that the language is worse than some other books I have read, because a lot of books that I read are peppered with (and some positively plastered with), shall we say colourful language...

I am enjoying it so far though- I think it's very like other books that I like to read, regarding the themes and the characters. I do think it's unique though, when I said it was like other books, I didn't mean it was similar, more like I'm comfortable reading it because it's in the kind of format other books I love are in. If that makes sense...

[Overdose]

I'll be honest I reckon she needs to get an editor who'll do some serious editing. That book could have easily been a good 200 pages shorter. If it wasn't JK Rowling, I probably wouldn't have got through the whole thing which is a shame because when it picks up some steam she has some good ideas.
Of course it's all a bit Shane Meadows-y (especially the ending) and I think the message was kind of hammered into you, but I definitely found it enjoyable (wrong word?).

[Rell]

Is anyone else having trouble getting into the book? I read about thirty or so pages, and I'm just not caring...

it's making me sad

[gertiekeddle]

Yay, seems to be a common problem. The book kicks in late.