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Sunday, October 21, 2012

The Casual Vacancy

I don't feel like sourcing a photo, so this is mine.
I used to be in the habit of reviewing books on here, but for one reason or another stopped. One reason or another being that all the books I read were basically the same (Josh calls them "Danger Dan" novels). Earlier this year I decided to change things up a bit and broaden my reading horizons.

I love to read. Almost as much as I love to read, I loved Harry Potter. I think that JK Rowling deserves much respect as an author, and as part of that I should probably not compare the HP books to The Casual Vacancy. They are however, entirely different. The Casual Vacancy is very much an adult book. I was expecting that to be kind of an overstatement, but once I got into the book I realized it wasn't.

Right here is the opportunity for you to stop reading this if you want to go into the book with no ideas or opinions clouding your judgment. I'm about to tell you how I feel about the book, but will not spoil the ending. You've been warned.

I can't help but feel that if JK Rowling had released this book under a pseudonym it would not have even been noteworthy. I will be the first to admit that I read this book because I loved HP and thought she was an amazing author for having come up with that. I still think she is amazing author. I went into this book knowing that it was not HP8. I knew there wasn't any magic in it. It is entirely possible that I just am not interested in the topic of The Casual Vacancy.

The Casual Vacancy begins with the death of Barry Fairbother. I'm not that interested in politics. I keep up with presidential and local elections, but I could care less about how government is run in Britain. So this Barry Fairbother fellow holds a political seat in the local government. Throughout the book I assumed he was like a city councilman. Even if I'm wrong, I don't really care. It isn't going to change the book at all. He was some sort of minor political figure. The entire small town it seems is concerned with replacing his seat and the issues mount.

I have to say, where HP was bright and mysterious, and Hogwarts was a place of wonder and amazement, the town of Pagford in The Casual Vacancy reminded me of Trailer Park Boys. But not funny.

Fair warning: The language in this video is rough. I don't know if any of you reading this care, but yeah. Trailer Park Boys is not known for intelligence.


I don't know what else I can say about it. I'm glad I read it, because if I hadn't I would wonder if it was good.

Instead of telling you whether it was good or bad, I'll just tell you some books that are better that you should read. Ok?

I joined a book club. We meet online and this is what we look like:
kjpugs photo
That sure is me right there at the left not looking at all. I swear I was paying attention. Next to me, left to right,  is Bailie, Jayme, Kelly, and Nikki.

The first book we read was Year of the Gadfly. Check out Nikki's post about it.
The second book (this month's book) is Gone Girl. This book freaked me out. It was so good.
A non-book club book that I heard of from the book club girls is Rules of Civility. Check out Kelly's post about it.
Another favorite of mine that is actually supposed to be a book we read in book club next year I think is Blackberry Winter. I couldn't wait for that month to come without reading it. Seriously. I'm not reviewing it now because this post has gotten too long, but it is good.

So that is it. Did you read The Casual Vacancy? What did you think of it?


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