'The Casual Vacancy' by J K Rowling
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the 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 facade 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 first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish 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?
I have never read any of the Harry Potter books so I was very open minded to this new book from
J K Rowling. I had heard a lot from others on how could she write anything better than the Harry Potter books, as I had never read them I had nothing to compare but knowing what a fantastic writter she is meant to be, I expected more!! For the first quarter of the book I was bored, disappointed and spent most of my time trying to work out who all of the characters were. I just couldn't get into it. I decided to put the book down for the week and then try again thinking that maybe I just wasn't in the frame of mind for reading that week, but no, I still felt the same when I started again! The book was chosen for our camp book club and it has been the only book I haven't finished. I finally stopped 3/4 through and put it down. I just kept thinking what a waste of my time, why am I sitting here reading this, I could be reading something so much better. What a waste of my £9 to buy it and those hours reading the 350+ pages!!
I have to say though, a member of my book club group did say the last 1/4 was the best and I should persevere with it, she was gripped with the ending. I think for now I can't finish it - I just can't waste anymore time on this novel, maybe at a later date when I have no more books to read I will finish it. (maybe!!) One thing I did get from the book though was you never know what goes on behind closed doors!
Would never recommed
Please don't base your opinion of JK Rowling on this book! I was interested to see how it fared after the triumph that is the whole Harry Potter series, but I was grossly disappointed in it from the very beginning. I did persevere with it, but whilst it had some touches of JK Rowling's skill as a great writer, it was trying too hard, I felt, NOT to be a 'children's' book, and I found it a bit forced.
ReplyDeleteRead Harry Potter to your children - they will love it!