![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
The Casual Vacancy
So I just finished reading The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling's first non-HP book, and my reaction was pretty much...meh.
When I started reading, I was listening to Mugglecast episode 258, in which they were discussing the book, and I think my reaction was similar to most of the podcasters'. As they said, it wasn't a badly written book, but it was really slow going for me, and I had a difficult time getting through it. I devoured most of the HP books in a day or two because I couldn't wait to see what happened next, but this book had a really hard time holding my interest--it took me a couple of weeks to finish. (None of the Mugglecasters had managed to finish the book by the time of the podcast, either, which was recorded a few days after the book's release.)
Part of the problem, as they said in the podcast, is that there's a whole lot of exposition and character introductions, and the plot doesn't really get going until much later in the book (it does pick up towards the end). OTOH, the same can be said of many Mercedes Lackey books, which I still love.
I think the difference is that Lackey makes me care about her characters, but I just don't care about the characters in Casual Vacancy. There's no one protagonist to root for; the book's POV shifts between a number of different characters, most of whom are petty and selfish and thoroughly unlikeable. A few are well-intentioned, but are hopelessly inadequate and/or too self-centered to notice what's really going on in their troubled teenage kids' lives. The premise of the book is that a member of the Pagford parish council dies, leaving an unexpected vacancy that the other characters scheme to fill for their own (mostly petty) ambitions, but it was difficult to care about who won when none of the candidates were appealing.
I do have sympathy for some of the kids, especially Andrew, who is verbally and physically abused by his blustering, Dursley-ish father, who comes off as a darker and less cartoonish version of Vernon. And also Sukhvinder, a shy girl who is made miserable by the bullying of Andrew's friend Fats and by the too-high expectations of her demanding mother. And there's Krystal, who appears to be foul-mouthed and unpleasant at first--which she is, but then you see how her life has been shaped by her neglectful, drug-addicted mother, and that she loves her little brother Robbie and tries her best to protect him, although she doesn't always go about it in the right way. But no one among them really stands out as a protagonist to root for, and even if they did, I'm not really sure what to root for. Unlike Harry, there's no Dumbledore or Hagrid to take them away to a better life, and they don't really have the power to change their lives for the better on their own. But the chapters with the kids were still the parts of the book that managed to hold my interest the most; I really didn't care what happened to any of the adults, other than hoping that the most obnoxious ones would get some kind of comeuppance.
And the book ends, at least for me, without any real resolution. The vacancy gets filled, but by the time that happens, it's made almost irrelevant by certain events that tear the town apart and cause a terrible tragedy. The characters' lives are left in uncertainty--drastically changed, with some worse off than before and some who might possibly have a fragile thread of hope for the future.
I suspect that most HP fans won't enjoy the book very much. The Mugglecasters said that the book may have been somewhat mis-marketed, since all the hype about "J.K. Rowling's new book" seems to target HP fans, with perhaps not enough emphasis on how completely different this is from HP. Though I'm not sure how much of an audience there is for "dark, cynical, slice-of-life books about a small British town," and how they'd go about marketing that, either. Regardless, I suspect many readers will end up feeling disappointed with the book, as I was. Though I'm happy that at least I borrowed the book from the library instead of buying it.
And I've just downloaded Mugglecast #259 and am curious to hear their reaction now that they've (presumably) finished the book.
When I started reading, I was listening to Mugglecast episode 258, in which they were discussing the book, and I think my reaction was similar to most of the podcasters'. As they said, it wasn't a badly written book, but it was really slow going for me, and I had a difficult time getting through it. I devoured most of the HP books in a day or two because I couldn't wait to see what happened next, but this book had a really hard time holding my interest--it took me a couple of weeks to finish. (None of the Mugglecasters had managed to finish the book by the time of the podcast, either, which was recorded a few days after the book's release.)
Part of the problem, as they said in the podcast, is that there's a whole lot of exposition and character introductions, and the plot doesn't really get going until much later in the book (it does pick up towards the end). OTOH, the same can be said of many Mercedes Lackey books, which I still love.
I think the difference is that Lackey makes me care about her characters, but I just don't care about the characters in Casual Vacancy. There's no one protagonist to root for; the book's POV shifts between a number of different characters, most of whom are petty and selfish and thoroughly unlikeable. A few are well-intentioned, but are hopelessly inadequate and/or too self-centered to notice what's really going on in their troubled teenage kids' lives. The premise of the book is that a member of the Pagford parish council dies, leaving an unexpected vacancy that the other characters scheme to fill for their own (mostly petty) ambitions, but it was difficult to care about who won when none of the candidates were appealing.
I do have sympathy for some of the kids, especially Andrew, who is verbally and physically abused by his blustering, Dursley-ish father, who comes off as a darker and less cartoonish version of Vernon. And also Sukhvinder, a shy girl who is made miserable by the bullying of Andrew's friend Fats and by the too-high expectations of her demanding mother. And there's Krystal, who appears to be foul-mouthed and unpleasant at first--which she is, but then you see how her life has been shaped by her neglectful, drug-addicted mother, and that she loves her little brother Robbie and tries her best to protect him, although she doesn't always go about it in the right way. But no one among them really stands out as a protagonist to root for, and even if they did, I'm not really sure what to root for. Unlike Harry, there's no Dumbledore or Hagrid to take them away to a better life, and they don't really have the power to change their lives for the better on their own. But the chapters with the kids were still the parts of the book that managed to hold my interest the most; I really didn't care what happened to any of the adults, other than hoping that the most obnoxious ones would get some kind of comeuppance.
And the book ends, at least for me, without any real resolution. The vacancy gets filled, but by the time that happens, it's made almost irrelevant by certain events that tear the town apart and cause a terrible tragedy. The characters' lives are left in uncertainty--drastically changed, with some worse off than before and some who might possibly have a fragile thread of hope for the future.
I suspect that most HP fans won't enjoy the book very much. The Mugglecasters said that the book may have been somewhat mis-marketed, since all the hype about "J.K. Rowling's new book" seems to target HP fans, with perhaps not enough emphasis on how completely different this is from HP. Though I'm not sure how much of an audience there is for "dark, cynical, slice-of-life books about a small British town," and how they'd go about marketing that, either. Regardless, I suspect many readers will end up feeling disappointed with the book, as I was. Though I'm happy that at least I borrowed the book from the library instead of buying it.
And I've just downloaded Mugglecast #259 and am curious to hear their reaction now that they've (presumably) finished the book.