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.
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Reviews with images
Not the grown up version of Harry Potter - absolutely not suitable for children
Let me start off by mentioning that I have two college degrees - one in English Literature. I have read Harry Potter several times. From glancing at the reviews, it seems people were expecting Harry Potter 2.0 from this exquisite novel, and were dismayed with the results of their curiosity. This is considered an adult novel. It isn't a magical fairytale; I would venture to say it could be considered the exact opposite of HP.The craft of this novel is marvelous. Every sentence paints a picture. The wording can be very difficult. I came across copious amounts of unfamiliar words - some I would have never understood save for etymology courses I've taken that taught me to break apart words, some I still don't understand. I used context clues to grasp the gist of some sentences so I could move on instead of googling them. There are loads of point-of-view shifts from character to characte and sometimes it can be difficult to recall who is married to whom and which child is which.For my fellow Americans, you will come across many words that are British, just be prepared. It isn't an easy read.I would not recommend you allow your teens to read this book unless you're prepared to explain incest, rape, drug addiction, homosexuality, self mutilation, etc. The language is extremely colorful, dotted by many an f-bomb. This is absolutely unfit for any child under 16. I was excited to read it because it's written by one of my favorite authors (as, too, your child may argue) but please remember that this is NOT HARRY POTTER.
Top reviews from other countries
Rikki grinberg
the name put me off but the book is brilliant
Reviewed in Australia on March 13, 2024
Leticia
Llegó muy rápido, pese a que tiene muchas páginas es muy compacto
Reviewed in Spain on June 26, 2018Roberta
Quello che mi aspettavo da una grande scrittrice
Reviewed in Italy on December 22, 2015