The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
5 out of 5
It's best to put aside any preconceptions you might have about what The Casual Vacancy will be like before you read it. That's hard to do in any situation, but when the author is J.K. Rowling, author of theHarry Potter series, that's even more so; no matter what, you'll have certain expectations or ideas about what The Casual Vacancy might be like. It's to Rowling's credit, I think, that the book defies almost any expectation anyone had, delivering not a genre book, not a light-hearted book, but a cynical, dark look at modern society, politics, poverty, strained family relationships, and more. Nominally, The Casual Vacancy is about the aftermath of a death in a small English town, a death which opens up a seat on the ruling body in the town (the titular vacancy). But in reality, Rowling uses the death as a way to open up this insular world and its dramas for the reader to explore. Rowling's working with a sprawling cast of characters here, and her effortless gliding between perspectives, dialects, philosophies, and thoughts is just one of the many joys for someone like me who was curious how her prose would differ as she took on the adult world. Indeed, Rowling's prose and craft is generally superb, weaving between the past and present, sliding between characters, and juggling dozens of plot threads only to collide them at unexpected moments - it's a masterful performance from a technical perspective, and left me impressed with just how far Rowling had come from the first Potter novel so many years ago. The subject matter has been more problematic for some people, with some feeling lost in just how ferociously cynical and vicious The Casual Vacancy can be. While Rowling has created dozens of rich characters, none of them are heroes, and not one is without a flaw - sometimes, there are a multitude of them. That's led some to discount the book as being without likeable characters, which is an absurd charge to me; while there are no doubt some despicable people here, it's not hard to feel that Rowling has a surprising amount of empathy for all of them (albeit some more than others). Similarly, the subject matter here can be dark, but that's appropriate; with much of the book revolving around the town's effort to rid itself of the government housing for the poor and the drug clinic that's helping many escape their addictions, it would be absurd and offensive to minimize the suffering and difficulty that comes along with such a life. Instead, Rowling focuses beautifully on both sides, attempting to understand those who look down on the inhabitants of the projects while also attempting to be a voice for those who had no chance at anything better. If you take The Casual Vacancy as, in effect, a debut novel, you'll be deeply impressed; while there are no doubt a few missteps (for example: there's a subplot about hacking that feels a bit repetitive and a bit like a deus ex machina, and occasionally the massive cast gets a bit overwhelming and confusing), what you have here is an assured, confident step into the literary world. Rowling is taking a huge gamble here, trading her genre work in for something more literary, trading her hopefulness in for brutal realism, and focusing a lot on the many ways that human beings can find themselves lacking in empathy for even those they love. The end result is a fantastic novel, one that I read pretty much any time I had free moments, and one that hit me pretty hard as it came to its powerful climax. It's not often enough that novelists are willing to write about social classes and the conflicts between them, or the way that politics can obscure our basic humanity towards each other, and yet Rowling takes both issues on, all while spinning tales about parents and children, the way we cope with loss, and so much more. For its short length, The Casual Vacancy is an ambitious, complex novel, but it's also a very human one underneath that - and to me, that may be the most important thing. - Josh Mauthe
