The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Published: 2012, Little, Brown
Genre: Adult Fiction
Source: Personal book
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None of them was Barry. He had been a living example of what they proposed in theory: the advancement, through education, from poverty to affluence, from powerlessness and dependency to valuable contributor to society. Did they not see what hopeless advocates they were, compared to the man who had died?
I can readily admit that if anyone other than J.K. Rowling had written
The Casual Vacancy, this is a book I would have never crossed paths
with. The Casual Vacancy is all about the mundane, everyday lives of
people in an equally unremarkable English village. Usually I like my books to
have a greater sense of purpose than Rowling's first piece of adult fiction has.
After finishing the book, however, I found that I had greatly enjoyed the
reading experience. After all, I do think that the banality of everyday life is a
powerful force in uniting people.
The Casual Vacancy takes place in the small town of Pagford.
Although it seems idyllic from a distance, the town is rife with strife. A large
portion of the strife is brought to the surface once Barry Fairbrother, a member
of Pagford's Parish Council, dies unexpectedly. For at this critical time in
Pagford's existence, the citizens of Pagford are debating about whether Pagford
should continue to be responsible for the Fields, a low-cost low-housing area
filled with mostly undesirable residents, and whether the Bellchapel addiction
clinic, whose main clientele is people from the Fields, should remain open due
to Pagford's tax dollars.
Barry himself was a great story of success: he grew up in the Fields, went
on to receive good schooling, and ultimately became a bank manager and well-respected
leader in Pagford. Unfortunately most of the Fields' residents cannot boast the
same claims to fame, and with the main proponent of the responsibility of
Pagford to maintain the Fields and Bellchapel gone, there is a undisputed void.
Although others try to carry on Barry's legacy, most notably the town's GP
Parminder Jawanda and school principal Colin Wall, their fight is fraught with
difficulties as those who wish to rid Pagford of the Fields and Bellchapel
continue to gain power.
With a large cast of characters, a well-established conflict with clear
issues and goals on each side, and a town steeped in history and politics,
The Casual Vacancy seems like a daunting read. It did take me a
while to become immersed in the characters and all of their individual and
intermingled conflicts. But then I found that I did care quite a bit. Over the
course of the novel I became invested in the town's fate, as well as the fate of
over fifteen characters. This is why I love J.K. Rowling. Although The
Casual Vacancy seems to be a story about local politics, the politics are
used to instead frame a multifaceted story about the everyday lives of many
different people, many whose only commonality is living in the same area.
Based on my experiences reading Harry Potter, I knew that J.K.
Rowling's strength lies in characterization. Even in the magic-filled world of
Harry Potter, it was J.K. Rowling's characters that captured my
attention and my heart. The same holds true for The Casual Vacancy. I
was actually a little surprised to find that my favorite character is Barry
Fairbrother, especially since he's dead for the majority of the novel. But the
way that he is able to positively influence people of so many backgrounds, to
affect change in this small town, is amazing. He continues to exert a forceful
presence throughout the majority of the novel. None of the other characters can
ever measure up to the standards that Barry has set, and, indeed, everyone is an
interesting mix in shades of grey. But it was not too difficult for me as a
reader to peel back the layers surrounding the characters, to see both the bad
and the good qualities of each person. Okay, maybe there were a few characters I
really had a difficult time finding any redeeming qualities in, but they were
definitely among the minority.
Make no mistake: The Casual Vacancy is very far-removed from the
magical world of the Harry Potter series, even if both the series and
this book both have phenomenal characterization. The Casual Vacancy is
very much an adult book; it's full of many tough subjects and is definitely not
appropriate for child readers. At first I admit that I was turned off by the
(overly) mature tone of this book. This is J.K. Rowling writing this,
I wondered to myself, scandalized, at many early instances in the novel. It does
take some adjustment to accept how much Rowling was able to alter her tone for
her new intended audience. But I did not feel that anything was gratuitous, or
to simply show that Rowling could write for older audiences.
With that being said, however, I still found myself more drawn to the teens of Pagford rather than the adults. Fats' search for
authenticity, Sukhvinder's struggle not to be completely subsumed by bullying
and harsh parents, Gaia's frustration at being relocated to a small town,
Andrew's overwhelming feelings for Gaia, Krystal's determination to make life
better for her little brother: these teens were most identifiable and seemed to undergo the strongest characterization. I
am much closer in age to the teens than to the adults in the story, however, so
this could simply be my perception. I may have to reread the book again years
down the road to see how much more relatable the adult characters become.
The tough topics that Rowling chooses to address ensure that there's no
truly happy ending here; how can there be, if we as readers are exposed to
characters of all different perspectives? Outwardly the beginning and ending
seem to mirror each other. Internally, however, we as readers can close the book
feeling satisfied that the characters really have evolved, that their lives have
in fact changed over the course of the book. Not everything has an easily identifiable answer, or ends on a good note. But then, that's life.
I went into The Casual Vacancy fully expecting to be a little
biased. After all, J.K. Rowling has ensured herself a permanent place among my
favorite authors ever due to the Harry Potter series. I do think,
however, that Rowling has proved her versatility with The Casual
Vacancy. It's a slower, more adult read, but stick with it because it's
well worth the effort.
