REVIEW || 'The Casual Vacancy' by J.K. Rowling

“It frightened people when you were honest; it shocked them.”

— J.K. Rowling

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★★★

3/5 Stars

I absolutely adore JK Rowling. Her writing style is brilliant, and her imagination knows no bounds as evidenced by the worldwide phenomenon of Harry Potter. She stole my heart long ago as an elementary school girl, and I knew that regardless of the novels central themes or plot, I would adore this book.

Then I started reading the book. The first 200 pages or so were pretty slow...Rowling spent so much time setting the stage for several different families that she almost forced me to lose interest. The best way to compare the structure of this book is to compare it to the likes of the movies "Valentine's Day," "Love Actually" or "New Year's Eve" in that there are so many intertwined stories. Don't compare the cheesy love story aspects of those movies with the deep, dark authenticity of this book.

After the first 200 pages, I could not put the book down. It kept pulling me in...to me, the underlying theme in this novel is truth. This work exposes the raw truth behind every person. It touches on just about everything you can imagine - rape, death, cheating, lying, dating, marriage, adoption, abuse, neglect, drugs, addiction, mental instability. I'm not sure it missed any potential skeletons hidden in closets around the world.

I find it brilliant that Rowling used personal influences to help build her characters. In interviews, she has stated that at least two of the characters combined are her estranged father. The fact that she has these real-life experiences to base her characters on provides unmeasurable depth.

I feel as if the book moved slowly in the beginning, then once the action began, it happened all at once. Especially the last 100 pages. I was in a constant state of shock with every new development. That's my main reason for knocking the book from a perfect 5 - plot development. I feel that JKR wouldn't have lost so many initial readers had there been some type of action to draw people in. Those of us that respect her as an author owed it to her to see it through. I am one of those people, and I was definitely not disappointed.

I would recommend this book to someone who is ready to take the plunge from the perfect bubble that was "Potter World." If you're not able to wrap your brain around the fact that JKR will succeed as a writer outside of Harry Potter, first of all, you're not a true fan. Secondly, I am sad to say you're missing out on a brilliant, truthful, raw piece of literature.

Well done JKR, well done.