The Casual Vacancy (Large Print)

Staff Pick

J. K. Rowling's new book is a little like Harry Potter — if Hagrid never came to collect Harry and instead the novel focused on the dysfunctions of the Dursleys and all their neighbors. That being said, The Casual Vacancy still possesses Rowling's uniquely addictive storytelling, and you'll soon find yourself needing to know what will befall the small town's inhabitants next. Though frequently dark, it has a quaint and charming quality that makes it the perfect book to curl up and read by lamplight while drinking tea on a winter's night.
Recommended by Michelle M, Powell's City of Books

Set in a tiny town in the English countryside, Pagford is populated with the unlikeliest of characters. It's the perfect setting for salt-of-the-earth, kind, community-minded, and compassionate folks. But you won't find such people here. Everyone has a secret; everyone has hidden motivations and desires which they will stop at nothing to satisfy. These are unseemly folks, each with his or her own particular array of distasteful traits. Throw in a newly vacant seat on the town's council, and you have fertile fields for every kind of backstabbing, manipulating, lying, and coercing imaginable. Yes, it's on.

Surprisingly, while racing through The Casual Vacancy (because I could not put it down), I was most often reminded of Barbara Vine (a.k.a. Ruth Rendell). Rowling's vision of her characters' emotions is razor sharp, and the clarity with which she understands their inner life is startling. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who could paint a psychological study better than Vine, but Rowling is certainly hard on Vine's heels here. Yes, her characters are unlikable (every single one of them), and yes, this is a tale of ugly people doing awful things, and yes, there is so much going on here that it takes a bit of effort to untangle all the threads. But this is one fantastic read, and it is so completely worth the effort. Rowling is, above all else, an amazing storyteller. Don't miss her gigantic leap into adult fiction; it is a thing of beauty underneath all the darkness.
Recommended by Dianah, Powell's City of Books

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danielle crelly, January 27, 2013 (view all comments by danielle crelly)
I don't know if I only speak for myself when I say this but, I was half expecting or maybe even hoping for an adult version of the Harry Potter after years, or maybe I was thinking that, because the author had written so amazingly about this fanasty/magic world in several bestselling books, that she may have been confined to some writing box that would not allow her talent to show if she tried something else. This book completely proved me wrong. This book proved to me what an amazing author J.K. Rowling truly is. not only can she write books that can captivate the child and adult together at the same time with ease, but she can write an adult story with such raw and dark truth and make you laugh and cry along the way. Her characters are so real in all her books that you felt a certain connection or understanding with all of them, and this book was no different. I can't wait to read the next thing she writes!

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780316228541

Author:

Rowling, J.K.

Publisher:

Little Brown and Company

Subject:

Literature-A to Z

Copyright:

2012

Publication Date:

20120931

Binding:

HARDCOVER

Language:

English

0 stars - 0 reviews

$39.00 In Stock

"Staff Pick" by Michelle M,

J. K. Rowling's new book is a little like Harry Potter — if Hagrid never came to collect Harry and instead the novel focused on the dysfunctions of the Dursleys and all their neighbors. That being said, The Casual Vacancy still possesses Rowling's uniquely addictive storytelling, and you'll soon find yourself needing to know what will befall the small town's inhabitants next. Though frequently dark, it has a quaint and charming quality that makes it the perfect book to curl up and read by lamplight while drinking tea on a winter's night.

by Michelle M

"Staff Pick" by Dianah,

Set in a tiny town in the English countryside, Pagford is populated with the unlikeliest of characters. It's the perfect setting for salt-of-the-earth, kind, community-minded, and compassionate folks. But you won't find such people here. Everyone has a secret; everyone has hidden motivations and desires which they will stop at nothing to satisfy. These are unseemly folks, each with his or her own particular array of distasteful traits. Throw in a newly vacant seat on the town's council, and you have fertile fields for every kind of backstabbing, manipulating, lying, and coercing imaginable. Yes, it's on.

Surprisingly, while racing through The Casual Vacancy (because I could not put it down), I was most often reminded of Barbara Vine (a.k.a. Ruth Rendell). Rowling's vision of her characters' emotions is razor sharp, and the clarity with which she understands their inner life is startling. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who could paint a psychological study better than Vine, but Rowling is certainly hard on Vine's heels here. Yes, her characters are unlikable (every single one of them), and yes, this is a tale of ugly people doing awful things, and yes, there is so much going on here that it takes a bit of effort to untangle all the threads. But this is one fantastic read, and it is so completely worth the effort. Rowling is, above all else, an amazing storyteller. Don't miss her gigantic leap into adult fiction; it is a thing of beauty underneath all the darkness.

by Dianah