Book Review: The Casual Vacancy

JK Rowling
The Casual Vacancy
Pub. Little, Brown & Co., 1st Ed. Sept. 2012
Hardcover, 503 pages


Rowling starts her first novel in the post-Harry Potter era with a death in a parking lot: Barry Fairbrother, a council member of the Parish of Pegford. Fairbrother, who was going into a restaurant with his wife Mary, has an aneurysm. This creates the "casual vacancy"--a sudden opening on the Parish Council. The news quickly travels through town, and thus the story begins.

The election of Fairbrother's replacement will have an effect on  the parish for generations to come. It all started 60 years before, when the local estate deeded some land to Pegford. On that land a housing development, called The Fields, was built and over time The Fields had become a slum. The problem is this: Under the unusual deal, The Fields is under Pegford jurisdiction, and therefore the parish is responsible for the social services; meanwhile, the neighboring city of Yarvil has responsibility for the infrastructure. In the economic downturn, Pegford can no longer afford to keep The Fields on. A border war has broken out, and at the same time a civil war wages on in the Council over this question: Keep The Fields, or redraw the border and make it part of Yarvil? This is what the election is all about: Will the new councilman be Pro- or Anti- Fields?

Ultimately, the novel--using the vehicle of the election campaign and other secondary stories--is about the people of Pegford and The Fields. We learn everything about them....everything....and that is my biggest issue with the book. The character detail may be useful for the author doing prep work sketches, but for the reader there is almost too much story. Perhaps if Rowling had stuck with the election and it's central issue--keep The Fields or cut it loose-- this would be a tighter book. I do believe she is a great storyteller who has created interesting characters, but it is overwhelming here. With careful editing, the novel could easily lose 20 or 30 pages and still have a strong enough plot. (For instance, cut everything about Andrew's crush on Gaia. As realistic a take it may be on how a 16 year old boy's mind works, it has no bearing on the main point.)  Rowling could always have come back to Pegford in future work.

The other thing, and this did take a little getting used to, is this is not your kids' Harry Potter. Billed as Rowling's first novel for adults, these pages are full to the brim with curse words, OCD issues, computer hacking, marital infidelity, rape, drug addition and recovery (and the funding of both), pedophilia, suicide, cutting, binge drinking, sex (both adult and teenage), domestic violence, and teenage pregnancy. It is almost as if Rowling had held so much back in trying to create a unique and relatively kid-friendly Potter universe, that the dam broke and it all spilled out here.

It is interesting to note, however, that the BBC has commissioned a TV series based on the book. I am curious to see how that turns out, as it may play better on screen than on paper. In fact Rowling herself has said that she thinks the best adaptation would be for television.

Overall, the election storyline is interesting--especially given that the US release was a mere two months ahead of our own election. But Rowling didn't need to put everything in one book. I can understand trying to do something different after living with Harry Potter for 10 years, but she should have paced herself a little. Good effort, but my final grade is...C.