If I had not known that The Casual Vacancy was written by JK Rowling I’m pretty sure I would never have read it. It’s definitely not my usual fare.I found the book very boring for the first 50 pages or so. I think it’s supposed to be boring though. The only problem I had was that I read those pages mindlessly and once the story started getting interesting I couldn’t remember which characters were related, who was friends with whom, who wanted what, etc. So I spent most of the first half of the book just remembering who all the characters were.Once I had that all straight, it was surprisingly easy to get sucked in the book. Rowling’s writing remains very readable. I did not find the story itself very compelling though. The novel shifts points of view between all of the characters, but none of the characters ever come off as sympathetic or that likeable. It is arguably darker than the darkest Harry Potter book; it is definitely more explicit. But despite the content, I never felt any heightened emotions (negative or positive) towards any of the characters or their situations while reading the book, with the exception of one incident at the end.*As I was reading, I also couldn’t help but wonder if the nuance of the social commentary was being lost on me. I think non-Brits can read and understand the novel just fine, but I kept wondering if the book would mean something different (and possibly more) to British readers than it did to me.If I had to guess, I’d say this book will be very polarizing. And as with most polarizing things you’re probably best off reading the book for yourself so you can formulate your own opinion on it.*One page (out of 502) almost made me cry.
