The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

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Book summary: 

A BIG NOVEL ABOUT A SMALL TOWN ...

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils ... Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

      Something that started as the biggest expectation of the year turned out to be the biggest disappointment in just a couple of days. People blame it on me as they thing that I've expected something like Harry Potter but reality is something else. I'm well aware that Harry Potter is unique and I would be the first person to vote to leave that story as it is, just there where it should be and move onto something else. Only that something else wasn't this for sure.

       I shall warn you that I won't say much about the plot here, as it's too complicated to even try to explain it. That leads us to another problem, and yes believe it or not this book is too complicated for me to bother with. It started with so many names and connections that I was lost in spare of just few pages. I had no idea who is connected to whom and what that has to have with that other person whose story I'm reading, but I continued. I continued because many of fantasy novels (and note this is not a fantasy) start like that but soon enough everything gets cleared in my head. It didn't happened here because yes, I was well-aware of the characters, but what they had to do with this story and what was the main point reminded mystery to me, even now after reading it.
       That was my second problem - I really don't understand this book. I got a feeling like this book was written just for the sake of being wrote and that was a big disappointment to me. There was a lot of other problems like calling this book adult novel just because they (unnecessarily) swear all the time and every swear-word cut me like a knife. That wasn't the only reason for you to call this book adult there are many others but still this book didn't leave the impression of 'adultness'.

       I could easily set things differently and say that it was my mistake for picking up this book as it clearly wasn't for me but I won't. This book was written (I hope) to all lovers of J.K. Rowling's magical writing and ability to create a story that will get under your skin. I wasn't looking for another Harry Potter book, and I never will. Therefore I blame it on J.K. Rowling. I'm sorry but for once I tried and really put all my hopes in this, but sadly they were pointless.
       Needless to say, this was one of the hardest reviews to publish.

Rating: 1 star.

Until the next time,