Book Review: The Casual Vacancy

Casual VacancyThe Casual Vacancy
by J.K. Rowling, Fiction (Released September, 2012)

Bottom Line: Skip it.
Summary: The unexpected death of Pagford Parish Council member Barry Fairbrother sparks a backstabbing competition to fill his vacated Council seat.
My Thoughts: I should first give you some context so you can appropriately judge my thoughts: I thought the first Harry Potter book was fine (but not fantastic), and I did not read all seven of them. That being said, Rowling’s latest book confused me. When I first started reading it, I wondered if Rowling was being sarcastic about small town British politics and the people who take them very seriously – like the movie “Best in Show”. As the book goes on, I realized this probably wasn’t the case, but I think it would have made for much more entertaining reading. Overall, the book was fine – I wasn’t really into it, but didn’t have trouble finishing it either. I just didn’t get the point of it and I couldn’t make myself care who won Barry Fairbrother’s Council seat. Maybe it suffered from overblown expectations because it was written by J.K. Rowling or maybe I’m one of the only people on earth who is not a huge Rowling fan.

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