When Barry Fairbrother dies suddenly, the small town of Pagford is in shock. His death leaves an open position on the town's council. As different people vie for the position, long held secrets are brought to light and the peaceful town of Pagford isn't nearly as peaceful as it seems.
I am fully aware that this is not Harry Potter. I understand that this book is targeted at adults. If Rowling's intention was to write something completely different than Harry Potter, then she accomplished that goal. Knowing to expect something totally different than Harry Potter, I was still shocked at the extreme direction this book took. I've read books by other authors who have written a popular children's/young adult series and then wrote an adult book. In those books, I was still able to get a feel for the author's voice. Not so with Casual Vacancy. It really felt like it was someone completely different writing the book. Language was terrible. I've read adult books with language in them in the past, and I typically ignore it. In this case, it was almost every other sentence (and in some cases words) that was a curse word. I felt like I needed a list of characters to keep them all straight. There wasn't one particular character that I was attached to. Authority is completely disrespected. There is abundant drug use, sex, hints of abuse and neglect, suicidal tendencies in addition to the coarse language. There were some chapters that after reading, I wanted to go take a shower because I felt dirty. Will I still read books that Rowling writes? Most likely as I love Harry Potter.
My personal opinion is that Rowling needs to continue to write children's/young adult books and not to attempt a book that doesn't even sound like she wrote it!
I rented this book from the library. It's only costing me the twenty cents that is the late fee for not returning it on time. I attempted to read this book for pure pleasure, but instead struggled through it.
My thoughts and opinions are my own. Disclaimer - I did not set out to write a scathing review, though I realize that it may sound like one.
Recommended to - I really cannot recommend this to anyone.
Rating - 1.5 stars, which will be a 2 star rating on Amazon as my criteria for a 1 star book is that it puts me to sleep.
Thanks for the review. I know it's hard to trudge through a book you dislike, but thanks for the warning, even though I never had any intention of reading this book I like to keep tabs on the secular books on the market to stay knowledgable and help people find better alternatives :) Hope you find something really good to read next!
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Thanks Faye! And truthfully, I wanted to like it. I really did. :)
DeleteAnd yes I am reading several really good books right now.