Drug taking and bullying has replaced witchcraft and wizardry. There is nothing casual about The Casual Vacancy in JK Rowling’s new novel.
‘The Casual Vacancy’ by JK Rowling requires patience and determination. It’s a 500 page marathon but that’s where the similarity ends, as the ending is neither satisfying nor rewarding.
This novel is intentionally not comparable to Harry Potter, which picked JK Rowling from poverty and rewarded her with phenomenal fame and success. The Casual Vacancy is the key to unlock the shackles of the child’s magical world of Harry Potter, and she has certainly exorcised her demons by using this novel to discuss and embrace every social taboo she could get her hands on.
To set the tone of the novel, it starts with the death of Barry Fairbrother; an upstanding local councillor from the affluent fictional village of Pagford, set in the Westcountry. Shortly after, we are introduced to the destitute neighbouring village, The Fields, where Krystal Weedon and her family live in drug induced squalor. It is a cross between ‘Shameless’ and ‘Midsummer Murders’ as JK Rowling creates the two extremes of society by depicting in graphic detail drug abuse, self harm and rape, to name just a few harrowing moments in this novel.
The Council of Pagford need to disassociate themselves from The Fields if they are to keep their reputation, so the town Council’s ‘Casual Vacancy’ left by Barry Fairbrother’s untimely demise must be filled by the most upstanding citizen of Pagford. As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that there is no such person. The reader quickly realises that the lives and relationships of both social groups in this novel are flawed and corrupt as dodgy dealings, affairs and abuse leak out of every page, like a never ending episode of Jeremy Kyle.
Not unlike Harry Potter, the ‘heroes’ of this novel are the children. Krystal Weedon is let down by the people who are meant to be protecting her wellbeing and the reader quickly recognises the damage which has been inflicted upon her is irreparable. Her friendship with Barry Fairbrother becomes the only relationship I truly cared about in the novel; her grief for his loss explored a deeper dimension to her character which wasn’t motivated by money, status or reputation. I also enjoyed the revolt of Andrew towards his abusive father Simon, who is utterly detestable, despite being a prospective candidate for the Casual Vacancy. Often the children in this novel are more knowledgeable and astute than their parents, who no longer see right from wrong.
This is a politically led novel, exploring the social stereotypes between the classes. JK Rowling weaves together the characters effortlessly to express her contempt for this social division by satirising the snobby Pagford citizens and branding them with the same issues and attitudes as their socially inferior neighbours.
There is no doubt that this an adult novel, designed to shock. The huge array of challenging themes including abuse, incest, racism and online bulling are expressed directly – often through the use of coarse language. I felt that JK Rowling was trying to out-do her last horrific theme by introducing another, which could feel overwhelming for the reader. The prose, as ever, is excellent but the descriptions can often feel laborious; preventing the story from moving on.
This book is a million miles away from Harry Potter because it is a hard dose of reality for the reader. If you turn off the 10 o’clock news in favour of escaping into a book, then the Casual Vacancy will bring you straight back down to earth. The characters keep this book alive; not the themes, even if the most likeable character in the book dies in the first chapter. Be ready for a bumpy ride: The Casual Vacancy describes a raging war, and unlike Harry Potter there is no magic spell to fix it.
Sally Welbourn