The Casual Vacancy

             I think I expressed my admiration for J.K. Rowling and her books many, many times before. And no surprise here that when I heard about Rowling's new book - The Casual Vacancy - I wanted to read it immediatelly. I was also very excited to hear that the book is not for kids but for adults. I bought it as a gift for myself for Christmas :)

I started to read it and ... a slight dissapointment :(

What I liked about the book:

It was great to read about a modern british society. I realise that the characters were fictional and the stories were not based on any particular events of course. But still, a book written by a British writer about Britain gives us an opportunity of an insight, which would be much less possible if the book was written by a non-British person. In this, I regard her a little bit like Jane Austen, whose novels were a mine of information about her times..

I liked the characters. So different, coming from every background, different religions, having different beliefs, opinions and plans. A true kaleidoscope of people that made the book interesting and diverse.

It was interesting to read about different issues which where part of the community live in Pagford. Rowling touches upon problems of drugs using, home violence, biurocray, local politics etc. These are the issues which every community around the world has to face sooner or later. Problems very much real and contemporary.

What I didn't like about the book:
Although the stories brought up in the book are interesting and modern they didn't have much power for me to be interested. I was pushing myself through the book just out of respect for Rowling and her previous work, which I love so much. The story lacked "the flow" which Rowling is so great in creating. I was bored at times as well. Hmmmm, maybe the next book will be better :)