The Casual Vacancy

By: J.K. Rowling

Narrated by: Tom Hollander

When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early 40s, the little 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 at first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town's 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?

Blackly comic, thought-provoking, and constantly surprising, The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults.

©2012 J.K. Rowling (P)2012 Hachette Audio

Excellent reader. Dark book

I'm sure, (in the way that someone who has never met or spoken with the author can be sure) that J.K. Rowling was trying to write a book that was as far from Harry Potter as she could get. She had to show that she could do something else. She has certainly succeeded. I don't think that this was supposed to be a light hearted romp at all. It is not. This book is dark and brooding. If you are waiting for the uplifting moment, it never comes. The other side of that is that she wrote this book very well. Part of what makes it dark and disturbing is that she is good at description and she is excellent and setting a scene in small towns in England. I didn't really like the book but I was engaged with it to the end.

The reader knocked this one out of the park! I think that part of what made the book so engaging was that he was reading it. I hope this book lands him a big stack of contracts to perform other books. He needs to do more!

I didn't like the story but it was well crafted.

it was just ok and not much more

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

not really - I missed the 'darkly comic' aspect, its was interconnected characters all mired in their own misery and downloading it onto others around them, I found none of the characters redeeming, at best you would pity one for a while and then just be frustrated with their actions, not one seemed to have a bit of common sense. It just became annoying.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The outline was interesting - it presented as a story with potential. What made me lose interest quickly was that chapter after chapter the events were circular and outcomes became predictable, its was like reading a documentry on the welfare system. The book was too long for the story to be told.

What three words best describe Tom Hollander’s voice?

He worked well with the material but the nature of the book lead to the narration coming across as flat and monotonous

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

no

Any additional comments?

I recoginze the author is out to break away from past novels that were fantasy based, but in all honesty I found this book devoid of life, there were more realistic characters, flaws and all in the Harry Potter books.

Rowling Conjures a Tale for Adults

No one can say that J.K. Rowling cannot conjure up a good story, and the Casual Vacancy is most certainly a good story. The plot is every bit as intricate and twisted as any of the Harry Potter books, the characters are fully drawn and believable, and the action keeps you in suspense, waiting for the multiple threads of narrative that Rowling lays out to align and spontaneously combust. You can feel that explosion coming early in the book, as layer after layer of the peaceful veneer of small-town life in the English countryside is peeled away to reveal the simmering cauldron of anxieties, neuroses, overblown egos, class and racial tensions, and suppressed rage that lies beneath.

This is most definitely a novel for adults, with sex, drug abuse, profanity, rape, suicide, and difficult adult situations replacing the wands, brooms, creatures, and spells of the Potter series, but I suspect that there is much here for the 18 to 20-somethings who grew up on Potter to dig into. Much of the action revolves around and is driven by several teenagers coming to terms with adult feelings and adult responsibilities while struggling to deal with adults in their lives who are at their mildest somewhat whacky and at their worst very dangerous. Guess who turns out to be the heroes?

This was an engaging and thoroughly enjoyable listen, made all the more so by the skillful and sensitive narration of Tom Hollander.

This could be called any small town in US or UK

Would you consider the audio edition of The Casual Vacancy to be better than the print version?

I cannot answer as I am too blind to read pint books.

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is difficult, but I suppose I really liked Teassa and Samantha and Andrew. Perhaps because they seemed to the ones with whom I most identified. It was easy to loathe some of the others.

What does Tom Hollander bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I liked the reading, but didn't like that the voice raised so much and that the sound was not uniform. Meaning, it would disturb my husband when there was shouting and I had to turn the volume down.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes. I read it in two day.

Any additional comments?

Despite some negative and mixed reviews, I loved this book. It was also scarily real as the forces of development and gentrification are universal in these capitalist-driven times. Money and racism and class make for bad bed fellows. I thought the ending was near perfect. Would love a sequel.

Abandon Rowling expectations: an ADULT masterwork

All is not right in the Muggle world. Or so I thought with annoyance as I listened to the first chapter. The gritty, profanity-laced small town England Rowling has created here and populated with bitter, ineffective, or downright destructive characters feels more like a screenplay by Guy Ritchie than a novel of the most beloved children's books of our generation.

But then I left my own prejudices behind and got drawn into the story. Those unpleasant characters have backgrounds, those angelic characters have nuances, that society of interlocking stories is bolstered by shared small-town history and weakened by private secrets. Once the politics of the "casual vacancy" - a vacant town council seat caused by a casualty, or death - is established, the story comes alive with concerns and machinations of myriad characters. Even the smallest characters are more than sketches, but fully fleshed out in a brilliant combination of internal monologues, regard by other characters, and external descriptions.

The politics of the small town serve as a framework for clashes and alliances among the factions fighting to either preserve or destroy the vision advocated by Barry Fairwater, the man whose death causes the vacancy, and whose shadow hangs over a surprisingly large portion of the town. Within this framework, Rowling explores the effect that grownups have on their children, and the lengths to which people will go to feel significant. Although I was put off a bit by the frequent, lacerating profanity, I have to concede that this book is a masterwork of fiction.

Quiet and compelling tragedy

Rowling's first book for adults paints nuanced and elegant portraits of a panoply of characters, shedding light on the ugly and untold corners of the human mind, while invoking a universal empathy for even the most seemingly unpleasant characters. Her uncanny ability to capture the angst and anguish of teenagers is most memorable--she flexes her Harry Potter muscles in this way, but with more freedom to explore body images issues, sexual awakenings, and adolescent self-loathing.

The whole thing feels at times Dickensian--with small-town intimacy, Rowling's distinctly-drawn characters meet their daily lives and disappointments. The death of one man on the parish council sends ripples that amplify throughout the community. But it also resembles a classic Greek tragedy, as our unexpected heroes and loathsome villains crawl forward on an unbreakable, pre-determined path, bound by destiny, unable to wiggle free from the constraints of race, class, and social status.

It's not an uplifting book, but it's fine storytelling, and Rowling's picture of an English town and its immensely complex inhabitants is a hard one to put down. Perhaps because Rowling's attempt to unearth the shame they all carry deep within is so poignant and easy to identify with. Tom Hollander's performance is lovely. Overall, magical in its own way.

Brilliant and Devastating

What made the experience of listening to The Casual Vacancy the most enjoyable?

As an avid reader, I wasn't sure I'd like having someone else read a story to me, but I have a long commute and it certainly made that hour home enjoyable for me each day.

What about Tom Hollander’s performance did you like?

I really appreciated the distinctive voices he used, and his command of the accents, especially Howard, whose voice brought him to life and rang so true and real that it was easy to picture him vividly.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Not until the end, I must say. I had about 4 hours left in the book and began listening to it everywhere, instead of restricting it to just my commuting time.

Any additional comments?

This is by no means an easy book. It's magnificently written - the characters are well-drawn and very recognizable, the intertwining stories very interesting, a bit gritty, heartbreaking, and all too real. It's unusual, too, as it doesn't seem to have a principle protagonist, unless you count the one character whose absence not only filled every crack and crevice of Pagford, but was also the lynch-pin for everything that followed his departure. I spent the better part of the first half, maybe, wishing there was someone, any single one person for whom I could feel even a hint of sympathy, and I spent the last third or so of the book nearly overwhelmed with it. One part specifically was particularly difficult to listen to aloud, I found, as hearing it made it a bit more real - it haunted me for a while and I wished I hadn't chosen that section to start listening to it more frequently, subsequently on my way to work, rather than home. But on reflection, I can see that the single horrible act depicted was the spark that led to the denouement, and so was awful and necessary for the rest to play out the way it did. My being haunted by it all day was neither here nor there. It is a masterfully written, sometimes horrifying, and just plain devastating story that isn't for the feint of heart.

Beautiful but not simple

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to SOME friends, but not all. The story is about a town, not a protagonist. Like in HP, Rowling weaves many characters together in a compelling, multi dimensional story. Some people might be frustrated by the nebulousness in such a story. Others, like myself, see this as a reflection of real life.

What does Tom Hollander bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Hollander brings a british authenticity that brings the story to life for a Yank like myself. His tone, tied with Rowling's british stylings, drench this book in a beautiful modern british feel.

Any additional comments?

Rowling doesn't create stories. She creates human, relatable characters and sets them loose in the little town of Pagford. While this is elegant and natural, it may not satiate some reader's need for good/evil.

Thought provoking

What made the experience of listening to The Casual Vacancy the most enjoyable?

The narrator was exceptional. He really gave the characters their personalities.

What did you like best about this story?

The lives of the characters were intricately interwoven and really gave an example of the complexity of human relationships, within a family and within a community.

Which character – as performed by Tom Hollander – was your favorite?

Howard Molleson. You could just picture this huge, full-of-himself character.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Too long for one sitting. I certainly wanted to get back to it as soon as I could to see what happened next. I think it is good to absorb the social implications after a couple hours of listening before listening to the next part.

Any additional comments?

I highly recommend it.

great story; "meh" performance

I followed along in a physical copy. I don't think I could have simply listened to this one. The performance is rather dull and it would have struggled to keep my attention without the book in my hands. The story, however, is quite moving.