The Casual Vacancy

Somewhere between exercising, looking for a job, listening to PRSA webinars, watching "The West Wing" on Netflix, and taking online classes on CourseEra I try to read a book for fun. In my previous post I wrote down a list of books that I plan to read by the end of this year. Currently I am reading "The Casual Vacancy" by JK Rowling. You might know her as the author of the Harry Potter Series. Apparently, a good young adult book series. I know, I am about six months behind but you try getting the book a day after its release from the Brooklyn Public Library! You have a better chance of winning a Fiat in a contest than getting the book! So when I moved to St. Louis a few weeks ago, I was shocked to have found three copies of the book in the county's library headquarters. And in pretty good condition as well - no food stains or bent pages. I was super excited to read the book. I've recently finished reading "Paris to the Past" by Ina Caro and was on such a book high. I was sure I would reach book ecstasy heaven with "The Casual Vacancy".

I haven't.

I started to read the book about two weeks ago. I'm on page 120 (out of 512).  No bueno. The book just does not have the same spark as the Harry Potter series has. Perhaps because the story takes place in the real world, though in the fictional town of Pagford. Pagford is based on two real places - (Newport) Pagnell and Chagford.* The book begins with the death of Barry Fairbrother and the hole he has left in the town because there is now a seat open on the local council. This conflict soon reveals more problems that are occurring in Pagford and so on. The themes of the book involve prostitution, rape, drug use, social and political issues. Perhaps this is the reason why I can't get into the book - it concentrates a lot on the close mindedness of the main characters and the frequent use and mention of drugs amongst one of the families.

Every day I open up the book and hope that it will get exciting in a chapter or so. This is a JK Rowling book after all! She is largely responsible for getting a whole generation to read. I know that I definitely appreciated reading more after I started to read Harry Potter. But it hasn't happened yet. Maybe it is the lack of latin spells or fictional creatures. Or maybe I am still really pissed off at Ms. Rowling for killing off Hedwig. Fred Weasley's death, I could handle - there were two of him anyway. But HEDWIG! No, that poor creature did nothing wrong and I still do not see how her death was connected to the main storyline (Apparently, it was a symbol of Harry losing his childhood, but still!)

Anyway, I shall try to finish the book but I do not think that this will happen anytime soon, especially since I still have four seasons of "The West Wing" to watch.

*NB: Apparently these two towns are worth the visit if you want to see typical quaint English towns. Feel free to read Robert McCrum's article about them - http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2012/sep/24/jk-rowling-pagford-casual-vacancy