A look into the muggle-world
A book review on The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
With the emergence of J.K. Rowling's new novel, The Casual Vacancy, readers will get the sense that they are not at Hogwarts anymore. Vacant of magic, death eaters, and Harry himself, this book is Rowling's step out of fantasy and into the world of harsh adulthood. It's easy to understand why J.K. Rowlings wanted to try something different after spending a whole decade and a half investing her time in the creation of Harry Potter and the wizarding world. This book is a introduction into Rowling's adult novel attempt and in my opinion, it's a great step she's taking. After years and years of writing about one particular genre, I feel like J.K Rowling stepped out of her comfort zone and produced a book that depicts the hardships and frustrations of life. Life isn't easy and this book covers that statement pretty easily.
Rowling's novel is quite different from her other novels as she explicitly describes themes like race, poverty, class, politics, drugs, prostitution and rape. There is a reason why this is characterized as a adult novel as Rowling depicts the struggles and hardships of specific characters in the town of Pagford. The setting takes place in a suburban Western Country town called Pagford. Pagford is a very small town where all the mishap and craziness takes place. The book is divided into seven parts, funny that it's seven because that's how many books there were in the Harry Potter series. Each part of the book begins with a quote from Charles Arnold-Bakers book Local Council Administration (Bakers was a lawyer in England and was a very prominent historian that Rowling's enjoyed) and each quote serves as a foreshadow of what's to come in each chapter. There are almost 30 different characters in this book, each relating in some way within their struggles against economic stability, drug addiction, politics, social class, and poverty. And unlike the Harry Potter series, where Rowling told the story from a single character's perspective, The Casual Vacancy us written from the perspectives of many different characters. This perspective helps the reader understand each character and gives an insight into the main characters inner minds. The one thing that struck me with this novel is how elegantly Rowling manages to have multiple character's point of view. She skillfully takes in account each character and illustrates their deepest, darkest secret while depicting such harsh themes of rape, addiction, class, and many more.
Even though J.K. Rowling created a novel that is nothing like Hogwarts and magic, her ability to make memorable characters hasn't changed. In order to describe some of the characters in this book, I have to introduce a little bit about the story. The first story depicts the aftermath of local Pagford Parish Councillor, Barry Fairbrother's death. This aftermath of his death sparks the whole city of Pagford into a problem with the local council estate, "The Fields". The Fields is basically operating homes that are facilitated by council officials. In simplistic form, they are apartments for people in United Kingdom and Ireland. To continue, "The Fields" is going to move out of Pagford and go into the neighboring town of Yarvil if the city council votes on it. Problems arise as the death of Barry comes and the whole city of Pagford struggles to out if the fields is going to move. This book is very complex when it comes to the plot itself as there are several characters Rowling introduces in each chapter. Each character struggles in some way within themselves internally and externally.
One character i'll introduce is Krystal Weedon. Krystal is an inhabitant of the Field's, which is the housing estate that might transfer to Yarvil. Krystal begins to be a "poster child," a spokesperson for those that want to stay in Pagford and not move to Yarvil. Krystal is a very complex character in the fact of her family history. Her mother Terri is a prostitute and heroin addict. Krystal's family is the epitome of everyone's nightmare. Her life is a complete disaster and the last thing she wants is to move out of Pagford into something she isn't ready to go into. Rowling depicts such frustration into the character of Krystal as she struggles everyday to make ends meet for her family. Krystal's character is very memorable in the fact that she's realistic, she's someone out there in the world. That's why this novel was so interesting for me to read because each character had some frustration, some difficulty in life that everyone deals with. Not everyone has a mother that's a prostitute and drug addict, but everyone can relate to Krystal's experience of the struggles and frustrations in life.
Another character that I found was memorable was Sukhvinder Jawanda. Sukhvinder is a Sikh, which is a religion followed mostly by people of Punjab India. Sukhvinder is the odd ball out in her family of very educated achievers as her mother and father are both doctors. She suffers from dyslexia and according to her mother and father, she appears to be stupid and not to her family's level of excellence. Also, in the Sikh religion, women are forbidden to cut their hair or remove any hair from their body. Sukhvinder struggles everyday with the bullying that she gets for not shaving her body. From her family not understanding her disease, her low self-esteem, and her religion forbidding her from doing what's normal in the society she lives in, Sukhvinder struggles inside and out. Rowling incorporated this character to illustrate the hardships of young adults that are born in a nation that is different from where their parents came from. Sukhvinder relates to any young female adult that struggles with school, family, and not being able to fit in. Both the characters of Krystal and Sukhvinder are memorable in that they both have internal and external conflicts that prohibit them from being what they want to be in life.
If I can say one thing about The Casual Vacancy, it's that J.K. Rowling's creative sense of literary work is here to stay. Many critics had thought this book wouldn't satisfy Rowling's creativity seen in the Harry Potter series. I have to say that they were pretty wrong in that fact. Rowling still keeps her characters memorable and realistic enough for readers to relate to their various aspects. Even though she isn't talking about wizards and magic, she still maintains the same writing style seen in Harry Potter. This is a more serious look in to Rowling's literary work and I think she did a marvelous job with it. She depicts hardships like race, religion, class, politics, and more to illustrate that life isn't easy for anyone, regardless of who you are and where you came from.
Read endnote here
Rowling's novel is quite different from her other novels as she explicitly describes themes like race, poverty, class, politics, drugs, prostitution and rape. There is a reason why this is characterized as a adult novel as Rowling depicts the struggles and hardships of specific characters in the town of Pagford. The setting takes place in a suburban Western Country town called Pagford. Pagford is a very small town where all the mishap and craziness takes place. The book is divided into seven parts, funny that it's seven because that's how many books there were in the Harry Potter series. Each part of the book begins with a quote from Charles Arnold-Bakers book Local Council Administration (Bakers was a lawyer in England and was a very prominent historian that Rowling's enjoyed) and each quote serves as a foreshadow of what's to come in each chapter. There are almost 30 different characters in this book, each relating in some way within their struggles against economic stability, drug addiction, politics, social class, and poverty. And unlike the Harry Potter series, where Rowling told the story from a single character's perspective, The Casual Vacancy us written from the perspectives of many different characters. This perspective helps the reader understand each character and gives an insight into the main characters inner minds. The one thing that struck me with this novel is how elegantly Rowling manages to have multiple character's point of view. She skillfully takes in account each character and illustrates their deepest, darkest secret while depicting such harsh themes of rape, addiction, class, and many more.
Even though J.K. Rowling created a novel that is nothing like Hogwarts and magic, her ability to make memorable characters hasn't changed. In order to describe some of the characters in this book, I have to introduce a little bit about the story. The first story depicts the aftermath of local Pagford Parish Councillor, Barry Fairbrother's death. This aftermath of his death sparks the whole city of Pagford into a problem with the local council estate, "The Fields". The Fields is basically operating homes that are facilitated by council officials. In simplistic form, they are apartments for people in United Kingdom and Ireland. To continue, "The Fields" is going to move out of Pagford and go into the neighboring town of Yarvil if the city council votes on it. Problems arise as the death of Barry comes and the whole city of Pagford struggles to out if the fields is going to move. This book is very complex when it comes to the plot itself as there are several characters Rowling introduces in each chapter. Each character struggles in some way within themselves internally and externally.
One character i'll introduce is Krystal Weedon. Krystal is an inhabitant of the Field's, which is the housing estate that might transfer to Yarvil. Krystal begins to be a "poster child," a spokesperson for those that want to stay in Pagford and not move to Yarvil. Krystal is a very complex character in the fact of her family history. Her mother Terri is a prostitute and heroin addict. Krystal's family is the epitome of everyone's nightmare. Her life is a complete disaster and the last thing she wants is to move out of Pagford into something she isn't ready to go into. Rowling depicts such frustration into the character of Krystal as she struggles everyday to make ends meet for her family. Krystal's character is very memorable in the fact that she's realistic, she's someone out there in the world. That's why this novel was so interesting for me to read because each character had some frustration, some difficulty in life that everyone deals with. Not everyone has a mother that's a prostitute and drug addict, but everyone can relate to Krystal's experience of the struggles and frustrations in life.
Another character that I found was memorable was Sukhvinder Jawanda. Sukhvinder is a Sikh, which is a religion followed mostly by people of Punjab India. Sukhvinder is the odd ball out in her family of very educated achievers as her mother and father are both doctors. She suffers from dyslexia and according to her mother and father, she appears to be stupid and not to her family's level of excellence. Also, in the Sikh religion, women are forbidden to cut their hair or remove any hair from their body. Sukhvinder struggles everyday with the bullying that she gets for not shaving her body. From her family not understanding her disease, her low self-esteem, and her religion forbidding her from doing what's normal in the society she lives in, Sukhvinder struggles inside and out. Rowling incorporated this character to illustrate the hardships of young adults that are born in a nation that is different from where their parents came from. Sukhvinder relates to any young female adult that struggles with school, family, and not being able to fit in. Both the characters of Krystal and Sukhvinder are memorable in that they both have internal and external conflicts that prohibit them from being what they want to be in life.
If I can say one thing about The Casual Vacancy, it's that J.K. Rowling's creative sense of literary work is here to stay. Many critics had thought this book wouldn't satisfy Rowling's creativity seen in the Harry Potter series. I have to say that they were pretty wrong in that fact. Rowling still keeps her characters memorable and realistic enough for readers to relate to their various aspects. Even though she isn't talking about wizards and magic, she still maintains the same writing style seen in Harry Potter. This is a more serious look in to Rowling's literary work and I think she did a marvelous job with it. She depicts hardships like race, religion, class, politics, and more to illustrate that life isn't easy for anyone, regardless of who you are and where you came from.
Read endnote here