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cstein's review
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
A convincing depiction of small-town England, with highly defined, memorable characters and a unique central conflict. Somewhat difficult to keep character names and relationships straight at first. Rowling's writing tends toward superficiality/cheesiness during serious scenes and gratuitous misery/vulgarity in all others.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Body shaming, and Blood
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Blood, Classism, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Suicide, Gaslighting, Grief, Toxic relationship, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Self harm, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide attempt, and Racial slurs
Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Infidelity, Homophobia, and Incest
placebogirl's review
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Addiction, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Child abuse, Self harm, Toxic friendship, and Rape
nixieba25f's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
A review of JK Rowling's "The Casual Vacancy"
Alternate title: "No Seriously Guys, This is Totally Not Harry Potter"
If you don't wish to read the entire review, please just read the last paragraph.
I'm not disappointed that Rowling went in a different direction with this book; I'm disappointed that that was the entire focus of the book. She thought up the most mundane town full of Dursleys, Filches, and Peeveses with petty and vulgar problems as she could and went "No magic: check. Absolutely no likeable or relatable characters: check. Exccessive swearing and other vulgarities: check. I've done it! Not Harry Potter."
It was honestly very hard to read because I wanted to punch all of the characters in the teeth and couldn't care less about any of their problems. If you want a taste of what I'm talking about, here's a list of character comparisons as a familiar reference point for how horrible these people are.
Barry Fairbrother (his death is the crux of the book) - Dumbledore, but not awesome. good, but the sucky people hate him
Mary Fairbrother (Barry's widow) - Moaning Myrtle
Howard Mollison (big jolly fat bad guy) - Slughorn, but 1000x more malicious
Shirley Mollison (uber-judgmental biotch, Howard's wife) - Petunia Dursley
Miles Mollison (H&S's son) - Filch
Samantha Mollison (Miles' wife) - Lavender Brown
Terri Weedon (heroine-addict ho) - a stoned banshee
Krystal Weedon (Terri's daughter) - Pansy Parksinson
Colin 'Cubby' Wall - Hagrid, only a pedophile (in his head at least), and with anger issues
Tessa Wall (Cubby's wife) - Professor Sprout, but with more secrets
Fats Wall (C&T's adopted son) - Draco Malfoy
Simon Price - Vernon Dursley, but with more fisticuffs and illicit activities
Ruth Price (Simon's wife) - Trelawney
Andrew Price (S&R's son) - Ron Weasley, only more awful
Gavin Hughes - Professor Quirrel
Kay Bawden (Gavin's clingy lover) - Madam Pomfrey
Gaia Bawden (Kay's daughter, Andrew's love interest) - Fleur
Dr. Parminder Jawanda - McGonagall, but without everything good about McGonagall
Sukhvinder Jawanda (P's daughter) - Hermione, but stuck in her moody days and not smart at all
I think the part that bothered me the most about the book was Rowling's insulting misunderstanding of the condition of OCD. In the book, Cubby Walls is said to suffer from it, causing him to have vivid hallucinations of doing things like molesting children or poisoning someone, to the point where he is unable to separate these visions from reality. Paranoid delusions, to my knowledge, are more a symptom of schizophrenia than of OCD, and he appears to exhibit no other medical symptoms to justify his diagnosis. He does have an obsession with the cubby holes outside his office, but it is explained that this is so his hands are always busy and unable to fiddle with any children. So, it's less compulsive than it is a conscious choice he makes. I think people who are unfamiliar with the condition in real life may take Rowling's depiction as realistic, since, you know, we expect authors to research these things before they right them, and create a stigma toward people suffering from OCD (who honestly have it bad enough as it is.)
After reading more on the subject, I've found that there are 'abnormal' cases of OCD that exhibit similar symptoms, but if that is the case Rowling was trying to go for, she should have made it clear. There was no distinction from the characters that Cubby's OCD was presenting as anything other than the norm. Furthermore, he still lacks the 'ritual' behavior that is crucial to OCD.
Lastly, I was bothered by the excessive bad language and adult situations and themes in the book. I realize her target audience for this is an adult one, and that she had clearly stated that before publishing it, but even considering that, it all seems too much. Even considering the characters and situations she was writing, much of the more "adult" aspects of the book (both language and situational) felt very jarring and out of place. Additionally, I think some younger HP readers might be excited to move on to Rowling's newest work and ask it of their parents without looking into it first. Now, I know some parents do exhaustive research on everything they buy for their children, but some children are avid readers (like me) their parents (like mine) don't bother to look into every one they ask for or even read the dust jacket, and some oblivious parents trust that someone who has written ten delightful children's books would go on to write more; so this book may have made it into the hands of young'uns for whom it, frankly, is just not appropriate. It is gritty; it is petty; it is vulgar; it can even be scarring at times. So if you know any parents who are thinking about gifting it to their children, let them know what they're getting into, or at least advise them to read it themselves first.
Alternate title: "No Seriously Guys, This is Totally Not Harry Potter"
If you don't wish to read the entire review, please just read the last paragraph.
I'm not disappointed that Rowling went in a different direction with this book; I'm disappointed that that was the entire focus of the book. She thought up the most mundane town full of Dursleys, Filches, and Peeveses with petty and vulgar problems as she could and went "No magic: check. Absolutely no likeable or relatable characters: check. Exccessive swearing and other vulgarities: check. I've done it! Not Harry Potter."
It was honestly very hard to read because I wanted to punch all of the characters in the teeth and couldn't care less about any of their problems. If you want a taste of what I'm talking about, here's a list of character comparisons as a familiar reference point for how horrible these people are.
Barry Fairbrother (his death is the crux of the book) - Dumbledore, but not awesome. good, but the sucky people hate him
Mary Fairbrother (Barry's widow) - Moaning Myrtle
Howard Mollison (big jolly fat bad guy) - Slughorn, but 1000x more malicious
Shirley Mollison (uber-judgmental biotch, Howard's wife) - Petunia Dursley
Miles Mollison (H&S's son) - Filch
Samantha Mollison (Miles' wife) - Lavender Brown
Terri Weedon (heroine-addict ho) - a stoned banshee
Krystal Weedon (Terri's daughter) - Pansy Parksinson
Colin 'Cubby' Wall - Hagrid, only a pedophile (in his head at least), and with anger issues
Tessa Wall (Cubby's wife) - Professor Sprout, but with more secrets
Fats Wall (C&T's adopted son) - Draco Malfoy
Simon Price - Vernon Dursley, but with more fisticuffs and illicit activities
Ruth Price (Simon's wife) - Trelawney
Andrew Price (S&R's son) - Ron Weasley, only more awful
Gavin Hughes - Professor Quirrel
Kay Bawden (Gavin's clingy lover) - Madam Pomfrey
Gaia Bawden (Kay's daughter, Andrew's love interest) - Fleur
Dr. Parminder Jawanda - McGonagall, but without everything good about McGonagall
Sukhvinder Jawanda (P's daughter) - Hermione, but stuck in her moody days and not smart at all
I think the part that bothered me the most about the book was Rowling's insulting misunderstanding of the condition of OCD. In the book, Cubby Walls is said to suffer from it, causing him to have vivid hallucinations of doing things like molesting children or poisoning someone, to the point where he is unable to separate these visions from reality. Paranoid delusions, to my knowledge, are more a symptom of schizophrenia than of OCD, and he appears to exhibit no other medical symptoms to justify his diagnosis. He does have an obsession with the cubby holes outside his office, but it is explained that this is so his hands are always busy and unable to fiddle with any children. So, it's less compulsive than it is a conscious choice he makes. I think people who are unfamiliar with the condition in real life may take Rowling's depiction as realistic, since, you know, we expect authors to research these things before they right them, and create a stigma toward people suffering from OCD (who honestly have it bad enough as it is.)
After reading more on the subject, I've found that there are 'abnormal' cases of OCD that exhibit similar symptoms, but if that is the case Rowling was trying to go for, she should have made it clear. There was no distinction from the characters that Cubby's OCD was presenting as anything other than the norm. Furthermore, he still lacks the 'ritual' behavior that is crucial to OCD.
Lastly, I was bothered by the excessive bad language and adult situations and themes in the book. I realize her target audience for this is an adult one, and that she had clearly stated that before publishing it, but even considering that, it all seems too much. Even considering the characters and situations she was writing, much of the more "adult" aspects of the book (both language and situational) felt very jarring and out of place. Additionally, I think some younger HP readers might be excited to move on to Rowling's newest work and ask it of their parents without looking into it first. Now, I know some parents do exhaustive research on everything they buy for their children, but some children are avid readers (like me) their parents (like mine) don't bother to look into every one they ask for or even read the dust jacket, and some oblivious parents trust that someone who has written ten delightful children's books would go on to write more; so this book may have made it into the hands of young'uns for whom it, frankly, is just not appropriate. It is gritty; it is petty; it is vulgar; it can even be scarring at times. So if you know any parents who are thinking about gifting it to their children, let them know what they're getting into, or at least advise them to read it themselves first.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Stalking, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, and Transphobia
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