City News

 The Casual Vacancy written by J.K. Rowling is about how a small town is affected after the death of one council member. There are multiple characters introduced throughout the novel (so many that it is hard to keep track of them). The teenagers who are mentioned are directly affected by Barry Fairbrothers death. Krystal Weedon; a girl whose mother is the druggie and hinted prostitute leaves Krystal to take charge of her little brother Robbie. Andrew Price’s father (who is unfit to be in the running) is running for Barry’s place in council. Andrew is described to have acne and an undeniable crush on a girl out of his league, Gaia Bawden; the beautiful newcomer of the town who despises her mother. Stuart (or Fats) Wall is the best friend of Andrew Price and also has a tense relationship with his dad who is also running for the council and the “boyfriend” of Krystal Weedon and Sukhvinder Jawanda; the laughing stock of the school because of her mother’s lack of love towards her reacts to this harsh treatment by cutting herself. Not all of these kids have happy endings. Krystal Weedon commits suicide, Andrew Price does not get the girl and Fats Wall is left traumatised from Krystal’s suicide and her little brothers death. Sukhvinder and Gaia are the only characters with a happy endings. Sukhvinder saves Krystals little brother Robbie from drowning (though it is too late) resulting in her mother becoming warmer and more caring towards her. Gaia moves back to central London with her mother Kat. Kat is also one of the adults introduced to the readers throughout the duration of the novel along with her lover Gavin Hughes, Miles Mollison, his gossip wife named Shirley, Samantha Mollison a married woman looking for a younger partner, Tessa Wall (Fat’s concerned, but naive mother) who is married to Colin Wall (who is not fond of his son). All of these adults are somehow connected to the election of the next council member, either running or involved with a council member. These adults all have a significant amount of character development by the end of the novel which usually corresponds with the treatment of their child or spouse.

There is a main plot that all of the characters stories contributes to in a large way at the end of the novel. The Casual Vacancy was a very complex novel to read and got boring at some parts, but once the plot had all come together I admired J.K. Rowling for how much effort she must have put into the novel to end the book with such a complex and interconnected ending. I rate this book a 3 out 5 because it really did not speak to me as an entertaining book which is okay! I believe I was not the target audience for this book (as it had more adult themes). The novel was interesting at some parts, such as the teenagers lives and some of the adults. However the overall text was very confusing and had too many complex plot lines. I would recommend the book to a person in their 20s or 30s because it is the perfect in between age range of the characters in the novel.

Check out The Casual Vacancy at the Newport Beach Public Library.