The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

I read The Casual Vacancy about a year after it came out, but that's way sooner than I got on board the Harry Potter train.  But it really felt like J.K. Rowling's first book after her juggernaut Harry Potter series didn't have much of a following, which is a shame.



I was immediately drawn in to this small English town, and loved the segues that took you from character to character.  This is a device that is continued throughout the book, and there are a lot of characters to keep track of.  I enjoyed it, but it is something that other readers criticized.  While most of the main characters are adults involved in the Parish emergency election after the liberal Barry Fairbrother's death, the most endearing characters are their children.  The kids sabotage their parent's campaigns in intentional and unintentional ways, and watching these events unfold while unearthing the town's secrets kept me up well past my bedtime.

I think the ending kept a lot of the Harry Potter fans from raving over this book.  It's sad, with a small silver lining, but realistic.

My Goodreads Rating: 4 stars