A Casual Vacancy

I saw that our local library has JK Rowling’s new book A Casual Vacancy on the shelves.  I clearly loved all things Hogwarts, and even though I knew this was 100% muggle based, I still thought I might be a good read.  After all she had proven she could tell a great tale in a seven book series.

I am beginning to wonder if the reason Harry Potter is so good is because it is about wizards and magic and they helped the story along.

A Casual Vacancy has no magic in it, or helping it.  I am 200 pages into a 500 page book, and frankly I’m not sure I’ll finish it.  I can’t keep the characters straight, who is related to whom, mainly because I just don’t care about them

It is like we just drop into random people’s lives for a few minutes, get a hint of a back story, have no real connection to why they are involved and are just as suddenly pulled out of their life only to be dropped into someone else’s life.

And so far the only connecting factor is they all live in this little whole in the wall in England that nobody, including the residents, really care about. Oh and a funeral of a man who died in the first chapter because his brain exploded.  Probably from apathy.

I read a review, when questioning if I should invest my time in the remaining 300 pages, that said there was a surprise emotional ending.  I find that hard to believe as there is very little emotion from the characters so far.  I am beginning to wonder why I should care.

At page 100 of the first Harry Potter, he was on the Hogwarts Express and had just met Ron Weasley.  At that point the reader was already engaged and cared about Harry and was excited to see what this Hogwarts was all about.

I’m not sure I’m going to finish this book, although I feel that I should since I have already committed this much time to it.  The vacancy in A Casual Vacancy so far has been any depth or feeling in the characters.