'A Casual Vacancy' (J.K.Rowling)

I read only about two novels a year - mainly because I have to read them in one stretch. I can't put a novel down until it's finished, so have to go for it when I've got a gap in the schedule. I decided some time ago that J.K.Rowling's first 'post-Potter' book would be one of them. Partly out of curiosity : I've never read any of the Potter books or seen any of the films, and was curious to know how good a writer she really is. She's sounded interesting when interviewed, and has had some tough life experience before hitting the jackpot with Harry Potter. And it's about local politics - a world I've become much involved in in recent years.

I think it's the best novel I've read in many years. It's certainly up there with the Ian McEwans I've read, of which 'Atonement' was the most powerful. Well-written and very well observed. It struck me how much better writing can be than film. To read an account of a dinner party here, with all the underlying tensions, character flaws and intrigues going on between the participants -- even with truly great actors, you couldn't get a quarter of it into a film.

The 'canvas' is that of a complacent, pretty, rural small town whose parish council contains within its borders a sink estate of the neighbouring large town. An opportunity has arisen for a boundary change - one important issue over which the parish council might actually have some power - and battle lines have been drawn up between those who want to lose the sink estate and/or close its drug rehab clinic, and those who feel a real responsibility to those who live on that estate. A key advocate for that estate (who grew up on it, then 'made good') - dies suddenly, giving rise to a casual vacancy of more-than-usual significance. In fact, he is pretty much irreplaceable. On this contextual stage, a fascinating range of actors play out their parts. Families with hidden dysfunctions - domestic abuse, mental illness, addiction, 'forbidden loves' and in some cases sheer grinding poverty. It has to be said (and I dare say this reflects J.K.Rowling's own experience) - all the men in the book come out as pretty dreadful creatures with the exception of the late-lamented cause of the 'casual vacancy'. Not that the women are presented as angels. The teenagers, who play a key role in the story, are particularly well-observed.

It's a very down-to-earth story to say the least. Rowling pulls no punches. As the story unfolds, it unfolds the reader's prejudice and (without giving too much away) leads to the recognition of some unlikely (albeit flawed) heroes. Hollywood it is not. Unlike a typical Hollywood story, this one is actually credible. A week later, I find myself remembering bits of it and realising their significance -- it's a thought-provoking book. There is a little spiritual message secreted within it which pops its head up a couple of times in passing. It's expressed in a quote from a Sikh guru, but it could equally be expressed as the Quaker challenge to "look for the light of God in every person". Ultimately, I think this is what J.K.Rowling wants us to do. The book could be read as a cynical observation on human nature, but actually it's a challenge to 'look deeper'.