semperfiona (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
semperfiona) wrote2013-02-12 04:58 pm
semperfiona) wrote2013-02-12 04:58 pm
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The Casual Vacancy, by JK Rowling
Nothing like Harry Potter whatsoever, in case anyone was actually wondering. I’ve picked it up several times in various bookstores, and put it down again, not wanting to spend $20+ on something I wasn’t sure I was going to like. Finally I put a hold on it at the library, and it turned up last week. I was the first borrower. Shiny.
The vacancy of the title is an empty seat on a town council. The incumbent dies in the first chapter, leaving his seat to be a bone of contention among the remaining councillors and other townspeople. There are factions, political issues, classism issues, and simple intrapersonal feuds. There are dysfunctional marriages, dysfunctional partnerships, and dysfunctional parent-child relationships. There are drug abuse, child neglect, and sexual assaults.
I’m not entirely sure why I finished the book, to be honest. Possibly because I kept wanting to see how much more horrible the people in it could manage to be to each other, or whether someone would eventually behave well (spoiler: they don't). None of the parts are particularly pleasant, but somehow the whole becomes fascinating. Like watching a train wreck in progress, to coin a cliché.
The vacancy of the title is an empty seat on a town council. The incumbent dies in the first chapter, leaving his seat to be a bone of contention among the remaining councillors and other townspeople. There are factions, political issues, classism issues, and simple intrapersonal feuds. There are dysfunctional marriages, dysfunctional partnerships, and dysfunctional parent-child relationships. There are drug abuse, child neglect, and sexual assaults.
I’m not entirely sure why I finished the book, to be honest. Possibly because I kept wanting to see how much more horrible the people in it could manage to be to each other, or whether someone would eventually behave well (spoiler: they don't). None of the parts are particularly pleasant, but somehow the whole becomes fascinating. Like watching a train wreck in progress, to coin a cliché.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yHsuFaDBYE
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The bad guys were bad guys. The good guys were bad guys. The freakin' victims were bad guys. The only good people were a pair of children and a mute housekeeper.
And yet, it turned out to be a good film. How does this happen?