Has anyone read J.K. Rowling's "A Casual Vacancy"?

I'm 50 pages in. I think I'll stop there, so far it seems boring, full of stereotypes, and utterly ungripping. Luckily it's a library book so I can just return it unread.

I don't think likening it to Middlemarch does it any favours, it just highlights how much it isn't that good.

It was OK, yes a bit depressing, and not much of a story, just the boring goings on in a Provincial village/town.

I'll just pitch in as another one who loved it, to balance things a bit. I enjoyed Harry Potter, but this is very different. I didn't like any of the characters, I think that was the point, but I did feel that I liked Rowling very much.

Finally read it. Found it all overly bleak. It needed more balance than the deceased Barry. I believe there are pleasant people out there !

I just finished this and really liked it. I loved HP but for different reasons, and wasn't keen on reading Vacancy due to the reviews - only picked it up when my book club chose to read it. I am so glad I did as well, it took a while for me to get into it, but I thought the character development excellent and the key messages in the book to be really powerful

Another fan here. Although the characters were mostly not likeable I enjoyed the way Rowling showed us the way they saw themselves. I thought she had sympathy for human awfulness and also a strong sense of how we could be better.

Mind you, Game of Thrones is a great read too - another one where good and bad are blended.

I read it, enjoyed it (even if it is more a down experience than an up one). Obviously very different to HP, but I like her style of writing.

I loved this book! I loved how the characters were rounded - they stayed in your head for ages afterwards. Agree that the number of characters got confusing at the start, but as I read on, they crystallized and it became easy to remember who was who. Probably because they were so well drawn. Yes, it deals with real and gritty themes, and has tragic events at the end which acts as a catalyst for positive changes in several characters' lives but I didn't think this was a depressing book. Thought -provoking and at times gritty, yes. And drugs, neglect, abuse, addiction, self-harm, domestic violence, etc are happening everywhere. I would say this is right on the money. I am not a massive fan of HP, but enjoyed this book so much because the characters were so well observed and believable. (Unlike HP.) As the novel goes on, many of the characters, while still possessing many undesirable traits, do become sympathetic/understandable. Several are moved to show compassion and act from the best of intentions, which is why there is hope in this novel, even amidst terrible tragedy. I say this novel proves JK's skill as a writer. She can weave a good story, tell a good tale, provoke us to think about confronting issues in society today. And this time it is character driven. I urge all of you who have given up on it to try again!

I was thinking about this book in relation to HP, and I started wondering if some of the difficulty people have is that the hope she provides in HP - that a child can be neglected and abused but still protected by early love and can go on to love and be loved - is taken away quite brutally in this book. Early neglect and abuse is seriously damaging, and often it may not be possible to overcome it at all. More realistic in many cases, perhaps, but bleak all the same.

I finished reading it last night. I liked it, but what a depressing, upsetting ending. Don't want to plot spoil, but my DS is virtually the same age as Robbie Weedon, and I was sobbing.

I wonder whether JKR will want to revisit Yarvil and Pagford in the future. I'm sure she could find more to say about these often grotesque characters.

I've got about 125 pages to go. It's been good, but has needed a lot of concentration to keep track of who's who.

I keep misreading Yarvil as Yeovil. It's supposed to be set in the West Country, so wondered if that was the town JKR had in mind. And, of course, I now see Sherborne as Pagford. Where did everyone else think of for these two places?

I've tried it but had to give up, I just can't find a thread to keep me hooked at all.

Did anyone see JKR's interview about it? There was a BBC programme devoted to it. I found the interview really interesting - her vision for the book and her reasons for writing it coming out of her background, and her sense of unfairness about society. She did say that the only likable character is supposed to be the one who leaves the Casual Vacancy, and of course he's dead so I didn't start the book expecting to bond with any characters but I agree - it is pretty depressing!

I'll pick it up again in a few months I think, sounds like it's worth sticking out to the end.

I think I will give it a go...

I wouldn't exactly use the word enjoyable, and I won't re-read it, but that said, I find that it has lingered on in my mind more than most books. For me, it was surprisingly powerful.

My mum (a non-HP reader) has recommended it a lot. Depends on your outlook, I think?

I liked it.

I bought it really wanting to like it because she seems like an all round, decent sort and I agreed with her politics so I was pleased when I did. However I only read the first Harry potter and wasn't a massive fan - it all seemed a bit derivative to me (although the kids enjoyed them) so there was nothing to be disappointed about with her taking a different path with this book IYSWIM.

I agree with Hackmum - it was quite Dickensian which I liked and the multiple characters were surprisingly well-rounded. Also I went to school with a girl very much like Krystal and grew up in an area that bordered a sink estate very much like the Fields and for me the 'them and us' divisions in the book rang true.

In a strange sort of way the way she wrote the ending offered hope of the good being brought out in people albeit they were shamed into it

Hackmum I read Middlemarch years ago for A Level and I remember reading George Eliot's profound analysis of the motivations and inner life of the characters; JK's novel isn't as long as Middlemarch but I agree she does develop many of the Character's inner lives.

She got some humour in at the end (I really don't want to give anything away!) which was a lovely tribute.

I'm a couple of chapters in - it's better than HP

GettinTrimmer - yes, I suspect she had Middlemarch in mind when she wrote it. I think one of the achievements of the novel is to include so many characters and to show how their lives interweave - not many novelists can handle more than four or five central characters, ime. She also has a very Dickensian moral focus, with a real anger about how poor people are treated by the better off. Then there's that very Christian ending, which mirrors the parable of the good Samaritan and people being forced to confront their attitudes. I also think it's very clever that she has the influence of Barry Fairbrother hanging over the book - the one unequivocally morally good person who inspires other people to behave better, but who fall apart when he's no longer there. All in all, I think it's a pretty impressive achievement and it's a shame so many people don't like it.

I got stuck about 25% into the book and then later decided to persevere . I thought the characters were well drawn and some of them had happy endings and some didn't so realistic I suppose..

The last part was so grim I almost stopped caring( not expressing myself well)and that protected me from being too upset. I think she could have covered the same ground but allowed for more optimism.

I have never read HP so had no expectations of JKR. I wil read her next one( v generous of me to give UK's most successful author a second chance)

I agree hackmum I found the ending profound.

It's worth sticking with until the end. Some of the awful Petunia and Vernon Dursley type people were reassessing their attitudes.

Don't want to give anything away but it was sad the extreme circumstances were the only factor that could have changed them.

Did the book remind anyone of Middlemarch? I liked the way JK Rowling navigated her way through recounting conversations taking place in people's houses and laid bare what was going on behind closed doors.

We have had a couple of other threads on this - I really enjoyed it, but I appear to be the only one. I thought the ending was really powerful.

I agree that there's too many characters. I've been stuck on page 50 for weeks, I can't keep up with who's who! I think it's beautifully written but I just don't care enough about any character to plough on!

I couldn't finish it and it was upsetting me too much, thought story was drawn out, pointless and awful characters. I never quit a book but this was the exception

Nope. I bought 50 shades based on others saying how good it was. It was dire.

I'm avoiding this one.