The Casual Vacancy...anyone watching?

[Selks]

If so, thoughts so far?

I couldn't get on with the book but I'm enjoying this so far...a cast of fallible and largely unpleasant characters; plot pleasantly complex(ish), good filming - bucolic pretty England with a claustrophobic feel....

Will be interested to see how it develops.

Not read the book . It struck me as Midsomer-esque if a bit slower.

Mm, five or six would have allowed the characters to develop more convincingly.

bakeoff's 'missing the point' comment, is, I think, just exactly what House said about the book challenging assumptions/ prejudices about the characters, which is why they appear contrived in the first place. In the book, these are challenged through what you read about the characters are thinking and also how they react to the events of the book.

Wkl I didn't want it too end and could have easily watched another half hr.

It will be interesting to see if the production manages to achieve that Shipwrecked, at the moment, and I fully accept we are only one episode in, the characters are coming across so definitely as 'this is x type, all x types are like this'.

It will be interesting to hear if those that have read the book feel the production has done it justice.

I have read the book and watched the first episode

If they've changed it to make it less grim, I hate to think what the book was like. I hate to say this, but the scene where the social worker is rebuffed by her manager when she finds the child alone in a house with a mother using heroin with paraphernalia lying around, struck a chord with me as I was once asked to take a view on a similar situation. Do the right thing for the most vulnerable, every time

I didn't expect to enjoy it as it started out a little bit Hot Fuzz but I will stay with it. I was shocked at the language/demeanour of the schoolgirl.

I meant at the end of the whole thing Shipwrecked

Okay, sorry! That's not how I read it, which confused me.

I'm intrigued now about them changing the ending, it must be really grim - do those who have read the book think they were right?

Sorry posted too soon, or will it depend on how they change it?

We'll let you know after we've seen it. ;)

The ending of the book was harrowing. I had sort of glided through the book only half engaged, and then suddenly going, oh my God, oh my God, for several pages.

I would prefer a more optimistic ending, yes...

I thought that after I typed it John, but on the principle of changing endings I have always been of the view that it shouldn't be changed.

I was always very upset that Dr Zhivago never reached Lara when he had the heart attack on the tram (spoiler alert!!)

Yeah, I guess we'll have to see. I like to think that sometimes the author gets it wrong, and the characters have to go their own way in the end.

I'm not sure it is more optimistic in the end, in an interview the dead guy actor said that it was changed because what works in a book doesn't always work very well visually and the new ending is just as 'moving' i think was the word he used.

JohnFarley, yes me too re the tram scene! (Love Dr Zhivago)

I Think the best way to judge, emotion, is to read the book for yourself. Otherwise you will have a range of conflicting opinions to wade through.

I was always very upset that Dr Zhivago never reached Lara when he had the heart attack on the tram

And she doesn't look around! Not when he collapses yards behind her. Not when a large crowd gathers with remarkable speed, some of them rushing past her....

I've dowlnloaded it on Kindle Shipwrecked,, am going to try and read it quickly before next Sunday. I need to know if the half brother is just unremittingly awful or has any redeeming feature (I don't know what it could possibly be though).

DH gave me the book for Xmas (which I found insulting, tbh). I tried to read it but the writing was as bad as you would expect. I got 50 pages done and now it's at the dump.

I think JKR fancied herself as a modern jane Austen, but has neither the wit nor the intellect.

I live in a village in Dorset....not even a pretty village but I come across characters like Millinson and his wife every day...as I do Krystal...They may be stereotypes but it is missing the point to only criticise The Casual Vacancy for that it for that.
I loved the book, the characters, superficially may be sterotypes but are drawn beautifully in the book and the writing is nuanced and careful.
I thought it was generally well done by the BBC though I've yet to work out what the plot device of relating Simon and Barry Fairbrother is for...
I thought it was fine

Dr Zhivago is such a lovely film - dh loves julie christie. It is so sad when she doesnt turn around for him. Even if he is a two timing whats it!