how come nobody has bought Rowling's new book?

[notactuallyme]

went into town at 4pm after work, thinking 'shame, they'll all be gone' only to find that every shop had them discounted - a tenner in Waterstones! HMV had piles of them and I gave in and bought one in Tescos for £9 - what happened there then?

Chipping in to note that I saw a copy of 'The Casual Vacancy' in a local charity shop yesterday. Can't recall ever having seen a much-hyped hardback (indeed, one of the most-plugged ever) falling from grace so spectacularly and so quickly after publication.

It'll be in all the remainder shops soon methinks.

Blimey! That is quick. I guess maybe she felt it was a really valid social comment cumfy ...

I've just read it. I really liked it. My only bugbear was that she doesn't write working class dialogue terribly convincingly, but then it was set in the West Country somewhere, and my grasp of West Country working class vernacular is not that great so perhaps she has it right after all. It just didn't read convincingly to me. Having said that, I find that very few writers really get working class dialects spot on, and they use phrasing that it outdated, or just not geographically appropriate. But it's pretty hard to convert an accent in writing anyway. I also thought that she was a little overly reliant on stereotypes, and stereotypical scenarios, but on the whole I really enjoyed it. It was all about the characters and the relationships between them, rather than plot driven.

Oh FFS.

phrasing that is outdated

hard to convey an accent

I bought it. I hated it through the first four chapters, but it has just started to get more interesting. Very character led and slow to start with, and I thought it was all going to be full of trite stereotypes, but now I am starting to get that it is more than that, and one to stick with, I think.

blimey yes, forgot the awful dialect (only the council house people spoke like that tho?). Krystal etc was a dreadful steroetype.

I thought she was at first (the big boobs = early sexual activity thing really irked me) but I can see she may develop into a more sympathetic character.

I almost gave up after about 100pp - being a bit middle class and provincial myself, I've never felt an author hated me, personally, quite so much - but by the end I was completely absorbed in that world. The lack of one properly sympathetic character was a problem, though; when so much of the cast is broadly loathesome, it doesn't give the reader much incentive to invest emotionally in the novel and get through the opening chapters, which are largely scene-setting.

She does really hate fat people though.

"I almost gave up after about 100pp - being a bit middle class and provincial myself, I've never felt an author hated me, personally, quite so much "

LOL wildpig, I know what you mean, I think she has been living in my home town in secret.

I know all the characters, save for the teenage boys - they all live within a mile of me.

I can be Barry with kids I think - I think it's because I had a slightly shitty childhood - but sadly have Howard and Shirley tendencies in the rest of my life.

I have personal experience of the equivalent of the coaching-the-rowing thing and yes, I know the author is preaching but I totally understand why Barry had photos of the rowing team up on his wall.

Just finished it. I didn't dislike it (lukewarm praise indeed!) I can get behind her moral purpose, the idea that it's all very easy to sneer at the poor and excluded for not improving themselves, but they can be struggling under immense burdens and just about holding on. The portrayal of Terri was, to me, very poignant. I also thought the portrayal of domestic violence was very convincing, including the way the mother tries to put the best light on it to her sons.

But it's a hard book to really warm too. All that relentless unhappiness. I also find there is something a bit paint-by-numbers about her characters - they don't really strike me as fully rounded and convincing people.

I'm sure the book is selling, all big retailers discount big name books. Also, it will be selling hugely on Kindle.

Whether people like it or not is a different thing