The Casual Vacancy
J. K. Rowling
The reader is quickly introduced to a number of point of view characters, which J. K. Rowling switches between effortlessly throughout the book.
Mary Fairbrother: Wife of Barry. Grieving widow.
Howard Mollison: Anti-Fields council member and rival of Barry. Owns a deli with Maureen Lowe. Extremely obese.
Shirley Mollison: Wife of Howard. Dislikes her daughter-in-law, Samantha. Miles Mollison: Son of Howard and Shirley. Has a law practice. Runs for Pagford council (anti-Fields).
Samantha Mollison: Wife of Miles. Immature and unhappy. Obsessed with a boy band.
Colin Wall: Husband of Tessa. Headmaster of the high school. Runs for Pagford council (pro-Fields).
Stuart (Fats) Wall: Adopted son of Colin and Tessa. Best friends with Andrew Price. Sleeps with Krystal Weedon. Wants to be "authentic," but really uses that as an excuse to be a jerk and do whatever he wants. Makes fun of Sukhvinder.
Andrew Price: Best fried of Fats. In love with Gaia. Simon Price: Father of Andrew and husband of Ruth. Prone to fits of rage, where he hits his family.
Gaia Bawden: Daughter of Kay. Unhappy that she has been forced to move to Pagford from London.
Kay Bawden: Social worker, carrying for the Weedon family for most of the book. Moved to Pagford for a relationship with Gavin.
Gavin Hughes: Law partner of Miles. Later realizes he's in love with Mary.
Krystal Weedon: Lives in the Fields. Mother is a drug addict.
Parminder Jawanda: Doctor married to the super hot Vikram. Pro-Fields council member.
Sukhvinder Jawanda: Daughter of Parminder. Teased at school. Friend of Gaia.
The book centers around the relationship between all of these characters, whose lives are intertwined in the small town of Pagford. The first main plot point occurs when Andrew Price, deciding to get revenge on his father, hacks into the Pagford council website and posts as "The Ghost of Barry Fairbrother," revealing that his father's criminal activities, like buying a stolen computer and doing after-hours jobs at work. Sukhvinder follows suit, claiming that her mother was in love with Barry. Fats, another child angry at his parents, posts about his father's OCD. Scandal ensues.
Meanwhile, Howard is pushing for a vote on the Fields and also whether to close Bellchapel, the drug addiction clinic which is currently helping Krystal's mother Terri Weedon. Parminder gets so angry that she says Howard has also cost the government a lot of money by gorging himself to obesity, and reveals other health information about him.
Miles wins the parish council election.
Gaia, Sukhvinder, and Andrew, who have gotten jobs at Howard's deli, are asked to assist at his birthday celebration. Gaia and Andrew get drunk, Fats shows up, and Gaia ends up kissing Fats, to the dismay of Andrew. Samantha, who is distraught because she did not get to attend the concert of the boy band she is obsessed with, also gets roaringly drunk, and ends up kissing Andrew (who is 25 years her junior.) Her husband Miles walks in on them in the kitchen. Howard's daughter, who also doesn't like her parents (I'm sensing a theme here), reveals to Andrew that Howard had an affair with Maureen. Since Andrew feels some guilt for posting that message about his dad, which resulted in Simon being fired, Andrew reveals Howard's secret to Simon, and they post about it on the Pagford council website, which still has lax security.
When Shirley reads the message the next day, she confronts Howard, who does not immediately deny the affair. When Shirley returns to the house, she plans to kill Howard with an EpiPen (which the deli kept in case Andrew had an allergic reaction). However, she finds Howard is already in the middle of a heart attack. Miles runs to Parminder for help, but Parminder refuses to see to Howard because she is under review by the medical board, and does not want to practice until she is cleared.
Krystal, who lives in the Fields with her unstable mother, gets sexually assaulted by her mom's drug dealer. A few days later, she finds the man in a room with her little brother, Robbie. Afraid for her brother's safety, she takes him on a bus to Pagford. Krystal believes that if she becomes pregnant with Fats' child, his family will have to take care of her. She convinces Fats to sleep with her in some bushes, and tells her little brother to stay put. Robbie falls into a nearby river. Sukhvinder, who happens to be walking along, jumps into the river to save the boy, but she is too late. When the police return Krystal to her home, Krystal knowingly takes an overdoes of heroin, which kills her. The book ends with the double funeral of Krystal and Robbie.
There's a lot more I didn't summarize, but those are the main points.
My Thoughts:
Pros:
-Despite being about council politics, the book was exciting
-Masterfully switches between point of view characters
-Characters were real and well-rounded. Their motivations were believable.
Cons:
-Difficult to keep up with all of the characters introduced at the beginning of the novel
-Although the decision around the Fields is a central focus of the book, the actual decision is anti-climatic. No one cares about the decision, except for Howard, who promptly has a heart attack
-It was weird reading about all of the sex/drugs and thinking "this never would have happened in the Harry Potter books!"
-The relationship between Fats and Andrew was not resolved. The book closes with the two friends not speaking, even though Andrew will soon move away from Pagford. Since they've been best buds since they were 4, I don't buy that they'd just cut off all communication, even though Fats is devastated about the deaths of Robbie and Krystal.
After my disappointment with the seventh Harry Potter book, I thought J.K. Rowling might have lost her touch as a writer. However, I found the Casual Vacancy to be well done and engaging.
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