The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Rowling, the best-selling author of the infamous Harry Potter series, takes a turn in her writing with her first adult novel, The Casual Vacancy.  Rowling opens her book with a death in a small community.  This death is what the rest of the book centers around.  The man everyone knows as Barry is a model citizen who attempts to bring balance to the citizens of Pagford.  With the loss of this one man, the community attempts to fill the vacancy, but many holes remain, creating more strain amongst the young and the old.

Rowlings adult's novel is truly that ... for adults.  She moves from creating a brilliant world for readers of all ages to writing about very mature themes, including sex and drugs.  Her cast of characters is long, but well developed.  The writing kept me hooked enough to continue turning the pages.  However, my mind kept wandering back to Harry Potter and I found myself wondering if Rowling wrote such an extreme story to simply just break away from her previous work.  It often was difficult for me to believe that this Rowling and the Rowling behind the famous boy wizard was one and the same.

In the end, I found I enjoyed the story overall because the ending sadly redeemed itself for the weaknesses that came before it.  The Casual Vacancy will not be making any favorites lists, unfortunately.  I prefer Rowling's fantasy worlds much more than her realistic ones, and I hope to see her return to writing more of what made her a household name to begin with.

Have you read The Casual Vacancy yet?  What did you think?