I know who I'm voting for
I am late on this, I realize. Truthfully I planned it that way so that I wouldn't be influenced by all of the hype - the positive and the negative, because common sense dictates that there'd be plenty of each. And as long as I'm being honest, I'll admit that I wasn't all that interested in reading J.K. Rowling's first after-Potter novel. Nothing against her, of course. I just wanted to wait until after the dust cleared.
Barry Fairbrother dropping dead of an aneurysm comes as a shock to the small community that knew him as a champion for the poor and/or a naive idealist. But most of all, his passing means that there's an empty seat on the Pagford parish council - and right before a huge debate about where to draw the line between the towns of Pagford and messy, poor Yarvil. Miles Mollison, a lawyer, is backed by his personable, anti-Yarvil father, but his wife Samantha is silently seething. Colin Wall, a teacher and one of Barry's friends, feels it is his duty to continue in Barry's stead, and ice queen Parminder Jawanda is adamant in her support. Simon Pye, an opportunist, hopes to profit from the seedy game of politics, but his rightfully resentful son Andy is determined to stop him. When a string of comments left on the council website start revealing long-kept secrets, the whole town is uprooted and its inhabitants left vulnerable.
Holy crap. There's a lot I didn't include in the summary because the plot - enjoyable and cunning at turns - is heavily interspersed with character building that is deftly tied to the events of the novel. Rowling proves that she can balance character and plot in a way that engages the reader; one cannot happen without the other. This is one of the reasons why I found this book immediately readable. The flow is so good that for a long time, it was hard to put down.
The characters themselves inspire a range of reactions. To be honest, there are some who are less fleshed-out than others, but even those have gestures or idiosyncrasies that you recognize as realistic. I get the feeling Rowling was more attracted to some than others, such as Andy, Parminder and her sulky daughter Sukhvinder, and Samantha - all of whom slowly change over the course of the novel. She also gives ample attention to Krystal Weedon, an aggressive girl who lives in the ghetto that belongs to both towns but might have had a promising future had Barry, or others like him, fought in her corner. One of the motifs of Vacancy is perception versus reality, here framed as "the 99% vs. the 1-percenters" debate that's still going on; people misjudge their neighbors consistently. But Rowling doesn't paint things in black and white, so the debate as presented here never becomes tedious. I liked this aspect somewhat more than the "everything is not as it seems" aspect - this book covers child abuse, drug abuse, violence, self-inflicted harm, bullying, and sexual appetites. Some of these were not needed for the story to be effective, including a (sigh) rape scene that, like most rape scenes, only exists to shock and maybe evoke sympathy. In the context of the novel, it plays as redundant.
The story begins as a slice of life and continues to build to an unexpected but strangely fitting climax. I found it ultimately satisfying and affecting. Not everyone "wins," so to speak, but those that take opportunities to grow or give end up in a better place, or at least a less hostile one. I think an argument can be made that everything is too pat, but there are hints that some complications linger (not that a sequel is necessary). For me, the sticking point is that I was thrilled to read about these characters - some more than others - and was happily sucked into the drama of puffed-up little Pagford.
Rating: 4 anonymous internet commentators out of 5.
Holy crap. There's a lot I didn't include in the summary because the plot - enjoyable and cunning at turns - is heavily interspersed with character building that is deftly tied to the events of the novel. Rowling proves that she can balance character and plot in a way that engages the reader; one cannot happen without the other. This is one of the reasons why I found this book immediately readable. The flow is so good that for a long time, it was hard to put down.
The characters themselves inspire a range of reactions. To be honest, there are some who are less fleshed-out than others, but even those have gestures or idiosyncrasies that you recognize as realistic. I get the feeling Rowling was more attracted to some than others, such as Andy, Parminder and her sulky daughter Sukhvinder, and Samantha - all of whom slowly change over the course of the novel. She also gives ample attention to Krystal Weedon, an aggressive girl who lives in the ghetto that belongs to both towns but might have had a promising future had Barry, or others like him, fought in her corner. One of the motifs of Vacancy is perception versus reality, here framed as "the 99% vs. the 1-percenters" debate that's still going on; people misjudge their neighbors consistently. But Rowling doesn't paint things in black and white, so the debate as presented here never becomes tedious. I liked this aspect somewhat more than the "everything is not as it seems" aspect - this book covers child abuse, drug abuse, violence, self-inflicted harm, bullying, and sexual appetites. Some of these were not needed for the story to be effective, including a (sigh) rape scene that, like most rape scenes, only exists to shock and maybe evoke sympathy. In the context of the novel, it plays as redundant.
The story begins as a slice of life and continues to build to an unexpected but strangely fitting climax. I found it ultimately satisfying and affecting. Not everyone "wins," so to speak, but those that take opportunities to grow or give end up in a better place, or at least a less hostile one. I think an argument can be made that everything is too pat, but there are hints that some complications linger (not that a sequel is necessary). For me, the sticking point is that I was thrilled to read about these characters - some more than others - and was happily sucked into the drama of puffed-up little Pagford.
Rating: 4 anonymous internet commentators out of 5.
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