When ‘Casual Vacancy’ came out last year it
was greeted by a torrent of wildly negative reviews. I was not particularly
surprised by this; it is the way we always react to individuals who achieve beyond
the expected norms. We may respect, but we certainly don’t like those
who are more successful than us. I suspected that the book was probably
no-where near as bad as reviewers suggested, but was in no particular hurry
to read JK without wizards or monsters. The Potter books are excellent on
plot but shabbily written. All in all, my expectations were fairly low. In structure, at least, ‘Casual Vacancy’ is a
rural equivalent of Lanchester’s
‘Capital’. Whereas Lanchester tried to
define London in 2008 through a disparate cast of characters, so Rowling
builds her picture of contemporary country life with a variety of families.
Not disparate, however but interlocking in complex and profound ways. Set in a smug, West country market town, the book charts the
unexpected ramifications of the death of a decent man, Barry – a
product of the local council estate who went to university and dedicated his
life to enhancing the town and area by being a local councillor and volunteer
for a range of good causes. At first the large cast are separate entities. The most
nauseating are the conservative Miles Mollison, his
wife, son and daughter in law, the most
exquisitely drawn insufferable smug snobs I have read in a long time. Set
against them are the dowdy school teachers, the Walls and the Jawanda’s the only ethnic diversity in the town.
There is a local and violent man and his nurse wife, the social worker
recently arrived from London and a few other residents. On the other side of
the divide is the family of Krystal Weedon, the
troublesome family from the troublesome council estate. Unlike the Potter books, I thought the writing was spot on
and very unflashy. The desperate paucity of language screams at you when we
join Krystal’s family, while the desperate account of a young girl
self-harming was the first convincing account I have read – and deeply
moving as well. Where, perhaps, her Potter experience kicks in is that the
children of the characters, all about 15, are just as well drawn as their
parents. And the children are utterly independent of their parents. When Sukhuvinda upsets her mother by getting a Sunday job for
her political enemy, it is absolutely clear that this relationship is
entirely beyond her comprehension. The appalling ‘Fats’ is
nauseatingly convincing (but never condemned by Rowling) and in the end is
the centre of the inevitable tragedy. There are no broomsticks or outlandish characters in
‘Casual Vacancy’; the monsters are familiar and may be our
neighbours. At heart it is a deeply political book, a condemnation of that
small ‘c’ conservativeness which she portrays so brilliantly. I
found it an angry book as well, a scream of rage at the smug town as it
watches the lower orders suffer. Rowling will never win a Booker, she
is far too readable for that, but make no mistake. This is a deeply grown up
novel on grown up themes. An excellent, if uncomfortable read. |
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Blog #12 |
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Comments |
Joe Finnegan writes: On your blog review you
said: "I found it an angry book as well, a scream of rage at the smug
town as it watches the lower orders suffer" which I agree with, but I would suggest it might be a
bit one-sided. She certainly lambasts the selfish smug grouping in
the village but her picture or the "lower orders" is also somewhat
despairing. The working class printer
father of Andrew Price indulges in a bit of petty crime and is a violent
bully of his own family. Meanwhile the tragic Krystle's single parent
is a useless mother with a sentimental urge to stop her kids being taken away
by social services but actually unable to offer the slightest bit of real
loving care to them. The social workers do their best to improve her
life and take some responsibility but she won't make any effort to help
herself, eg when asked to make sure her children
attend school. And when the services try to help her off drugs, she
readily relapses the moment her wastrel boyfriend turns up on her doorstep. I think Rowling's anger is
with failings on both sides. |
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you would like to comment on any of these Blog pieces please email me on: bjc@briancreese.co.uk