The Casual Vacancy

Well it’s official, The Casual Vacancy is now out in stores, and I have a copy, and let me tell you I am excited. So here is how it will work, you’ll see this, my third post of the day which is pretty bland, but I’ll update it, as soon as I’ve read some to give you my thoughts, and you can give my yours too!

I didn’t think it would be in hardcover, but it is!

Part One

• Starts off with a definition of what a casual vacancy is as per council regulations

Sunday

• Looks like we won’t be having traditional chapters
• I’m excited!
• First word is Barry!
• Oh dear Barry, a card won’t do on your anniversary!
• Barry and Mary Fairweather married for 19 years
• Who is this Krystal?
• 4 children, one called Declan, presumably they are all teenagers who don’t want to associate with their parents anymore
• What a name for a town, Pagford!
• There are twin girls in the family
• The perils of being a journalist
• This headache, is it important?
• Barry is dying, the headache was important
• Is he having an aneurysm?
• 25 minutes for the ambulance! I think they might want to fix that.
• He’s dead, what an eventful first ‘chapter’

Monday

I

• Like Harry Potter, this is in third person, but clearly we’ve had to chance focus away from poor Barry
• Miles Mollison, evidently one of the rich in the story
• He’s breaking the news to his father that Fairweather is dead
• This Howard, he seems interesting
• Already can tell this is an adult novel, mention of breasts, I don’t think that would be in Harry Potter
• Samantha sounds like a bit of a snob, expecting going with someone to the hospital means you can tell everyone about it, don’t like her already
• Sounds like Miles has an agenda with this Howard, and using a death is disgraceful
• Howard and Shirley, very posh names
• I wonder if Mary actually wanted these two people with her? I don’t think I would
• oh you are playing bridge, we’ll aren’t you so sophisticated and important, who goes around to someone’s house to play bridge at night?
• Sounds like Samantha might want to have an affair with a sales rep
• Is Samantha just married to Miles for his money, she finds him dull
• She is even planning the story to tell people about the night’s events, couldn’t you at least act sad?

II

• Ruth Price, sounds like another upper class person
• Sounds like there will be a lot of characters to keep track of, Simon Price
• It was an aneurysm
• Ruth Price, maybe not so upper class, but just a normal working woman, she’s a nurse
• Finally someone actually mentions that the wife would be devastated, and isn’t trying to find out how they can use the situation to their benefit
• If only they could ‘plug up’ a cerebral haemorrhage
• Simon might want to watch himself, his son Andrew, doesn’t sound very happy with him, but calling your son a ‘lazy little shit’ is not the best thing to be doing
• Definitely not a kid’s book or a fantasy book. But JK is proving herself as a capable writer, and not a one hit wonder
• Simon Price, learn how to treat women and children

III

• Shirley Mollison, sounds like a dear old lady
• Moving from home to home, seeing what the impact of this man’s death is, very different from HP
• Of course this is Shirley and Howard, two pompous citizens of Pagford
• WHAT Shirley is savouring the news of Barry’s death!
• She hated Barry, because he opposed Howard in politics
• She found Barry condescending, him and his ‘cronies’ on the Parish Council, now it gets political
• Because Barry died, that makes Howard a ‘better person’ for surviving a heart attack, I don’t think ‘dear old lady’ finds Shirley in the slightest, sounds like a vindictive, spiteful old gossiper.
• Shirley decides to put something up on ‘the website’ about Barry’s death, didn’t expect there to be websites and technology, guess I’m stuck with HP and magic
• What happened to Patricia? Did she disgrace the family? Get pregnant out of marriage? Turn left in politics? Become a vegan?
• Shirley is proud of her technological skills, which now make her the controller of the Pagford Parish Council website, does this mean she can say whatever she likes?
• Shirley you are nothing like the Queen
• Going through the medical sites to see what Barry died of is a tad morbid, and just because you work in a hospital does not make you Doctor House!
• She is so excited to tell everyone that Barry is dead, no wonder word spreads fast in small towns with women like Shirley

IV

• We are back with Andrew Price, as he makes his way to school
• All the Fairweather children aren’t going to school today
• Interesting comment by Andrew, ‘do people sit in the dark when somebody dies’
• Sounds like Barry Fairweather was quite the busybody in the town, running the show, popping up at all the events, maybe it was the stress that ‘got him’ in the end
• For some reason I thought we were going to have a story about Barry’s brother, who decides to step up and take Barry’s role on the council, maybe that will happen, but I think I read the blurb wrong
• Andrew has a best friend called ‘Fats’ really? And nicknaming someone TNT, makes me laugh
• Who is this She and why aren’t we told her name, it is in third person, not first person with Andrew, so we should now her
• All those people who analyse and dissect HP to find out the sexual innuendos, don’t have to in this book, it’s there in the open (bad choice of words?)
• Her name is Gaia, interesting name, with it’s earthly connection
• Andrew thought Gaia perfect, and let us hope that Simon Price never finds out about his son’s love of Gaia, or that will be the new thing to torment him on

That’s it for now, I’ll be back tomorrow, with more Casual Vacancy!

EDIT: Looks like I’ve been calling Barry FairBROTHER by the wrong name, and I was so sure I was right. Woops!

Part Ten – Fishing, The Past, Waiting and Floater

Fishing

So they went to church again? Or was it just Lester? That, to me, seemed a little random and out of place to be honest.

The Past

Such a nice things to buy flowers for your wife, mother and mother-in-law, doesn’t everyone like to get flowers, or even gifts as long as they aren’t cheap and tacky. How strange to see Lucy again, I forgot all about her, and it took me a while to remember who it was. It was the psycho (in my opinion she was crazy for sex) girl who lived in the bush, and had some ‘fun’ with Quick while he shot roos. Is Tim Winton dragging out all the old characters for us, to give them all a final farewell? But I really do like it when old characters pop up, especially after you think you’ll never see them again, or think they are unimportant and then turn out that way (J.K.Rowling I’m looking at YOU!). Writers are amazing, good writers well they are just fantastic!

Waiting

It sounds like even Oriel, doesn’t know why she is living out in the tent, the house is so full of light and happiness, why should she avoid it?

Floater

You go to have a peaceful lunch by the river, and then end up diving into the river trying to reach a child drowning, with two other kids seeing this kid drowning, and then find out the child is long dead. Great lunch break… Then he realises that this is just like him and Fish, but this time he died, but Quick will always be going through his death. It was the murderer’s kid! How strange. Tragic for the wife, her child is dead, and her husband is soon to be dead. But it is nice for Quick to realise that everyone is human, and just because they did something doesn’t mean they deserve to hear the news of their child’s death or any bad news. No one deserves to die, no matter what they did, they might be monsters, but they still are people. It is also so bad how murderer’s and other criminal’s families are so affected by their crimes, even if they had no idea. Their child will always have their last name, and will always make people think of their father/mother, even if they are really good people. People judge too much, and don’t let people find their own place in the world before making the assumption they are just like their father/mother/sibling. Everyone is different, don’t assume otherwise!