Cover for The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling Revealed
Admittedly, I must be the only person in the world that has not read a Harry Potter book, but then again I always did prefer vampires to wizards. But when it was revealed that J.K. Rowling would be releasing her first adult fiction book interestingly entitled “The Casual Vacancy”. I, like everyone else wondered what it would be like.
The story is
When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock. 

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. 

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems. 

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations? 

A big novel about a small town.
With a cover that is definitely eye catching but gives nothing away, it will be interesting to see if Rowling manages to transcend from fantasy to adult fiction successfully.
[amazon_link id=”0316228532″ target=”_blank” ] You can pre-order The Casual Vacancy on Amazon [/amazon_link] and will be available from 27 September 2012.
I like the sound of the book itself but I just can’t get my head around this cover.. Maybe it will make more sense after reading the book but right now I just don’t get it. 🙁
I can’t wait to see how different this one’s going to be from her previous books, though.
I have never read the Harry Potter books so I have nothing to compare it against but there is something about the cover, that makes me wonder is she so successful that she doesn’t have to worry about the appearance. Only time will tell. It could be a testing the waters scenario, but it does seem that the majority of people out there are not impressed with it!
For almost anyone who has read the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling became ‘my favourite’ or ‘one of my favourite’ authors. But ‘The Casual Vacancy’ is not the least bit like Harry Potter. Firstly, it is an adult book. So, maybe adults will really enjoy this book but its not all that great for teenagers. The storyline is okay, not too bad, not too great. MostJK Rowling fans have already finished this book so yeah it’s way too late for my review, but i guess there are a few of you out there who yet have to read this one.
After reading about 70 pages, I abandoned “The Casual Vacancy.” And then after a year, I recently took it up again and managed to go the whole hog. If you could wade through the first 100-odd pages, you might find the proceedings interesting. Sure Rowling has an eye for details and is a good chronicler of human foibles. But then there are many authors who could write this kind of stuff. It is obvious that Rowling doesn’t want to be remembered only as the Harry Potter-author, and “The Casual Vacancy” appears to be her fervent attempt to break free from that image trap. And it shows. The beginning is slow paced and one requires immense patience to read through it all, as Rowling rolls out one character after another, piling details upon details. The middle part is engrossing as the plot thickens, so to speak. But again, the ending is rushed and insipid. The sudden change of Fats is unconvincing and appears forced. The long and short of it is, you should forget that “The Casual Vacancy” is by the same author who wrote the 7-volume Harry Potter series. But then, you wouldn’t have in the first place bought this book if it had not been by the Harry Potter-author.