The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling’s follow up to the Harry Potter series is a bit difficult to review, or even to classify.  It’s one part political drama, one part small town comedy, while also being largely an ethical fable about our attitudes toward others, the interconnectedness of our lives and the consequences of our actions.  It’s a seedy, foul-mouthed take on a host of issues that can feel both exaggerated and painfully realistic and believable at the same moment.  And while on the surface The Casual Vacancy has little in common with Harry Potter, both stories begin in the same fashion, with death.

The opening of The Casual Vacancy is a far cry from the double murder that began Rowling’s other series, starting instead with the rather pedestrian death of Barry Fairbrother as he collapses in the parking lot of the local golf club on his anniversary due to an aneurism.  His death causes quite the stir in the idyllic community of Pagford that he called home, both because of the standard gossip surrounding it and due to the question of who will fill his seat on the tow parish counsel, the book’s titular “casual vacancy”.  You see, the counsel is on the brink of an attempt by the town to cut loose the slums known as “the Fields”, for which it has been partly responsible for decades thanks to a scandalous land deal involving the despised neighboring industrial town of Yarvill.

Barry Fairbrother, who was born in the Fields, stood on one side of the debate, believing that Pagford should keep the Fields so that the kids there can attend the Pagford school, which provides the kids with a great opportunity for education.  On the other side are the old Pagford natives, all upper-middle class folk to whom the Fields are an old sore spot, led by the head council member, Howard Mollison.  This conflict provides most of the plot, as several citizens put their names forward to be nominated.  Among the group is Howard’s grown son, who wants to please his parents but has few thoughts of his own, the school’s deputy-headmaster, a friend of Barry’s who wants to help in his memory, and a bit of a town recluse, who only wants power and the possibility of illicit bribes in exchange for helping with town contracts.

But the fight for the seat on the counsel is just the backbone of the story.  The real meat is not the drama over who will win (of which there never really seems to be much doubt), but instead it resides in the way the attitudes people, particularly those in power, can affect others.  This is personified in the teenagers of the town and in particular Krystal Weedon.  Krystal lives in the Fields with 3 year old brother and her junkie of a mother (who is attending the local rehab center in an attempt to keep her children).  Krystal gets to attend the highly valued Pagford school, where she found herself encouraged to participate by Barry Fairbrother (who coached the rowing team and coaxed Krystal into joining), but where she is an annoyance to the Pagfordians with her fighting, smoking, swearing, constant skipping of classes and her sexuality.

Krystal is a fascinating character and the heart of the book.  She cares deeply about her little brother, has dreams of amounting to more than her mother though she doesn’t know how, and she is devastated by Barry’s death, really the only person to see her as worth anything.  She also drinks, smokes (tobacco and weed) and embraces her sexuality.  She’s the epitome of a “strong female character” in that she has strength of course, but also flaws and is a rounded character who stands on her own, not as an object to serve other characters.  Krystal represents everything hated about the Fields by one segment of Pagford and the hopeful possibilities that exist in all of humanity to the other side of Pagford.

The Casual Vacancy is gritty in a lot of ways seemingly intended to separate it from Rowling’s other work, yet it never feels over-the-top.  It deals with issues of drug use and addiction as well as rape, prostitution, teenage sexuality, self harm and poverty, and handles all of them in a way that feels authentic and never exploitative.  These are things that people are really dealing with on a daily basis, even if some in our society would rather ignore it.  It touches on classism and racism, along with white and middle class privilege.

If you’ve ever lived in a small town (or known anyone who has), you’ll be able to recognize many of the character traits.  Everyone in Pagford has a secret, whether it’s marital infidelity, mental illness or abusive relationships.  There are people in town who love being a big fish in a small pond, there are those with a delusional sense of their own importance, some are careless or neglectful, some are frigid and isolated, but many are indifferent to anyone’s struggles except their own.  Even the (mostly) heroic social worker, Kay, who genuinely cares both about the issues at large and the individuals who suffer because of those issues, put her own desires above those of her daughter when she uprooted them from London to move to Pagford to follow a lover who doesn’t want her.

The Casual Vacancy has been called “more than 500 pages of relentless socialist manifesto masquerading as literature”, which Rowling would probably consider a compliment accounting for the source.  It has very clear politics, and it’s obvious from the start who the “villains” are.  But while the message of social responsibility towards the poor is clear and obvious, it isn’t hammered into you.  She devotes an equal amount of time to both sides of the debate in Pagford, jumping in point of view from character to character and allowing us a glimpse into the lives and backgrounds of all of the major players.  But if there’s one message that shines out above all others it’s society’s responsibility to their kids.  The parents of Pagford are neglectful, ignorant, abusive and/or misguided in their relationships with their children, yet are shocked and appalled by their behavior.  The kids make bad decisions and pay the consequences, and are never made out to be blameless victims, but when they start independently enacting revenge on their self-absorbed parents there’s a certain amount of satisfaction that we get seeing the kids get some payback.  The message is clear that we made the world the way it is, and our children have to live in it with what we’ve taught them, and often the things they’ve learned are not what we might have intended.  While society likes to blame each successive generation and call them the worst in history, the reality is that their behavior is a reaction (whether positive or negative) to the world around them, just as is ours.  And it’s in this sense that The Casual Vacancy really shares the most in common with Harry Potter.  Our actions and choices have consequences, and even when you think that the people being hurt deserve what they’re getting, those actions might come back to haunt you some day.

In the end, is The Casual Vacancy a “good” book?  It’s filled with fascinating characters that are entirely believable, has an intricate and complex plot that is never overly confusing, is often funny and occasionally heartbreaking and tragic, and will make you feel and think.  For me, that’s exactly what I’m looking for in a book, even if its content is probably not suited for everyone.  It’s political and has a message, which will bother or offend some people, but it’s a book that has something to say.  It’s clear that Rowling feels strongly about the subject matter of her book, and she presents it in a way that would be relatable to most people.  And while it may have met with mixed reviews when it came out (some of which struck me as revenge for the “critic-proof” Harry Potter series, in a similar situation to what happened to The Lone Ranger), I highly recommend it.  I’m of course biased towards Rowling, and for as long as I live I will read anything she releases, but I genuinely got a lot out of The Casual Vacancy.  It wasn’t like anything else I’ve read, while it’s filled with Rowling’s recognizable style and a strong message.  I can’t wait to see where she goes next.

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