Rowling’s magic absent in Vacancy

An employee looks at a copy of The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling’s long-anticipated first book for adults, at a bookstore in London on Thursday. Publishers tried to keep details of the book under wraps ahead of its release, but The Casual Vacancy has gotten early buzz about references to sex and drugs that might be a tad mature for the youngest Potter fans.
An employee looks at a copy of The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling’s long-anticipated first book for adults, at a bookstore in London on Thursday. Publishers tried to keep details of the book under wraps ahead of its release, but The Casual Vacancy has gotten early buzz about references to sex and drugs that might be a tad mature for the youngest Potter fans.

— Imagine Harry Potter with nothing but Muggles - mean, graceless people without a trace of magic. It would be a dull book indeed.

That, unfortunately, is The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults.

The setting is Pagford, a small town in England’s West Country. Barry Fairbrother, a member of the town council, drops dead in a parking lot on his way to dinner with his wife.

Rowling introduces a cross section of the town’s residents as they learn about Barry’s death. There are shopkeepers and lawyers, doctors and teachers, a social worker and a bunch of teenagers. They’re variously nasty, deluded, selfish, pompous, petty, neurotic and annoying, and they don’t seem to like each other very much.

We also meet a family from the Fields, a public housing estate on the outskirts of town. Terri Weedon is a heroin addict whose 16-year-old daughter, Krystal, can barely string two words together unless one of them has four letters and begins with “F.” The Weedons aren’t much fun to hang out with, but Krystal turns out to be the most sympathetic character in the book.

The town is divided between those who want the Fields to remain part of Pagford and those who want it split off and reattached to the nearby city of Yarvil.

Barry was born in the Fields and wanted the impoverished children living there to have the opportunity he did to attend the lovely Pagford primary school, enjoying “the tiny classes, the roll top desks, the aged stone building and the lush green playing field.”

Several candidates step forward to run for Barry’s seat,with varying motives. Much gossip and back-stabbing ensue.

I’m trying to make this sound enticing, but it’s hard.

Not that small-town life can’t make fascinating material. Look what Flaubert did with a provincial housewife’s unhappiness in Madame Bovary.

The Casual Vacancy never lifts off, though. It seems too obvious to say there’s no magic, but Harry Potter aside, every great book needs some alchemy to bring it to life.

Harry Potter, of course, had magic in spades. The world Rowling created was so enthralling and complex. With careful plotting, she subtly laid the groundwork for important revelations early in the series without ever tipping her hand.

Maybe that kind of control works best on a larger canvas; it gives Vacancy an airless feeling. Everyone in the book has a secret, and while Rowling carefully portions out information, telling us just enough to keep us reading, we never doubt that by the end all will be revealed in a way that will create maximum embarrassment for everyone.

This isn’t a bad book, just a disappointing one. There’s plenty to admire, starting with Rowling’s obvious pleasure in writing for grown-ups.

There’s plenty of sex, especially among the teenagers. Andrew, a pimply boy with a crush on a beautiful neighbor, Gaia, is ecstatic when she sits in front of him on the school bus, and his hormone-intoxicated body reacts accordingly.

It’s interesting to see a billionaire, who was on public assistance when she started the series that made her a fortune, writing about class warfare.

There’s a lot to talk about in The Casual Vacancy - it tackles big issues that would make it appealing to book groups. If only there was more joy in reading it.

Style, Pages 32 on 10/02/2012

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