Hameeda asked this question about The Casual Vacancy:
Describe your most and least favorite characters in this book?
S C This is a good question and first I want to second Hannah's opinion that there is an amazing variety of characters in the book. I'm going to assume th…moreThis is a good question and first I want to second Hannah's opinion that there is an amazing variety of characters in the book. I'm going to assume this question is about our preference for the characters' personalities as opposed to their literary quality.

As some other have said, Rowling really spelled out each character's weakness through their internal monologues. Barry is the one character who we didn't get much internal monologue from. From what we learned about him through other characters, Barry was an amazing guy. His one flaw was that his wife Mary felt that he didn't give her enough time or put enough energy into their relationship, but Mary comes across as pretty uptight and it's possible that she is just one of those people that are impossible to keep happy. I find it difficult to believe that Barry would end up with a woman like that but the book didn't go into much detail about their history. The book also didn't give much detail about the relationship between Mary and her daughters but if the absence of detail was intentional, perhaps she wasn't very grateful for them. So Barry nor Mary are my most favorite characters.
They're also not my least, as nearly all characters in the book are worse than them. Obbo is the largest piece of feces and mainly because of what he did to Krystal. That said, I consider him a minor character as we know very little about his life. My least favorite main character is Simon Price. You just don't control a family with your fists. It's unacceptable.

As the reader, you know something unsavory about each character and as so, no favorite is clear. I give Rowling credit here as I consider this realistic. I didn't have a favorite after reading the book, but swayed by the previous comments, I'm going to give another medal to Krystal for her heart and honesty. She was a fiery trainwreck and her circumstances were very sad.(less)
Image for The Casual Vacancy
Rate this book
Clear rating

About Goodreads Q&A

Ask and answer questions about books!

You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.

See Featured Authors Answering Questions

Learn more