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Stephen King's Reviews > The Casual Vacancy
The Casual Vacancy
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Not since Peyton Place has a writer so enthusiastically stripped the lace covers from small-town life to show the maggots of greed, lust, snobbery, and ambition squirming beneath—only Grace Metalious didn’t have Jo Rowling’s wicked sense of humor. The village of Pagford may be British, but the human foibles there are universal. Like the best social comedies, The Casual Vacancy features wit on top and outrage simmering below.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
January 1, 2013
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Finished Reading
January 31, 2014
– Shelved
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Connie VonSleichter
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rated it 5 stars
Jan 31, 2014 11:15AM
I agree with Mr. King. This is a fabulous piece of writing. At least I think he was liking it!
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Always wanted to read "Peyton Place", guess I'llread "The Casual Vacancy" instead.
I loved the writing in this novel. Very well done.
Read this one, there's no Hogwarts of course :-P It's actually a very political story, and I found myself thinking the only likeable characters were the kids!
I tried reading this and gave up... I will give it another try
I couldn't get through this one. Maybe I'm unconciously expecting Harry Potter and Hogwarts between its pages...
It is not an easy story to get through, I finished it to see if it went anywhere.
Maybe I'll give it another try... next summer or something!
I heard it was really good. I will have to put this on my list of to-read.
Annabel wrote: "Did it Jackie?"Nothing earth-shattering exciting, but it was interesting to see how the political dynamics played out.
Interesting to go from one strong genre to another, I must read this.
Me too. A story that I thought of long after I finished the book.
Definitely not Harry Potter. It took me a little while to get into it too, maybe because I wanted a story like that. But very thought provoking book. I felt for the characters and was ultimately very surprised with the ending. Rowling is an incredible author!!!
Personally I hated all the adults. They all bothered me. I found myself rooting for the kids...even the underprivileged ones.
Personally I hated all the adults. They all bothered me. I found myself rooting for the kids...even the underprivileged ones.
Personally I hated all the adults. They all bothered me. I found myself rooting for the kids...even/especially the underprivileged ones.
Just couldn't do it....kept wanting more Harry Potter.
I really liked it maybe because it was so different from Harry Potter!
I really enjoy the book.
JK Rowling inspired me(girl:11)to write.Though it was her, and a book called "Angel's are for real".
I felt like a fly on the wall reading this book. Its almost like a really good gossip book.
I hated the characters...they were so damned human. The only truly decent person was Barry. But this book stayed with me, and I've thought about it often since I finished it. May revise my review to 5 stars.
I completely agree! This book was amazing.
True about the well-developed young adult characters. It was like a group coming-of-age of the lives (and death) of Krystal, Sukhdev, Gaia, Andrew and Stuart.
Tragic yet pregnant with hope.
Terrific review. Short. Blunt. Spot on.
Thanks for saying what *I'VE* been trying to tell people about this book!!
I loved the book. Read it in three days, because I couldn't put it down!
I just love that he worked the word "foibles" into his review.
A true Tragedy with a focus on the consequences of self-centeredness.
Well, there it is... a perfect review. No need for the rest of us mortals to embellish any further.
I was literally blown away by this book... I just love her wittiness...
There's a lot of novels of the realism type in the library starting with Emile Zola. There's Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road and Nelson Ajgren's A Walk on the Wild Side, and a whole lot more.
