Indonesians Who Love English Books discussion
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The Casual Vacancy
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The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
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Have started reading The Casual Vacancy, I am now in page 68. So far I like it, I recognize J.K. Rowling writing style in it, though it is very different from Harry Potter. Here Rowling uses a lot of slang languages in the dialogues, sometimes they are quite explicit.
Already in page 100 or something. Not liking it thus far.The writing is good, but the story is just meh and doesn't interest me at all. Am fighting the urge to skim.
I'll still finish it though, hopefully it'll get better.
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I also recognize Rowling's style. Despite it being VERY different to Harry Potter, I think her writing still has the same feel to it. It's not my genre to be honest, and I'm not all too thrilled about the premise, but we'll see how it goes. So far, it really is alright.
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This is when the equation "HP fans = JKR fans" doesn't add up anymore. I'm interested to know if the die-hard HP fans would dare to admit that they don't like the book at all?
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I'm quite taken aback by the explicit language in the book though. That was one thing I didn't see coming.
what's the story all about,just got a copy but i haven't read it yet
I actually quite enjoyed this book! I know a lot of HP fans who pick this up just because it's written by Rowling will be very disappointed, as it's not a plot-driven or even exciting book. I've already written a review, so if anyone's interested on my take, you can read it here.
Anyway, I'm wary that the average rating of this book will be somewhere below average simply because of the number of disappointed HP fans who read it, expecting another magical adventure.
Whoa Amanda! Take it easy haha. Btw interesting review.I'm impressed JKR did take a lot of risk in her new book. I like that. BUT so far... it's boring, I agree with Silvana (I'm on page 80 something). The story hasn't hook me up yet, maybe it's not a plot-driven story like Amanda said.
I'm not at all interested in the book, to be honest. Reading the synopsis of the book, it sounds like your regular BBC soap series. So no, I'm going to skip this one.
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The thing is, I don't find it all that bad. I am actually curious to see the progress of the story. But it is slow, and you know Rowling, she loves to describe. While this was very nice in HP, I find it very tedious in TCV.
How is everyone else faring?
Ok, I'm starting as well. Will try to keep my objectivity as much as I can and really read it based on its own merit and demerit.But am getting the ebook version instead of the thick hardcover.
finished it. Coque, you made the right decision. the story is just not there. if it's there, then I simply could not connect.
I'm only just starting to read this... And I don't think I'll enjoy it that much =___='
I've read up to the prologue. I like the writing so far, and sometimes that helps carry me through to the minutiae, like it did in GGM's One Hundred Years of Solitude.Still reserving further thoughts for now.
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On a more positive note, I'm liking it. It get tedious, but I find that at the end of the day, I want to read it and find out what happens next. As I'm typing this post, my hand is actually itching to grab it and read it. But I'm at work, so, most likely not.
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Anyway people, come on then. Let's actually start talking about it intrinsically. Story? Characters? (if there's any to talk about, that is)
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I actually enjoy all the characters; they're all so different and that makes the story more interesting. But I guess, there is no one that I actually love.
What about you guys? And where are you all up to? I've just reached part 5.
Random: I need a caffeine boost. I can barely keep my eyes open.
I know it may be weird, but I loved Samantha. I don't want to go into depth right now as you all haven't finished yet, and I don't want to say anything that might give spoilers.On the other hand, I hated Gavin. So. Much. He reminds me of some of my previous, cold, detached boyfriends, so it may be personal :P
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I definitely know where you're coming from, Amanda. Sam was ... I don't know, I felt like I understood her. I sympathized with the others, and boy do I know that people like them exist in real life, but with Sam, I get it. And yes, now that I've finished the book, I love her too!
Regarding the other characters, I can't say that I love them, nor can I say that I hate them. They are so utterly human, do you know what I mean? Tessa's decisions, Mary's resentments, Kay's hopes, Gavin's douchiness, Sam's regrets ... they're so human, real and raw. So even though some of them were totally despicable, I can't hate them, because you know, that's life ... it's life.
I hope this makes sense.
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After reading all the reviews, i began to doubt as to whether i should buy this novel or not. Huhuhu
uuh... wanting to read it badly, but... looking at the wallet. looking inside it.maybe later... :D
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Still on part 2. Actually it's not that bad, but because the pace is too slow, I always got caught up by other things. Btw, I'm a lil bit confused by Colin and Mary realtionship, anyone care to explain please?
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If I recall correctly, Mary dislikes Colin, and though Colin at first was nice to her (I'm not sure whether out of respect of Barry, or because she was part of Barry and he basically loved everything Barry), as the book progressed, he did not appreciate how she conducted herself after Barry's passing.
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The characters aren't likable, that's true. But they're still interesting nonetheless. I always find story about dysfunctional people interesting, especially a town full of it.
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Anyway, I had fun looking at all those die-hards who gave this book premature five stars have to begrudgingly eat their own words after they read, or at least tried to read it. This is definitely not for everyone, and I won't let my little cousins read it just yet.
Just finished it! General thoughts...it's a little slow in the beginning but once the characters were established and the hackings started...the scenes that followed generated a TWS that I couldn't pry my eyes away from.
Finally finished it. Too slow for my taste, story got interesting from part five 'til the end. Love Sukhvinder at the end. Disappointed with Andrew, thought the character would turned out to be interesting at the end, but he's still the same Andrew. Well, I had gather my thoughts for a while before writing the review.
Rachel wrote: "Yes, I found that it exceeded my expectations too. So the bad reviews are sort of doing this book a favor. People still want to read it despite the awful reviews, they go in with very low expectati..."In my opinion Mary is almost as bad as Shirley in her pettiness and the view that everything must revolve around her while playing victim, even though she was. Basically she's abusing her armour of grief and milking it for all it's worth.
sanshow wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Yes, I found that it exceeded my expectations too. So the bad reviews are sort of doing this book a favor. People still want to read it despite the awful reviews, they go in with ver..."Agreed. I, for one, hated Mary. So. Much. Well, she and Gavin deserves each other :P
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Actually Andrew is my favorite character. I found myself looking forward to read his part more than other characters.
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I see some of you actually liked it, and some didn't.
So guys, which character did you like best and which did you hate most? I see many of you hate Mary. Give us the details!
As I mentioned before, I don't really hate any of them because I don't know, it's life. But I side-eyed the crap out of Gavin, Shirley and Howard. Gavin, obviously, because he was such. such a douche. Shirley and Howard because they were self-righteous a-holes. In retrospect, I wonder why I don't hate them. Is it really because I figured, it's life, or because I wasn't that emotionally invested in the story? Hmm. Curious.
The character that I (oddly) liked was Kay and Sukhvinder. Odd because Kay was basically strung along by Gavin, and you know, woman, have some common sense and self-worth. But I appreciated her views on the clinic and how she genuinely wanted to help out Krystal and her family. Odd because Sukhvinder lacked a lot of self-esteem and was partly-suicidal. I get that her situation catapulted her to such extreme actions, and I found that I really liked her parts. I like knowing what goes on inside her head.
And was I the only one who thought that Parminder was a tad on the unstable side? She was all over the place.
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I think exactly the same. She acts as if she got everything under control while in reality she almost can't do anything without making a pile of mess.
Lynossa wrote: "What I like most about TCV is the characters are so real. There are actual people who think and do the same. They're flawed, but that's what makes them human, I suppose.Actually Andrew is my favor..."
Andrew's my fave character too, and he's the only one in his family who's at least showing signs of change, albeit very slightly. He deserves better, haha.
As for characters that I actually dislike...it's not so much a dislike as that I get the feeling that I'm 'judging' them with a holier-than-thou attitude. I dunno, it's more of like, the characters remind me of how apathetic I am, too, in a way. If, say,I were to meet Terri and Krystal - would I have turned the other way, too, without really understanding them?
When I was in the UK, I saw several teenagers that now remind me of Krystal Weedon, and that time, I merely thought they're disturbing public peace (it was in a bus) by making such a ruckus, or in some cases, people who were passing cannabis in buses after clubbing - again I had that Pagford mentality that these people were just ugh.
I had a flat mate who's pretty much like Gavin in the wishy-washy department. He was often stoned too, though not in the Terri kinda way. And my other flatmate and I, we didn't do much in terms of trying to improve things as we thought it was none of our business to meddle (other than making sure he paid the rent).
Reading this reminded me of my own apathy, even though I may have thought otherwise. I try to care for the people in my close vicinity, but sometimes I wonder if my doing so could be seen as condescending rather than compassionate.
Especially in Jakarta where there are so many problems - really am I doing more complaining rather than contributing more substantially? I'd like to think we're bigger people, but sometimes that too might simply be an indulgent delusion. I'm glad, though, to see Samantha's interest in greater involvement - a hope that perhaps even the most apathetic can choose to make and perhaps achieve meaningful change.
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I think the apathy demonstrated by the ppl of Pagford is a different kind of apathy from big-city apathy, if it makes sense. Such as your example with the flatmate, Sanshow, I don't think that was apathy so much as it was individualism and personal boundaries. I would understand why you and your other flatmates wouldn't want to butt in or intrude on another person's personal choices.But the sort of apathy coming from these Pagfordians, I saw more as a deliberate ignorance, not out of respect for people's private affairs, but simply because they don't care. Like Reza said, it does smell of the bystander effect, but I agree with his words, that the fact is those "bystanders" simply didn't give a sh!t. (at least in the bystander effect, you acknowledge that there is a problem, but you think someone else will take care of it. To me these bystanders were just too immersed in their own world to see Robbie's problem, nor to care if someone else helps him or not).
Well, that's my take on it at least :p
Will anyone tell me around what part/ page the story would unfurl itself and things would get going? (Sleepy here on page 270)
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Amanda wrote: "I think the apathy demonstrated by the ppl of Pagford is a different kind of apathy from big-city apathy, if it makes sense. Such as your example with the flatmate, Sanshow, I don't think that was ..."Yeah, I do agree that they're too self-centred to really notice anyone else. And Reza's point about possibly viewing those from Fields as 'outsiders' probably exacerbated this behaviour.
But I think it's quite a common human trait to need a 'catastrophe' happening in their proximity to be shaken enough for some change.
Interesting that out of the characters, Samantha emerged as the one who's more likely to continue Fairbrother's cause, out of her own will at that (as compared to the Jawandas, whose willingness to help mainly come by proxy of Sukhvinder. Even for Parminder, her motives were driven by Barry previously).
I think that in the story, it's the people who're most like 'non-adults' who're shown to be taking tangible steps towards the change from apathy to responsibility towards others (E.g. Andrew first posting on the website to prevent others from being terrorised by Simon) For the 'adults', Sam was shown to be more of 'a teenager' through her band fandom etc, while Barry was always brimming with positive innocence/naivete if you will). And as for the teenager group - Fats, for all his intent to be more wordly than the rest, was instead almost always acting based upon his own self-interest.
Saw it at a big bookstore yesterday, tell me is it worth reading guys?,I mean we know her and her book, but just tell of your approval in this book.
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Personally, from me, no. I just re-read my review on it and I think I was too generous. Now, 2 years later, I sort of think I hate it. There are parts I remembered quite clearly (so I guess it still left a mark), but I remember thinking, what was the point? What was the point of the whole book?
In retrospect, I think that book was a waste of time. I skimmed a lot too.
So let's kick-start our October read today. For those who have started reading, what are your thoughts so far? Is Rowling's writing style still the same? What do you like? What do you dislike?
And for those who haven't started reading, what are you expecting from it?
Maybe we should start hiding spoilers behind the spoiler cut? Let's try for that, okay guys?
Happy reading!