A VeRy Brief Review of "The Casual Vacancy"
I suspect J.K.'s "metaphor thing" drove people crazy, but I thought most of 'em were darned clever. Besides the one quoted in my previous post (about a goat through a snake), the other one I liked was this: "....her thoughts scurrying like mice in a glass bowl, trying to escape, but there was no way out...." With a metaphor like that, it was not difficult to imagine what was going on inside this woman's head!
In any case, I've finished the book, and while others might grouse that the ending was too predictable, I'd say it was less predictable than inevitable, which I think is a better word for it. Certainly, the story was moving to its ending well before the start of the final part, but I didn't realize until I was actually reading it that events were dovetailing to conclusion.
As I said before, I probably wouldn't have read this book if J.K. hadn't written Harry Potter first, but I'm glad I did. It's no fairy tale, but neither was it complete doom and gloom. Characters were real and for the most part multi-faceted. To me, the story focused more on the young people than the adults, but everyone was given a good amount of words to describe their lives and their thoughts. Can't say as I'll ever re-read this one, as I do with the Potter books, but I'm not sorry I read it once.
In any case, I've finished the book, and while others might grouse that the ending was too predictable, I'd say it was less predictable than inevitable, which I think is a better word for it. Certainly, the story was moving to its ending well before the start of the final part, but I didn't realize until I was actually reading it that events were dovetailing to conclusion.
As I said before, I probably wouldn't have read this book if J.K. hadn't written Harry Potter first, but I'm glad I did. It's no fairy tale, but neither was it complete doom and gloom. Characters were real and for the most part multi-faceted. To me, the story focused more on the young people than the adults, but everyone was given a good amount of words to describe their lives and their thoughts. Can't say as I'll ever re-read this one, as I do with the Potter books, but I'm not sorry I read it once.