I recently finished reading the novel The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.  J.K. Rowling is the author of the bestselling Harry Potter series of seven books that have sold more than 450 million copies worldwide.  The Casual Vacancy is her first novel for adults.

The story is set in the small town of Pagford, England.  At the very beginning of the novel, Barry Fairbrother, a husband, father, and Parish Council member dies unexpectedly and the whole town is thrown into havoc.  As the book progresses, Rowling reveals the abundant amount of conflicts going on in the seemingly perfect English town–parents at war with their children, teachers at war with their students, rich at war with the poor, and wives at war with their husbands.  However, the vacant seat that Barry Fairbrother leaves on the Parish Council provides for the biggest conflict that becomes the beating heart of the novel.  With the opportunity of power and control within their grasps, Rowling reveals that the residents of Pagford will stop at nothing to prevail which may just cause more problems than they ever expected to happen…

The Casual Vacancy was a profound, humorous, and extraordinary book.  The novel deals with many issues that we often face in our own lives such as class differences, and the treatment and opinion of those unlike ourselves.  Rowling brilliantly creates plot lines and characters and skillfully intertwines them when she feels necessary.  This book kept me up late into the night, furiously flipping through the pages.  Rowling keeps you on your toes and always sitting on the edge of the seat.  The ending of this book is deeply moving and complete, meanwhile formulating complex ideas in the reader’s mind and allowing them to leave with a powerful and inspirational experience.  While all of the different characters and plot lines were difficult to handle at first, I quickly got used to them and began to get emotionally connected to them.  This book can’t really be compared to Rowling’s previous work, Harry Potter, because the two stories are so different from each other.  Harry Potter has audiences that are a wide range of ages.  However, The Casual Vacancy is strictly for adults.  While I loved this book, my favorite aspect of it would have to be the unforgettable characters that Rowling creates, just as she did in Harry Potter.  They seemed to come off the page as I read about them, for they were so real they could have been standing next to me.  As the novel went on, Rowling revealed the characters’ motives the way you peel an onion–in layers.  The characters were very complex, yet true to life, and drove the story forward more than the plot ever did.  Overall, The Casual Vacancy is unforgettable and is likely to remain on the shelves with Harry Potter for decades to come.