Viola, I finished reading The Casual Vacancy! I feel like I just performed a really great magic trick. Literally I was about to give up on this book approximately 3 times, each chapter. Never would I have guessed anything would take longer to finish than Ender’s Game, but here we are, 8 full months later!!! If this was a school book report I would have madly failed.

As a huge Harry Potter fan, I am obsessed with J.K. Rowling’s writing style – it’s absorbing and you fall in love with the characters, making your imagination really come to life through the written word. With this in mind, I decided to try her first young adult novel nothing short of drugs, sex, abuse, and young love – basically nothing like the wizarding world of Hogwarts.  And again, I have no complaints with the writing style. In fact, as a writer, I only have mad appreciation for her work of art as we get to see the thoughts of multiple characters in each chapter with hilarious and seamless transitions from one to another.

But god, to get to the appreciation took some serious time and commitment. Like, more than halfway through the book did I finally get hooked. I’m talking over 9 chapters and ¾ of the book (yup, another Harry Potter jab, because that’s maybe what I was expecting afterall). So basically toward the end. For starters, The Casual Vacancy is like attending an overcrowded free Iggy Azalea concert – it’s a mosh pit of characters! I could not keep up – the families, the nicknames and the intertwined drama all came at once. But because of my love for JKR, I would give this book a

Once you get into it, the book will 100% leave you with chills… That I can guarantee you. It’s brilliant. It’s disturbing. It’ not for everyone….

No Vacancy,

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