Yeah. What an astronomical letdown.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that it was a
disappointment because it wasn’t Potter – a lot of people think that that’s the
reason I feel like this, and it’s a fair enough assumption (except of course,
that it’s entirely wrong). No, the truth is that The Casual Vacancy is a
racist, demeaning and judgemental piece of crap – and that’s just the half of
it. For those that don’t know (and a warning – spoiler alerts coming!) the book
follows the town of Pagford and the events that occur after the death of a
prominent figure of the town council, Barry Fairbrother (Barry? Inventive there
JK…) and the attempts to fill his seat.
Now as a bookseller at Waterstones, I was well aware of the
promotional restrictions put around the book; it was in no way to be affiliated
with the Harry Potter series, and was to be advertised with extreme emphasis on
the fact it was an adult novel. However, what we weren’t warned about was the
fact that JK Rowling seems to have a limited knowledge as to what makes an
adult novel – and that her version consists of “adult writing” consists of
sporadic, frequent and often unnecessary bad language and scenes that, whilst
admittedly were – in accordance with most of the rest of the book – badly written,
verged on pornographic. OK, so let’s not think I’m a snobbish prude – yes people
use bad language and it is generally quite often. But is it really quite
necessary for “c**t” to be used within the first ten pages and repeatedly
therein? No, is the simple answer. And as for the sex scenes – ok, so it was no
Fifty Shades of Grey, but they were thrown in amongst relatively normal
passages in a way that was clearly a desperate attempt to up the ante and make
it adult material. They were simply uncomfortable to read. Not that I’m suggesting
I like to snuggle up with a cup of tea and my latest copy of Fifty Shades for a
nice bit of contented and light reading. No. I’m simply saying that JK’s risqué
material was less sleazy and more queasy.
And then there’s the writing itself – oh it was painful.
Long and archaic terms that, realistically, nobody but an English teacher uses
(and even they don’t understand them) and only served to make the piece clumsy
and awkward. The story made critical and damning accusations of those on the
welfare system and racial slurs with barely acceptable reason behind it
reasoning – “bullying”. JK failed to form any likeable character to get behind (by
the end I wanted to climb in and slap everyone of them) and I am ashamed to say
that it took me about four weeks to finish it; had it not been for my extreme
aversion to starting and not finishing a book, I would’ve been perfectly happy
to put it down and walk away unconcerned not knowing what happened. As it is, I
don’t think I have ever reached the end of a book with as much relief that it
was over.
So Ms Rowling – what’s going on? I think it must be one of
two options. Firstly, she has realised that Potter can go no further – now that’s
hard for me, as a hardcore Potterhead, to even find the words to admit it, but
after the painful demise of the over-hyped Pottermore (having spent two hours getting
to the sorting and being put in Hufflepuff, I refuse to go back on, and having
gathered from my more fortunate friends that really I’m not missing out, it
seems that those that remain on the site are dwindling in numbers…) it can be
said that Potter can go no more. In coming to terms to this, JK has decided she
must break away as far as possible from this world and create a new name for
herself: thus the foul language, foul content and foul writing.
The other option is, indeed, far more disturbing: that this is
actually what Rowling writes and thinks like, and the entire Harry Potter
franchise was a façade behind which she could simply get published. If this is
the case, then I have lost a valued idol, who always seemed to promote the good
and right in a troubled and often desperate society, and the little girl who
can owe her childhood and love for literature to one woman can now only turn
her head in shame.
I now return to the Harry Potter series with a desperate
hope that this experiment will not impact future generations on their
willingness to pick up this magical world, that for me, should’ve been the only
one JK Rowling created. Let this be a plea to her to stay far from this new
path, and remain with what she knows and is good
at.
Okay, so when are you going to write and get published a novel of your own? It's very different to writing the occasional blog!
ReplyDeleteWhen you understand the vast amount of effort involved I think you would have a better basis to complain from.
This was never going to be everybody's cup of tea, just appreciate that a number of people may have enjoyed this more than the Potter novels, if you can.
Regards, JK
(Just Kidding)
I am in no way suggesting that writing a novel is easy, and would never assume so! I am simply saying that, in my opinion, JK had proven that she could write and get published exceptionally well with Potter and failed to repeat this success with Casual Vacancy - but I do stress this is just my opinion! I understand perfectly that there is probably a vast quantity of people who think the other way, and this blog is simply me expressing my point of view :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment!
Regards, Fred