Books on the Bay

Publisher's description:

When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

I really didn't begin reading The Casual Vacancy expecting Harry Potter, or anything like Harry Potter. I didn't expect any magic or cute fantasy worlds. I didn't expect that the novel would be written for young adults and/or appropriate for children. I fully expected something deeper, richer, even darker (as I had been warned) from Rowling.

I did however, expect better storytelling, better developed characters and in general, better writing. I refuse to believe that J.K. Rowling is limited to the YA genre, but The Casual Vacancy doesn't inspire much confidence. 

It's almost as if Rowling turned around and said, what can I write about that is entirely the OPPOSITE of what I've been writing about? What will shock the world and make them realize I'm not just a children's writer? Let's make this a character study, then lets throw in rape, cutting, suicide, adultery, drug use, lying, child abuse, dying children, overtures of incest and poverty.

It was just... too much. I was so tired of trying to care about the characters that by the end of the book I would have been thrilled however it ended, no matter how miserable their predicaments It was exhausting even to try to enjoy the last section of the book. 

Biggest literary disappointment of 2012, hands down.