The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Man, what a letdown.

I am a crazy die-hard Potter fan.  I've read each book at least ten times, devouring them each for the first time in a 24 hour time period, and I've seen every movie just as often, never missing an opening weekend.  I envy J. K. Rowling's imagination and ability to bring the world of Harry Potter so vividly alive for people.  I also envy her ability to write young adult books that teach positive messages in such a unique way - a way that attracts people far beyond young adult age.

It is with this passion that I downloaded J.K. Rowling's new book, The Casual Vacancy, intended for an adult audience.  Perhaps that is where I went wrong - my expectations were already way too high.  Unfortunately, those were not met.

Okay, this is coming from a person who loves sad books... but this book was just so sad.  One of my friends said that all the ills of society are in this novel and she's right.  You don't finish the book with much hope for humanity.  For some reason, the overall storyline that connects the characters didn't interest me either.  Basically it is about a town divided when one of the major leaders dies suddenly from an aneurysm.  They fight over who should take his spot and what to do with "The Fields," an area of town that most people want redistricted.  I don't know, it just kind of bored me.

In fairness, I did finish the book so it wasn't awful.  It is, of course, well-written, but that was never a question for me.  It focuses on several different characters who collide at the end and their individual stories are interesting.  I guess, if you can forget it is by J. K. Rowling and you just want something to read, it isn't bad.  But don't expect the greatness that was Harry Potter or you will be disappointed.

Perks of Being a Wallflower

It seems to me that at least half of the movies released in the last few years - at least, the most popular - were based on novels.  With each movie, you have a large group of people walking into the cinema with high expectations because they're already huge fans of the book (although rarely does the movie, regardless how fantastic it is, live up to those expectations - as they say, books are always better). I am one of those people.  As a matter of fact, if a novel is turned into a movie, I will read it purposefully before seeing the movie (or reread it, as usually the case).  My most recent project is Perks of Being a Wallflower. 

I read this book years ago when it was published, but it was recently released on the silver screen - featuring none other than Emma Watson - so I picked it back up. It was as great as I remembered it.

The book is an epistolary novel (10 points to the person who knows what that means!) -- it is written entirely in letters.  The main character writes these letters to an unnamed person as he goes through his first year of high school.  He is a "wallflower" who struggles to fit in anywhere except with a stepbrother and stepsister who embrace him and all his weirdness.  What follows is an honest, heartbreaking tale of his freshman year as he encounters drugs, sex, love, heartbreak, etc.  He is one of the kindest, most sincere characters in a novel, and yet also one of the saddest.  This book is a sad book (do I read another type?) but it's a great book. One of the greatest quotes from the book is "We accept the love we think we deserve," which I find so true.

I'm not lucky enough to have watched the movie yet - it never came close to home.  But I definitely will.   For those of you like me, waiting the arrival of the movie in a Redbox, check out the book in the meantime.  After all, don't forget, books are always better.