The Casual Vacancy is J K Rowling’s first book written for adults. It opens with the sudden death of Barry Fairbrother which leaves a ‘casual vacancy’ on the parish council in an idyllic village in South West England. Barry’s death becomes the crucial point in a war between the members of the council and a political battle is fought out over the vacancy. One faction, led by the Mollison family, wants to cut The Fields housing estate out of the town’s catchment area. The Mollisons are small business owners who see their town as the perfect model of middle-class society. They feel they are entitled to run the town and keep it “untainted”. They hate the thought of the children from The Fields housing estate sharing a classroom with their own children. They are also desperate to slash funding for the addiction support clinic believing it to be for “junkies” and “scroungers”.
The book jumps between different characters’ points of view so we see the same events in different lights as we see different perspectives. In the novel, we meet Terri, a mother and a herion addict who is being scrutinised by social work. At first we see Terri through the eyes of her desperate teenage daughter, Krystal, who is struggling to cope looking after both her mother and her young brother. Krystal has been through more than any girl her age should have and you feel so sorry for her. But then we see things from Terri’s point of view. We see into her past and the poverty, neglect and abuse is revealed. Terri is so beaten down that she is barely there anymore. Yet people still want to take what little support she has away from her.
In The Casual Vacancy we see racism. sexism, class inequality, etc. We see the barely veiled distaste of the white middle-class characters directed towards the Sikh Jawanda family. We see the Mollisons’ snobbery towards those they deem beneath them on the social ladder even though their morals and behaviour leave a lot to be desired. It is enraging at times.
The Casual Vacancy is a grim story. At times it seems hopeless and the ending is tragic. But there are moments of human kindness, compassion and fighting spirit. Rowling shows us the injustices that are prevalant everywhere in our society but she also shows us that there is good in the world too.
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