Preliminary review: The Casual Vacancy

I am about 150 pages--30% of the way--into The Casual Vacancy, J.K. Rowling's first work of adult fiction.

And it is adult. For sure. Possibly gratuitously so.

If I were only reading the book because I'm a Harry Potter fan I would be really disappointed. The only thing reminiscent of those books is the very well-drawn characters.

And it's a good thing they are well-drawn, because this is a character-driven novel. There is very little actually happening. And none of these muggles are particularly likeable, in their rather sad little lives.

But, all that said, I am liking it so far, for the most part, just as what it is. We'll see what I think when I get to the end. But if you were going to read it--in spite of the cover, which has been called boring, and in spite of the description--just because you love Harry and friends, you'll likely be disappointed.