“In Loco Parentis”

by Connor Park

Here’s the deal: J.K. Rowling is an international publishing phenomenon. The Harry Potter series has sold millions of copies worldwide and been adapted into a multi-billion dollar film franchise. The woman even has a Universal Orlando theme park inspired by her books.
When you read “The Casual Vacancy,” none of that matters.
It’s not every day that an author gets the opportunity to reinvent herself completely, especially not one with as high a profile as Rowling. But her new book does just that, serving as the debut novel for what promises to be a long and interesting career. Rowling pulls off this change masterfully, presenting a challenging, multi-layered story that serves as a showcase both of her narrative prowess and her ability to capture the essence of real life.
Rowling has often received a bad rap for her narrative technique, with critics pointing to the black and white morality of the earlier Harry Potter novels and arguing that the author is rather naive in her understanding of people. “The Casual Vacancy” should silence that particular critique.
Rowling narrates in the voices of nearly every character mentioned in the novel, from the rough-edged daughter of a heroin addict to the repressed and bored wife of a prominent local businessman. No voice goes unheard, and no angle goes unexamined. Readers witness such varied realities as the desperation of addiction, the terror of obsessive compulsive disorder, the strangling of lust, the horror of rape, the loneliness of high school, and the consequences of selfishness. By unfolding her story from so many viewpoints, Rowling is able to present a profoundly complex picture of life as it is.
In seeming contrast with the complexity of her narrative technique, “The Casual Vacancy” opens with what appears to be a very simple story: after Parish Councilman Barry Fairbrother dies, three candidates stand up to take his place. Almost immediately upon introducing these characters and the people around them, the audience is invited to take sides in what feels like a Victorian story with a simple, predictable moral.
This could not be further from the truth. By the novel’s end, Rowling has upended the simple notions of good and evil, inviting the reader into a complex moral landscape. No character’s motivations are either wholly righteous or entirely untainted by self-interest or prejudice. By the story’s end, even the reader’s own prejudices are implicated as Rowling concludes with a ringing plea to Love Your Neighbor.
“The Casual Vacancy” brilliantly shows life as it is, in all its beauty and ugliness. Come to the book open to Rowling’s prose and you’ll leave with a message that might just change your life.