Their snubbing is a deft reminder of where the power really lies. I am hoping that The Casual Vacancy is just an aberration, a hiccup in her career, because this book doesnt even seem like her. When, for instance, the snobby Mollisons arrived at the manor house, they are ushered from room to room by Lord Sweetlove before being deposited out the backdoor once more. The structure was already there in Rowling’s book, but director Jonny Campbell deserve credit for scenes that cleverly established character with a wordless economy. The Casual Vacancy does better than either Broadchurch or Fortitude at wrangling a large ensemble into a coherent story.

Read THE CASUAL VACANCY book reviews & author details and more at Amazon.in. Kinnear, Gambon and Keeley Hawes are all as good as ever, but The Casual Vacancy’s teenagers are also impressive, particularly Abigail Lawrie as worldly-wise Krystal Weedon, a sort of sink-estate Hermione. Amazon.in - Buy THE CASUAL VACANCY book online at best prices in India on Amazon.in.

On screen, however, these characters are too well rounded to be dismissed as mere mouthpieces. In book form, The Casual Vacancy’s lefty politics irritated some – the Daily Mail’s Jan Moir called it “500 pages of relentless socialist manifesto”. The Casual Vacancy presents hard-hitting and relevant social issues in a way that can be understood by readers of any background.

The casual vacancy book review