The Casual Vacancy...politics of suburban life

I thoroughly enjoyed reading J K Rowling's first adult novel, having waited for the release of the paperback! Like many great stories, it begins with the unexpected death of Barry Fairbrother, a 40 something year old stalwart of the local community. We then build the jigsaw puzzle of his life, through the eyes of those around him; his wife and children, the other local councillors, the girls rowing team that he coached, local families and many more. The plot thickens when we realise that there is competition for his position on the council; all for different motivations, of course! We hear perspectives from both the adults involved and their children. It is great that the teenage children have such a strong voice, as they add their own form of manipulation to the melee. It is a pleasure to read and become a voyeur to this small rural hamlet that is fighting all of its own demons; can those who have more really share with those less fortunate, can parents really influence their own children, how do we live with mental ill-health, and of course who is really sleeping with whom? So it is not a surprise that the book does not have a happy ending, because there is no ultimate resolution of all these inherent tensions of suburban life. But it does feel like a real experience, empathetically written...