“The Casual Vacancy” by J. K. Rowling

When I watch “The Midsomer Murders” I’ve often wondered how these small British towns could sustain a murder rate high enough to sustain the TV series; after having read “The Casual Vacancy” I wonder why there aren’t more.  The only sympathetic people in the book were a couple of Londoners who moved out there because the mother had thought she could marry one of the townsmen, much to the chagrin of the daughter who lost her school, her friends, and her boyfriend.  The mother even ends up with a lower paying job to be closer to the schumck, which introducers her as a social worker to the life of a family ruined by addictions to drugs and sex. I feel sorry for the kids of that impoverished family, even if the daughter’s angry acting out leaves me glad I won’t have to actually meet her.  

 

The majority of the book is about the ramifications of the death of the one reasonably good person in Pagford, and even he apparently neglected his family to try going good for society as a whole. As the ripples spread, as people compete for his seat on the parish council, the unhappy people of Pagford mistreat each other and rat each other out for it. Fear, selfishness, and hypocrisy drive the people of this town and it’s too small for the people to escape it except by leaving altogether.

 

The contrast between “Fats” and Kay, the social worker, reveal one aspect of the possible theme of authenticity.  “Fats” attempts to be authentic are justifications for his being a jerk of the typical teenage boy variety, and his one act of redemption is accept blame for the misdeeds of others. Is Rowling telling us that civilization depends upon inauthenticity, since the authentic human being is so unlikeable?  Civilized values, and even more so liberal, cosmopolitan values, require education and training.  On the other hand, Kay’s quixotic search for love, and her daughter’s, is derailed by her boyfriend’s inability to be honest with her.

 

This is not to say I didn’t believe the book. There are people like this all over the world; Pagford was just at the unlucky end of a bell curve for collecting so many of them into such a small area. Underneath all the repulsive characters is a talent for plotting that brings so many lives into a web of human weaknesses.