Kate Saunders
Big Trouble in Little Pagford
The Casual Vacancy
By J K Rowling
Little, Brown 503pp £20
In case you’ve been on another planet, this is the first novel for adults by the author of the Harry Potter books. The hype that attended the publication was enormously silly and rather comically misjudged: news editors recalled the long queues and midnight parties that heralded each new addition to the Potter text, and assumed this time there would be more of the same. I did a soundbite for local radio on the morning of publication, and heard a live report from the queue outside the bookshop – which contained just two people. Foyles apparently had six.
Does this mean The Casual Vacancy is a turkey? Reviews generally ranged from the sniffy (Margaret Drabble in the New Statesman) to the personally nasty (Jan Moir in the Daily Mail). Some people were upset by the amount of swearing, particularly among the teenage characters. Others objected to what they saw as the lefty propaganda implied by Rowling’s obvious sympathy with those who have not had her advantages.
Well, the headline is that it’s really not bad at all – immensely readable, often amusing and generally on the side of the angels. Did anyone, even Rowling herself, expect more? If it hadn’t been by the most successful writer in history, this book would still have made a decent
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
Knowledge of Sufism increased markedly with the publication in 1964 of The Sufis, by Idries Shah. Nowadays his writings, much like his father’s, are dismissed for their Orientalism and inaccuracy.
@fitzmorrissey investigates who the Shahs really were.
Fitzroy Morrissey - Sufism Goes West
Fitzroy Morrissey: Sufism Goes West - Empire’s Son, Empire’s Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal and Idries Shah by Nile Green
literaryreview.co.uk
Rats have plagued cities for centuries. But in Baltimore, researchers alighted on one surprising solution to the problem of rat infestation: more rats.
@WillWiles looks at what lessons can be learned from rat ecosystems – for both rats and humans.
Will Wiles - Puss Gets the Boot
Will Wiles: Puss Gets the Boot - Rat City: Overcrowding and Urban Derangement in the Rodent Universes of John B ...
literaryreview.co.uk
Twisters features destructive tempests and blockbuster action sequences.
@JonathanRomney asks what the real danger is in Lee Isaac Chung's disaster movie.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/eyes-of-the-storm