JK Rowlings - A Casual Vacancy

[Kablooie]

I just finished it.
Hmmm.
Kind of hard to get through until the plot kicks in somewhere around the middle of the book.
There are eight families you must memorize and no central protagonist to focus on.
The first half is explaining the myriad of characters and setting up the web of political and social conflicts and alliances.
It was hard to keep track of who thinks what of who and who is related to who. All the way to the end of the book I would forget certain relationships until they were startled back into my consciousness by the story.

It's essentially about a small town that must deal with the loss of the one council member who has been the linchpin that held the town together. All the other inhabitants seem to be tortured, confused, antagonistic souls. The heart of the book finally narrows down to one character but ends with very little, or no redemption for anyone.

One thing that bothered me was that all the teens hated their parents and actively work to damage their parent's lives. For one or two characters to have this attitude might work but every major teen character, and there are quite a few, does this. It's odd. Could this have been Rowlings personal feeling when she was young?

Rowling is a good writer with an impressive grasp of character and storytelling but it seems this book might be more of an attempt to work out her internal conflicts with her past than to tell a captivating story. Exorcising these demons has overtaken her storytelling ability. I hope she has shaken enough out of her system that she can settle down to telling engrossing stories again in her future books.