Book Notes: The Casual Vacancy

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

Pagford is a cozy little English town that suddenly loses one of its young civic councillors to a brain aneurysm. The machinations to replace him on council begin.
If I had read this before I read all the Harry Potter books, I might have enjoyed it more. The ending summed things up quite nicely but it took a long time to get there.
I found it hard to like or sympathisize with any of the characters even tho' I may have respected the teenaged-daughter-of-the-drug-addict for what she tried to accomplish. Pettiness and 'adult' themes abound. And perhaps that was the author's intent, to not provide any clearly likeable characters.
This is not the worst book I have read, but it is certainly far from the best. I'm rather disappointed becasuse I know Ms Rowling has quite the imagination.
I would recommend borrowing it from the library; it is not a book I feel the need to read again.