Dear blogspot! I'm ashamed that I could have forgotten you. How have things been without me?
Well, don't fret. I'm here writing one more post. This platform is pretty confusing, and I feel like I might switch over to Wordpress... I just can't find an efficient way to follow/subscribe to people, and I feel like people have trouble following/subscribing to me? Am I being too self conscious? Maybe, but something simpler would be nice. Anyways, here's one last book review while I make up my mind. Nothing's final yet.
I've been using this site called Goodreads to write my book reviews, but I feel like this little corner of the web is getting lonely, so here's my most recent one. It's for The Casual Vacancy, by J. K. Rowling!! I had been meaning to read this book for the longest time, and I FINALLY got around to it after almost everyone I knew had already read it. We all had very, very different and mixed opinions, and I'm sure whoever's reading this probably will too, so this was an exciting review for me. DON'T read it if you're planning on reading the book yourself though, because there are definitely some big spoilers in here!
So, let's start with the technical stuff. The writing is very similar to the writing of Harry Potter -- it's not more wordy or structurally complicated, it's actually very accessible and totally an easy read. It's more adult in its subject matter and frequent f-bombs. At first I was a bit disappointed, since I was looking forward to some prose that could be a bit more challenging or stimulating, but I dismissed that wish very quickly, probably thirty pages in. I love the way she writes. It's basic, but beautiful. The story speaks for itself... it doesn't need any flashy parallel structure or streaming metaphors to stand on its own.
Okay, now for my thoughts on the plot: I know a lot of people thought Robbie's death was cheap, that Rowling just got lazy at the end, that she was just trying to be dramatic. I know a lot of other people who were just disappointed, confused, or indifferent.
I am none of those people. I actually thought the deaths of Krystal and Robbie were sad and beautiful... Robbie, the dirty and neglected child, being washed away in the river was like a kind of baptism into another world, a baptism only available through death. Krystal's suicide was a crime of passion, a desperate attempt to follow Robbie to wherever he was, using the tools of her Mother's demons to take her to the place of angels, the place of purity she longed for. I thought it was very well done.
I don't think they died in vain, either. My favorite character ended up being Samantha Mollison, and I think their deaths really changed her and made her, suddenly, into someone I just loved. She was humbled, she was changed, she really turned herself around, in a way I never would have thought possible. She sort of reminded me of Edmund, in the Narnia books -- he's so awful and detestable at the beginning, but after the death of Aslan, he completely redeems himself and becomes known as the most just and merciful king in Narnia. I think Samantha Mollison is the Edmund of this book.
There's a lot to say about a lot of other aspects in this book, but those were my two biggest thoughts.
Anyways, I hope everyone's well! Maybe I'll be seeing you soon. Maybe not. Either way, have a lovely day!
