8.27.2012

One Month Until The Casual Vacancy, You Guys!

Today marks exactly one month until the release of The Casual Vacancy, JK Rowling's first novel for adults. I couldn't be more excited. 


The synopsis definitely piques my interest - much more than the bland looking cover does anyway. I'm happy the novel will take place in England, because it just wouldn't feel JK Rowling-ish if it didn't. Cobblestones? Check. Wonderfully traditional English sounding names? Check.

When Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…. Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the town’s council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Sounds promising, right? I'm trying not to get my hopes too high, but it's JK Rowling and it's really hard not to expect greatness. I'll try not to compare her new novel to her best selling series, but I will say I hope it is just as imaginative. It seems Rowling herself doesn't want any comparisons to her earlier works, even when it comes to her marketing. B&N Vice President Patricia Bostelman says of the "left in the dark" marketing approach of Little, Brown, "Apparently much of their behavior is at J.K. Rowling's wishes." Rowling "has very strong opinions on how she wants publishing of the book handled. She's trying not to live on the laurels of Harry Potter and very much wants to have this book stand alone, on its own merit, just as if she were just any other author who was landing on the scene." Except it's JK Rowling, and she most certainly isn't "any other author."

Beth from Bookworm Meets Bookworm and I talked about doing a read-along that would start right around, or on, the novel's release date. More details to come on that... 

8 comments:

  1. Ahhh I can't wait! And I can't believe it's only a month away! I wouldn't have realized that if you hadn't posted this.

    I'm also hoping it's just as imaginative as Harry Potter. But since Harry Potter, of course, is SO great, I'm going into "The Casual Vacancy" assuming it won't be at the same level. Plus going into a novel with really high expectations is never a good idea. *Fingers crossed it really is great though!*

    ReplyDelete
  2. See, I don't know if I want to read it, partly because I just love Harry so much and don't want him to be tainted by disappointment in Rowling's new book, and partly because I don't like J.K. Rowling, which limits my enthusiasm (as weird as that may sound). Okay, I'll probably read it, but I'm not getting my hopes up so if it's sucky, I won't be too badly disappointed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ok, I am so excited!! I'll work on a few readalong images to share and send them over! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would definitely be interested in a read-a-long.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I can't wait for it, too! But I think I might be the only one who loves the cover! :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't think I'm Kristen-Bell-crying-because-of-a-sloth excited but I do think I'll read it. I want to see what it's like and part of why I love HP is because the writing is so awesome. So this one has to be good. Right?

    ReplyDelete
  7. Can't wait for this one too! I loved the whole Harry Potter series.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can't wait for this one, either. Though I'm with Steph - I love the cover!

    ReplyDelete