I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and were surrounded by family and friends. Our Christmas holidays were fantastic! We were in Calgary until Christmas Eve and then headed up North on Christmas Day and to spend a few days on the farm with Ryan's family. Some of our activities included a night out at Theatre Calgary to watch 'A Christmas Carol', bowling and feeding the cows on farm. We came back in time for our friend's wedding in Banff on the 29th and then celebrated the New Year with friends and a few heated card games.
One of our Christmas traditions (with both of our families), is to do a gift exchange with a few rounds of stealing. I was really excited about the gift I brought to the first exchange of the season... 'The Casual Vacancy' by JK Rowling!! I of course planned my strategy very carefully as I anticipated it to be 'the' gift of the night. To my great surprise, it only ended up getting stolen once (by me).
I am happy to say, that I do not regret my decision, and I believe my family and friends should have snagged it when they could. I was very impressed by this book. I am of course a huge Harry Potter fan, and although 'The Casual Vacancy' is quite different, I really enjoyed it.
Warning: Contains Spoilers
The story begins with the death of Barry Fairbrother, a well liked and respected man who holds a key seat on the town council. Following his sudden death, the reader is quickly informed of the strong divide in the small town of Pagford regarding the Fields. The Fields is a downscale area of town where many underprivileged members of the community live. Part of the council (previously lead by Barry Fairbrother) believe that their support can help the inhabitants of the neighborhood to become active and useful members of society. Their support includes subsidizing a methadone clinic and allowing the children of the Fields to attend the Pagford school. The other half wish to shut down the methadone clinic, remove the Fields from the Pagford Parish, and transfer its responsibility to the neighbouring town of Yarvil.
The book is told from many perspectives, but despite the many point of views, you become invested in each character's story. The diverse and colourful citizens of the town include, but are not limited to, a verbally and physically abused wife, a mother who is a drug addict and a prostitute, a social worker struggling to maintain her relationship with her teenage daughter, and troubled young students struggling to fit in with their peers.
Even though the affluent citizens of Pagford who wish to rid themselves of the Fields appear selfish and careless at first, reading about their lives, and how they were raised, made me realize it is not fair to automatically judge and discredit their opinions. Every character has a story which explains their actions and beliefs, and none are totally void of humanity. Different circumstances and life experiences shape each character and the author does a tremendous job of reminding us that no one is undeserving of sympathy or of a second chance.
This book did not leave me feeling enchanted like I felt after finishing the Harry Potter series, but I found this story which explores many hardships in our society to be very thought provoking and meaningful. To me, it displayed that regardless of how important an issue may appear to one individual, its impact on different people's lives can vary greatly.
Harry Potter fan or not, I recommend this novel!
Happy reading!
Keep it up Domi! :)
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