When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the 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 parish 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?
This book has about several different storylines going at one time. Mrs. Fairbrother, recently widowed begins a relationship with her husband's beat friend. Fairbrother’s opponent, the Howard Mollison, is those stuck up rich people who think they are better than anyone else; Krystal Weedon, is a prostitute and her drug addicted mother, Terri; Krystal’s new social worker, Kay Bawden, who has recently moved to Pagford with her teenage daughter; the disaffected adolescent boys, Fats and Andrew; and a variety of local gossips and pot-stirrers.
I checked out the book at my university library. I wanted to read it but the price was a little too steep and I wanted to read it so imagine my surprise the library actually had it. Honestly, Rowling's writing is still perfect, the description and everything. The story itself is just bland. I understand this is her first project away from the universe of Harry Potter, and there has been criticism on how she should have just stuck to writing Harry Potter books. One thing the literary world said "Can Rowling being the same magic to her adult fiction like in Harry Potter?" First off people need to stop reading it like it's a Harry Potter novel. I respect Rowling for taking her time with her writing and seeing it as a new original story. Every new series by an author I like I read their work with a fresh eyes, not comparing too much to their previous work. I didn't like the book too much, and maybe Rowling's next book will be good. The writing is good, but it just doesn't have that spark. Rowling still has it, it just may take a while for things non Harry Potter.
