Comments on: On established authors and the weight of expectation: J.K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy

By: wordwhore

wordwhore — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 06:19:38 +0000

My gooodness Floorer, how gritty do you need JKR to be
and what is your representatation of Gritty Writing . I completly forgot her H.P legacy , the story was heartbreaking and illuminated character and stereotypes like nothing i have ever read ( Actually Capital by John Lancaster comes very close) however Bethanie your review was so comprehensive i felt all sad again about Krystal, her Mum and the absolute reality of how people are forced to live.

By: Bethanie Blanchard

Bethanie Blanchard — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 04:50:58 +0000

Floorer – that’s an amusingly good analogy!

Thanks Steve. Yes, my review is later which is why I wrote an essay on an aspect of reading it rather than a straight review.
I should say also that with this book, Jennifer Byrne was the only reviewer in Australia allowed to read it before the public release date, so it was always going to be a bit later for this reason (with most books, reviewers are given copies ahead of time)

By: Steve Carey

Steve Carey — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 06:52:53 +0000

This is one of the fairest and most balanced reviews of A Casual Vacancy. But isn’t it a bit bizarrely late? It’s been out for a couple of months.

By: floorer

floorer — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:42:44 +0000

“No matter how many times she writes four letter words, or describes the misery and sadness, the resentments and pettiness of adult life, she can’t be gritty”………………. Like Bieber doing Nine Inch Nails.

By: Bethanie Blanchard

Bethanie Blanchard — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 00:36:24 +0000

Thankyou, that’s lovely of you.
It’s a book that has generated a lot of varied responses, and there’s been so many reviews written, I wanted to look at it from a different, personal perspective rather than writing a straight review.

By: plumeofwords

plumeofwords — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 00:18:42 +0000

Great post, thanks! Loved reading about your thoughts on the liberation of reading debut authors after coming through academia, and about the bearing an author’s oeuvre has on any new work — fascinating, considered stuff!