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Post by The Stag Patronus on Sept 27, 2012 8:32:55 GMT -5
what do you guys think of JK's new book?
I just got mine this afternoon (nearly ended up late for my class because my little trip to the mall to get it). I've already started reading, though it doesn't really appeal to me that much so far. I hope the plot starts to pick up soon...
The writing's bloody brilliant as usual though! JK's as awesome as ever!
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Post by eskimoRock on Sept 28, 2012 4:26:15 GMT -5
I'm desperate to read it, but my library doesn't have it yet and I don't really have the money to go out and buy it  |
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Post by Nahara46 on Sept 29, 2012 13:52:45 GMT -5
I saw it in the store yesterday, and freaked out. My friend looked scared... But it was too expensive |
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Post by eskimoRock on Sept 29, 2012 14:05:20 GMT -5
Yeah, £20 where I looked :/
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Chameleon
Headmaster/Headmistress
Call me Headmistress Chams.
Posts: 1,873
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Post by Chameleon on Sept 30, 2012 13:58:31 GMT -5
I'm gonna wait until it's in my library ... If it comes. But it's gonna be ages, before I'm sure..
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Post by The Stag Patronus on Oct 2, 2012 4:33:27 GMT -5
honestly, I don't really like it though. I don't know, I'm kind of regretting I bought it? Yeah, so I recommend you just wait for it in libraries. I mean, the writing's brilliant of course, but it's kind of boring? and I don't know if JK meant it to be so, but I really dislike that the names of the characters in Casual Vacancy is too much like the names in Harry Potter.
Vikram -> Viktor Krum
Barry Fairbrother-> Harry Potter
Pagford-> Padfoot
Parminder-> mix of Lavender, Parvati and Padma
I don't know, maybe it's just hitting me too much, but I don't like how it seems to echo Harry Potter...
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Post by G. Novella on Oct 2, 2012 16:25:49 GMT -5
Are the characters like the ones from HP? And wasn't this supposed to be a realistic setting? Those names sound better in a tale like HP anyways. Well, besides the Indian ones, but she likes uncommon names.
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Post by eskimoRock on Oct 2, 2012 16:27:58 GMT -5
It does make me laugh how she decided to distance herself from Harry by writing about a character called Barry.
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Post by G. Novella on Oct 2, 2012 16:35:09 GMT -5
*snickers* I'd be surprised if he doesn't have two friends called Ronda and Herman  (It's hard finding a name close to Hermione's, so don't judge my lame jokes) |
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Chameleon
Headmaster/Headmistress
Call me Headmistress Chams.
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Post by Chameleon on Oct 3, 2012 7:13:32 GMT -5
Is the main character named Barry? Jeez. Harry used Barry as an alias briefly to the wedding.. I think. Or was it Barney?... Anyway, the name is way to much alike.
Honestly if most of the names are like the ones in HP, Jeez. JKR needs to teach herself to pick other names. It's fine the first time, and you've written seven books. But the second 'universe'/book, not so much.
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Post by The Stag Patronus on Oct 5, 2012 17:09:26 GMT -5
Honestly if most of the names are like the ones in HP, Jeez. JKR needs to teach herself to pick other names. It's fine the first time, and you've written seven books. But the second 'universe'/book, not so much. I totally agree! I mean, it's fine if she wants to write other books, but if every time we read them, we're reminded of Harry Potter... yeah, it sucks a bit... I wonder what happened to her name picking ability. I mean it was so awesome the way she chose the names for her characters in HP. Maybe she thought it would be nice for us Potterheads if there's something Harry Potter-ish to remind us? |
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Chameleon
Headmaster/Headmistress
Call me Headmistress Chams.
Posts: 1,873
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Post by Chameleon on Oct 5, 2012 18:54:53 GMT -5
Yeah ... There were seven brilliant books, and now I like her to move to something else.
There's still thousands great names she hasn't used plus the names of the really minor characters, no one cares about ... So there's no need to use Barry and such names.
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Post by Kitty279 on Oct 6, 2012 1:02:26 GMT -5
What I've read here so far isn't very enticing to read the new book at all ... either she keeps to the Harry Potter universe, or she should do something completely different. Names including.
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Post by TeamSirius on Oct 6, 2012 8:52:27 GMT -5
I think, because we're such faithful fans of the books, we're always going to find something that connects to the Harry Potter books in anything else she might write, whether it's a name or a place, even if we realise we're doing it or not, you know what I mean? Yeah, Barry is similar to Harry, but maybe she did that as a nod to us, her fans who have stuck with the books since the beginning, or she might have chosen it for a good reason, like naming him after someone she knows/knew and it just so happens to be similar to Harry. I've only gotten a little bit into the book, and while I don't think it's as interesting as Harry Potter was, the names really haven't bothered me all that much.
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Post by The Stag Patronus on Oct 6, 2012 9:48:29 GMT -5
well, I agree with Kitty. yeah, we'll probably always connect something to Harry Potter in anything she writes, but isn't this a bit too much?
I mean there was a part there that mentions of 'a child locked in a cupboard for 5 days'. Too much like 'cupboard under the stairs', isn't it? And 'Vikram' was what really put me over the edge. 'Viktor Krum', much? :/
I just don't think it's fair if HP keeps on getting incorporated to her other works. I mean, HP's done, but you can't keep taking its elements to her other works. it's HP's legacy, can't we leave it on its own as is?
JK's brilliant enough to have made Casual Vacancy into something else on its own, without the HP stuff in it. I guess I'm a bit disappointed she didn't display that in her new book..
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Post by kristallos on Oct 7, 2012 20:11:12 GMT -5
No offense but it's obvious no one's actually read it on this thread or at least hasn't gotten very far. I have it, but I don't think I can finish it. It's a very dark book. Definitely not for children. For while HP got dark in the later books, that was more of a progression of evil. Casual Vacancy is dark in terms of reading the lowest acts of humanity. Drugs,sex, and abuse come up a lot. But the swearing, my god the swearing. Personally I have no problem with swearing. It's just so disheartening to read it from an author I never thought could have a dirty mouth.
If you're still interested, I know there's a rape between an underage girl and her crack-addict mother's dealer. So keep that in mind if you want to read it.
I heard the book really shines about 70% into it, but I don't have it in me to continue. Also heard the ending's good but it's a real downer. You just can't come away with a good feeling from this book.
But the one thing that gets me are the characters. I thought, "If nothing else, if the story was crap it'd be ok if the characters are good." And while she does write characters well, she isn't writing "good" characters. So far none of the characters have any redeeming factors. And the way she's writing them, while good, is very biased. JKR herself absolutely hates snobby people and it shows in this book. Instead of writing characters and showing their actions and letting the reader decide for themselves whether to like them or not, she uses vile descriptions for the upper, wealthy, snob citizens, and forgiving, pitiable, and pathetic terms for the lower, working class.
TL;DR- Don't buy/read this book if you think you'll get the same feelings that you got from HP. I can tell you there is nothing here that resembles it.
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Post by Kitty279 on Oct 8, 2012 6:17:07 GMT -5
Sounds really less and less like a book I would enjoy. While I don't expect anything like HP, it doesn't sound like my cup of tea anyway.
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Post by Miss Wings on Jun 6, 2014 13:45:27 GMT -5
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Post by Kitty279 on Jun 7, 2014 0:20:59 GMT -5
Another one? They really milk the cow as much as they can.
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Post by eskimoRock on Jun 22, 2014 9:07:12 GMT -5
I'm actually very happy about this!
I finally got around to reading the book, and I didn't really go into it with high expectations but I really liked it! It was very different to potter, obviously, but once I stopped comparing them and read it on it's own merits I really enjoyed it. I think it will actually work quite well as a TV show, I'll be interested to see how they do it.
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(It's hard finding a name close to Hermione's, so don't judge my lame jokes)
