The Casual Vacancy by J K Rowling - General discussion

[Michelle]

From The Bookseller...

J K Rowling's new novel for adults is to be titled

The Casual Vacancy

and will be published worldwide on 27th September. In the UK it will be a £20 hardback or £11.99 e-book, plus available as an audio download (£20) and CD (£30).

Publisher Little, Brown said the book was the "blackly comic, thought-provoking and constantly surprising" tale of what happens in the English village of Pagford after parish council member Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly.

"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," the publisher said.

"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?"

 

So.. who's going to buy this one? If so, is it because of the author, or the book? And would you pay that much?!

[~Andrea~]

I would definitely be interested in buying this. Not sure about the hardback though - I'd probably wait until the paperback came out tbh. If I do decide to get an e-book reader I may be prepared to pay the e-book price.

[AbielleRose]

The book sounds interesting, though its not normally something that would pique my interest enough to buy if it didn't have Rowling's name on it. I do want to read it out of curiosity (meaning I want to see how she does as a writer outside of her Harry Potter bubble) but won't be spending that much money on it. No doubt it'll debut #1 on the best seller list so it'll be on the 30% off shelf at Barnes and Noble right away. If its on that table I may pick it up, if not maybe when its on sale or paperback.

[chesilbeach]

I'll definitely read it, but I don't think I'll be rushing to buy it on the day of release, although ... maybe I will as I like to read and make up my own mind on these sort of things, and I think it'll be hard to avoid finding out anything about it if I don't read it straight away.

Edited April 12, 2012 by chesilbeach

[Karsa Orlong]

I'll give it a go, but not until the paperback comes out

[SueK]

I'm sorry to say I've not picked up a Harry Potter book but I do like the sound of this. I thrive on petty squabbles in villages I will wait for it to drop in price or pick up from the library.

[Chrissy]

I will probably read it at some point, but the price will have to drop below £5 before I do.

[BookGeek20]

I love harry potter, I grew up with it. But all the hype of the author is somewhat going to make me reluctant to buy it, I like her, but I don't think I could afford 20 pounds on a book. I could easily get several for 20 pounds from a charity shop. Anyway I think I might have to wait for it to come out on paperback, or borrow it from the library.

[Ben]

Sounds fascinating enough to warrant a purchase, although admittedly I'll probably only get it because it has her name attached and I want to see how she manages outside of the Harry Potter books. Price seems a bit excessive but I'm sure it'll lower quite quickly once it hits the top of the best sellers charts. I'm not sure about the concept, though - definitely isn't the stereotypical crime fiction by the sound of the early information. For some reason it reminds me of Hot Fuzz but that might just be my own weird thinking.

[poppyshake]

I HATE hardbacks .. but there's no way I can wait for the paperback .. the suspense will kill me. £20 is it's RRP but I expect it'll be discounted somewhere. I'll be licking it in Waterstones until they have to lower the price for the sake of hygiene

[chesilbeach]

The hardback is already on pre-order om amazon for half price £10 and top of the future releases chart.

Edited April 13, 2012 by chesilbeach

[Kylie]

I'll definitely be buying it - mostly because I'd like to read something else by JK Rowling, but also because the plot sounds very interesting.

 

I'd prefer to wait until it's in paperback, but if the reviews turn out to be very good or if I get too excited/swept up in the hype before its release, I just may pre-order the hardback (after all, most of my HPs are hardbacks). The price is pretty steep, but I'm sure my beloved Book Depository will have it more reasonably priced.

[Talisman]

I will do what I always do - download a sample chapter and see if I like it.

[Easy Reader]

I'm sorry to say I've not picked up a Harry Potter book but I do like the sound of this. I thrive on petty squabbles in villages I will wait for it to drop in price or pick up from the library.

I will wait to hear what others think of it first and would be more interested in the opinion of those who haven't read HP as they will be less biased. I can already hear cries of "its not as good as Harry Potter". Then again if everyone says its brilliant I will probably avoid it as when everyone says something is brilliant it normally istn't quite as good as I built it up to be.

 

I HATE hardbacks .. but there's no way I can wait for the paperback .. the suspense will kill me. £20 is it's RRP but I expect it'll be discounted somewhere. I'll be licking it in Waterstones until they have to lower the price for the sake of hygiene

its certainly worth a try

 

I will do what I always do - download a sample chapter and see if I like it.

can you really judge a book by a sample chapter ? I always find it takes me a while to get into a book so that wouldn't be enough for me.

[Talisman]

I find that I can most of the time - in fact very often I can tell from the opening line of the first paragraph !

[Michelle]

I have a horrible feeling I'll end up avoiding it, just because it's been so hyped!

[lauraloves]

I'm going to pre-order it. J. K. Rowling is one of the people 'responsible' for my love of reading so in my opinion anything by her is worth buying! I might wait a little while before pre-ordering incase it goes down a little bit more!

[chesilbeach]

If you're buying the hardback from Amazon, they have a guarantee that if the price goes down before it's published, you'll pay the lowest price they offered it at between when you pre-order and delivery. I doubt if they'll be discounting the Kindle version as it's one of those with the price set by the publisher.

 

Waterstone's (stores) and WHSmith are also offering the hardback for half price on pre-order.

[Vladd]

May get it out of the library in the future but won't rush out and buy it.

[Janet]

I'm certain it'll be in charity shops in its 100s eventually. I'd like to read it but I hate hardbacks so it's either library or Kindle for me - I certainly won't pay £20 for it though - I don't understand why anyone would pay that much for one book!

[Kylie]

Maybe they priced it that high knowing that stores would cut the price in half (at least) to be competitive. So then it winds up being the price it normally would be (for a non JKR book).

[vodkafan]

I can't justify spending that much on a book so I guess it will be a few years till I get to read it!

Edited April 14, 2012 by vodkafan

[karen.d]

I will definitely be buying as I want to see how J.K Rowling deals with adult fiction. However I'l wait until the paperback version comes out.

[Chrissy]

I think I feel a Book Ring Group coming on! That would sure be a way of keeping the costs down.

 

*wanders over to amazon to check the price and publish date*

[Michelle]

It appears the various shops are now offering deals - what have ou found so far?