Well, perhaps it's fitting that I begin the season of Lent, a time of penitence, with an apology. I have decided once again to take up blogging daily for Lent (taking up, rather than giving up. A different kind of discipline). Only I forgot to blog yesterday. Not a good start... Or perhaps an appropriate one. I am reminded of my fallibility...
Regular readers of my blog, or indeed anyone who's ever met me, will know I'm an enthusiastic J.K. Rowling fan. Her first book for adults, The Casual Vacancy, is currently being televised on BBC1 on Sunday evenings, so I thought this called for a series of blog posts on this most excellent story. The first episode of the three-part adaptation was a bit of a disappointment, because the story has been heavily edited for television, and it's such a great story.
The scenario is a small picturesque Cotswold town, the imaginary Pagford, and its larger, uglier neighbour, Yarvil. In between Yarvil and Pagford lies The Fields, a council estate with a lot of problems. It's an area of great deprivation where drug addiction is rife. But the children from the estate are in the catchment area for the excellent Pagford primary school, where they receive educational opportunities from which some children have greatly benefited. Local activist Barry Fairbrother, who grew up in The Fields, campaigns hard on the parish council to keep The Fields within the parish boundary of Pagford. Some Pagford people would rather not have the rough Fields children in Pagford's primary school or the Fields addicts attending the Pagford clinic. Howard Mollison, head of the Parish Council, and his wife, Shirley, who takes the minutes, lead the faction who support the redrawing of the parish boundary. The two factions are neck and neck. But then the inspiring, kind-hearted Barry dies suddenly in his 40s from a brain aneurysm, leaving a casual vacancy. It's all to play for as Barry's death triggers a bi-election.
One of the things I love about the book is the way J.K. Rowling depicts the everyday disappointments and petty selfishness of human relationships, along with unexpected moments of grace. The poignancy of the fact that Barry spends his last day on earth, his wedding anniversary, writing an article for the local paper about a girl from The Fields who has flourished under the special educational opportunities she has been given - much to the annoyance of his wife. Finally Barry suggests that they have dinner at the golf club, even though he has a splitting headache and would really rather not, and Mary is mollified - only he dies in the car park before they get inside. Then there's the feckless Gavin, who has been eliminated from the TV adaptation, a local solicitor whose girlfriend, Kay, has moved to Pagford along with her daughter in order to be near him, much to his alarm. Most of his thoughts about Kay seem to centre around her bad cooking and untidy house; he has sex with her just to stop her having that "where is this relationship going?" conversation. One of my favourite characters is Samantha Mollison, Howard and Shirley's frustrated daughter-in-law, who is disappointed with her failing lingerie business, boring marriage and unfulfilling life. She is horribly selfish and behaves very badly, drinking too much, being rather unkind to her dull husband and baiting poor Gavin just to watch him squirm. But I can't help liking someone who runs a boutique called 'Over the shoulder boulder holders'.
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