Out of sheer loyalty and goodwill to the author of my favorite series of all time, the woman who created so many of my favorite literature moments, and characters I love like my own friends, I am determined to like this book, and therefore at least my first comment has to be positive. And here it is- JK Rowling knows how to write characters. I was thinking about it when I wasn't reading it. Wondering what would happen with the people involved.
She is a damn good writer. I will read anything she writes, even after finding this book an extremely depressing look at life and definitely a downer. But she did it in a way that was interesting. In a way that makes you think a little bit more about your every day interactions. With events. How you react to things and take personal responsibility. This book, while mainly a character study based around events that don't really end up all that resolved, does succeed at that.
The biggest problem is, in this character study, every one of the characters were unlikable or pitiable.
I literally cannot believe this book was written by the same person who wrote Harry Potter. Good triumphs over evil? I suppose the characters in this book were mostly terrible and have mostly terrible lives. Faith? It's difficult to see here. Friendship, loyalty, and love? I'm not sure that was present at all.
Clearly my overwhelming feeling after finishing the book is depression. And certainly I am a tiny bit disappointed that my unrealistic expectations for grown up Harry Potter went unfulfilled. But I think after letting some of it set in and thinking a lot about what she was trying to accomplish with this book, I am overall ok with what she's done here.
Sure, it wasn't at all what I thought it would be, but I think that was my biggest problem. First, I was somehow under the impression that the book was a thriller based around a small English town politician's death. Nope. Political and small town gossip based around a death. Second, my hopes were sky high and comparisons to HP were inevitable, which does not lend itself well to a book like this. And third, reading a book about the unpleasant side of humanity while also being aware that this is the same woman whom I idolized for creating characters and a story that spanned nearly 15 years of my life, is extremely unsettling.
That being said, I stayed up late to finish it, I read 500 pages in less than a week, and at 1130 at night on a Tuesday I was writing down my thoughts and trying to define how I feel about it. Which I think is kind of the point, and yet another reason that I think Rowling is one of the smartest writers of our time. Despite the depressing forage into adult books.
Bottom line: I can't say I liked this book because of the depressing subject matter. I can admit that if this was another writer I'm not sure I'd be putting such a spin on it or giving the author so much credit. But I like what it's doing. I like where she's gone with it. I like the writing. And I like JK Rowling. End of story. If that isn't a muddled review, I don't know what is. I didn't even know what rating to give it. In the end, I went with 4, because I think I'll eventually read it again, even though it was pretty unpleasant.
All I can say is don't expect Potter.
