History Literature / TheCasualVacancy

* TheDogBitesBack: Each of The_Ghost_Of_Barry_Fairbrother posts is a result of [[spoiler:the attacked Council's candidates or members' abuse of his or her children (though in Fats' case [[KickTheSonOfABitch "abuse" may be a bit of a stretch]]). Only Patricia doesn't post the entry herself, but she's the one who spills her father's secret to the teenagers who eventually publish it, after being treated badly by her parents at a party]].

* AcceptableTargets: Deconstructed. While characters may have their excuses for why they are justified to abuse each other, these rationalizations comes across as quite hollow. [[invoked]] In-universe by Fats [[spoiler:with people turning it against him by the end of the book. The community holds him responsible for Robbie's drowning, so abusing him has become "a duty and a pleasure."]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Really this is a flaw that a lot of characters share. Gavin in particular exhibits this, allowing his girlfriend, Kay Bawden, to uproot her and her daughter's life to move to Pagford despite not actually loving her. Colin too, but [[spoiler:his SuperOCD]] gives him an excuse.

* SuperOCD: Surprisingly averted with [[spoiler:Colin]]. Although he has an actual diagnosis of OCD, it's less "comically obsessive about straightening up" and more realistic: [[spoiler:Colin obsesses over things he hasn't done, or isn't sure he's done, and continually worries about them to the point of mental breakdown. By the end of the book, he's convinced himself that he killed Barry by poisoning him, despite it being common knowledge that Barry died of an aneurysm]].

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: There are less characters here than in Rowling's [[Literature/HarryPotter previous work]], but they still number in the double digits, and several of them can count as protagonists in their own right.

* AdultFear: Fair warning, parents - after reading this book, you'll never [[spoiler:let your toddler near a quiet country river]] again.

It's TwentyMinutesIntoThePast, and the little English town of Pagford is in shock. Barry Fairbrother, a popular member of the local [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parish_councils_in_England parish council]], has dropped dead of a brain aneurysm on his wedding anniversary. Though everyone is impacted by his death, the ensuing drama and election to fill the [[TitleDrop casual vacancy]][[note]]In British (and Australian and New Zealand) electoral terminology, a vacancy in an elected position left by a chance occurrence like death or incapacity of the elected member[[/note]] Barry left behind reveals a town that is tearing itself apart over what to do with a housing project known as "The Fields", that is outside the jurisdiction of both Pagford and [[TheRival the neighbouring larger town of Yarvil]]. The novel follows a [[RotatingProtagonist rotating]] cast of characters as egos are bruised and family tensions boil over, and meanwhile, a certain mysterious someone is posting townsfolk secrets on the local website...

* [[spoiler:InfantImmortality: Averted with Robbie.]]

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Ruth Price did... and now she's paying for it.

* BlackComedy

* BreakTheHaughty: [[spoiler:Fats, Howard and Shirley.]]

* DisasterDominoes: The last 50 or so pages of the book could be considered this, with the ChekhovsArmory serving as the dominoes. It's astounding how ''everyone'' seems to be nearby or at the scene when [[spoiler:Robbie and Krystal die]]. [[JustifiedTrope Then again, it IS a small town, and there had been another tragic accident around the same time]].

* WomanScorned: Although she later doubts she would have gone through with it, [[spoiler:Shirley Mollison]] planned to ''kill'' her husband at one point when she discovers he's been cheating on her. She even brings the murder weapon home.
* YourCheatingHeart: [[spoiler:Howard Mollison, who was cheating on Shirley with Maureen for years.]]

** The drug dealer and all-around criminal, Obbo. "Yobbo" is a British slang term for a thug.

** [[spoiler:The watch that Krystal steals from Tessa early in the book. Terri finds it in Krystal's room and sells it to Obbo for £20 with which she buys a stack of smack and hashish, which is heavily implied to be the same stash Krystal uses to kill herself.]]

** Samamtha correctly suggests that the Ghost might be [[spoiler:someone with a gripe against Simon Price]], but of course her suggestion is ignored and ridiculed by her in-laws.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Obbo, the drug-dealing child rapist whose actions inadvertently cause the deaths of Robbie and Krystal, gets off with zero repercussions whatsoever]].
** Though not as bad as [[spoiler:Obbo]], this also applies to [[spoiler:Simon]]. [[spoiler:Although he loses his job because of his petty crimes, he gets another job in Reading and though we last see him in a sombre moment, it is left unclear if he will stop his [[DomesticAbuser domestic abuse]] of his wife and sons- Andrew at least thinks he won't]].