History Literature / TheCasualVacancy

** With some exceptions: [[spoiler: At least Fats enjoys sex with Kristal (while her perspective isn't taken into account so often), it's implied that Kay enjoyed having sex with Gavin [[ShutUpKiss (although he mostly did that to distract her from their relationship problems)]] and Gaya is heartbroken for having to leave her boyfriend Jean Luca she has had sex with. Well, the perspective of the ones (propably?) enjoyimg it is either not fully sympathic or only alluded to.]]

* AndSomeOtherStuff: The hacking scenes are not elaborated on beyond the vague description of "SQL injection".

* NotMeThisTime: Krystal's done a lot of authority-defying things, but [[spoiler:laughing at Cubby's breakdown when he's announcing Barry's death at the school assembly]] is not one of them.

* DespairEventHorizon: Terri completely loses it when she finds out [[spoiler:Robbie has drowned]]. We don't see her reaction to learning about [[spoiler:Krystal committing suicide]], but presumably she got worse.

* FetishFuel:[[invoked]] Samantha gets hot at the idea of an ArrangedMarriage.

** Also, [[spoiler:Barry's funeral near the beginning, and the funeral of Krystal and Robbie at the end. At both of them, "Umbrella" by {{Rihanna}} is played.]]

* {{Leitmotif}}: {{Rihanna}}'s [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN3gNuRdVmg "Umbrella"]] appears to be one for Krystal and the rowing team, to the point where they request that it be played at Barry Fairbrother's funeral as the casket is led out of the church. [[spoiler:It gets played again at Krystal's funeral.]]

* WithFriendsLikeThese: Fats has really gotten Andrew into a lot of trouble at times. When Fats [[spoiler:tried to take the blame for all the Ghost posts, Andrew ended up getting a beating since Simon thought Andrew told Fats about the stuff that was posted.]] Fats also hid a peanut inside a marshmallow and gave it to the known allergic Andrew for no conceivable reason other than to see what would happen when they were children, which almost ''killed'' Andrew. To top it all off, he [[spoiler:kissed a drunk Gaia to spite Andrew when he found out that he was moving away.]]

** 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 shows no signs of stopping his [[DomesticAbuser domestic abuse]] of his wife and sons]].

* ButNotTooGay: [[spoiler:Patricia Mollison]], who is mentioned in the story repeatedly and identified as a lesbian and in a relationship, but whose partner is only discussed, never shown on-screen.

* {{Leitmotif}}: {{Rihanna}}'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iQRXuAo6Eg "Umbrella"]] appears to be one for Krystal and the rowing team, to the point where they request that it be played at Barry Fairbrother's funeral as the casket is led out of the church. [[spoiler:It gets played again at Krystal's funeral.]]

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]] 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...

* FunetikAksent: Characters from Yarvil get a accent similar to [[Literature/HarryPotter Hagrid's]], with plenty of apostrophes and missing h's, to distinguish them from the Pagford folk. See {{BritishAccents}} for more information.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: It's unclear as to ''when'' the novel is supposed to take place, although there is a grave with a date-of-death of 2008 on it, Benazir Bhutto is apparently a topical reference, and {{Facebook}} plays a notable role in some of the subplots. The Nintendo DS is also mentioned at one point. Rhianna's "Umbrella" plays into it as well which was released in 2007, the same year Rowling released ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows''.

* OpposingSportsTeam: The rowing team of the Saint Anne's boarding school. Lexie and Libbie, the graddaughters of the chairman of the local council, Howard Mollison, go there. Both Howard and his son Myles, who is a layer, are rich and sucessful middle class people - which is the reason why they can afford that school. This team is contrasted by the team Barry Fairbrother brought to live: The school is an average school and the most important members are Sukhvinder and Krystal. Sukhvinder's family has an indian cultural backround so they are the only (explicetly mentioned) people of colour in the village. Krystal comes from the lower social class and has huge family problems regarding her drug addict mother and her little brother. All three of them - Sukhvinder, Krystal and Barry - are sympatic main characters and so is their rowing team. [[spoiler:In flashback scene in the end Krystal pesters the Saint Anne girls as [[RichBitch rich bitches]]. Also in a [[TroubledSympaticBigot homophobic]] matter.]]

* SuperOCD: [[spoiler:Colin]]

TheBBC have also adapted the novel into [[Series/TheCasualVacancy a TV miniseries]], which is considerably LighterAndSofter than the book.

** Patricia Mollison could qualify. While a minor character, she doesn't quite seem as bad as the rest of her family.

* KilledOffForReal: [[CaptainObvious Aside from]] [[PlotTriggeringDeath Barry]], [[spoiler:Nana Cath, Robbie, and Krystal]] are dead, [[spoiler:Howard]] is in stable but critical condition, and [[spoiler:Terri]] might as well be dead [[spoiler:considering what she's lost]].

The BBC have also adapted the novel into a TV miniseries, which is considerably LighterAndSofter than the book.

** [[spoiler:It's heavily implied that the final Ghost_of_Barry_Fairbrother post was made by it's creator, Andrew Price.]]

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Um, here's a hint for you Gavin: if you've lusted over a woman for years, do ''NOT'' tell her how you feel when [[spoiler: she's just been widowed]].

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Shirley.

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

* {{Facebook}}: Plays an unsurprisingly large role in the lives of the younger Pagfordians.

* TheUnfavorite: Poor Suhkvinder. It's also implied that Patricia is this to Shirley.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler: We never find out who Fats' birth parents are.]]

** A weird non family example, but Barry Fairbrother could qualify as he seems to be really the only character who generally cares about the people of Pagford. He was really the only one who didn't see Krystal Weedon as some town bike / bully. His allies Parminder and Colin are really only taking up his sword because that's what he would want, not necessarily because they think it's the right thing to do.

* WithFriendsLikeThese: Fats might be holding back on the LackOfEmpathy shtick when with Andrew, but he considers that a weakness, he seems to have trouble remembering just how bad Simon is at times [[spoiler: for example, Fats saying he sent all the posts ended up costing Andrew a beating since Simon thought Andrew told Fats about the stuff that was posted.]], was the one who hid a peanut into a marshmallow and gave it to the known allergic Andrew for no conceivable reason when they were children [[spoiler: and kisses Gaia possibly because he felt offended that Andrew was moving away.]]
* WomanScorned: Although she later doubts she would have gone through with it, [[spoiler:Shirley Mollison]] plans 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]].

** Two people get called out for their own, more socially acceptable, substance abuse while they're advocating for the closure of the addiction clinic.

* InfoDump: A section called ''(Olden Days)'' between Parts 1 and 2 explains the history of Pagford, the animosity between Pagford and Yarvil, and why the Fields are such a big deal.

* 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 shows no signs of stopping his [[DomesticAbuser domestic abuse]] of his wife and sons]].
* KilledOffForReal: [[CaptainObvious Aside from]] [[PlotTriggeringDeath Barry]], [[spoiler: Nana Cath, Robbie, and Krystal]] are dead, [[spoiler:Howard]] is in stable but critical condition, and [[spoiler:Terri]] might as well be dead [[spoiler:considering what she's lost]].

* {{Leitmotif}}:
** {{Rihanna}}'s [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iQRXuAo6Eg "Umbrella"]] appears to be one for Krystal and the rowing team, to the point where [[spoiler:they request that it be played at Barry Fairbrother's funeral as the casket is led out of the church.]]
** [[spoiler:It gets played again at Krystal's funeral.]]

* LadyDrunk: Samantha.

* MeaningfulName:
** Another SignatureStyle of Rowling's.
** Simon Price is obsessed with [[OnlyInItForTheMoney making money]] and getting into politics so he can save money. While the Price part is obvious, ''Simon'' means [[GloryHound "reputation"]] as well as [[AttentionWhore "to be heard"]] in Hebrew.
*** Also, the name Simon is the root of the word ''simony'', which is the buying and selling of titles and jobs in the Church.

** Gaia Bowden. Gaia means earth and is often portrayed in fiction and mythology as mother earth and nature which is fitting with Gaia's natural, unspoiled beauty.

* MrsRobinson:
** Samantha is a wannabe, to the point where [[spoiler: she tries to force herself on Andrew.]]
** She also has fantasies about members of a boy band her daughters like.
** Averted with her lusting after Vikram Jawanda who is either her age or older.

* NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead / SpeakIllOfTheDead: Played with. [[spoiler: The book notes that Robbie is seen as a martyr because of his very young age and the way that he died, while Krystal's suicide by jabbing a drug needle into her arm tarnishes her postmortem reputation, and she's remembered by all but the old rowing crew as a worthless junkie.]]
* NietzscheWannabe: Fats.

* NotMeThisTime: Krystal's done a lot of authority-defying things, but [[spoiler: laughing at Cubby's breakdown when he's announcing Barry's death at the school assembly]] is not one of them.
* ParanoiaFuel:[[invoked]] For the inhabitants of Pagford, [[spoiler: the postings of The_Ghost_of_Barry_Fairbrother on the Parish Council's website certainly count.]]

* [[spoiler: PedoHunt: An interesting variation, where the apparent paedophile's sexual thoughts about children are actually caused by OCD, rather than a genuine attraction to underage people. Regardless, when The_Ghost_Of_Barry_Fairbrother reveals Colin's secret, his chances for a council seat drop to zero.]]

* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler: Krystal is raped by Obbo, which causes her to panic when she sees Robbie with him and at least Obbo appears to be naked, prompting her to run away with Robbie.]]

* SourPrudes: Shirley Mollison, to the point that [[spoiler: her husband has had an affair for more than a decade.]]

* SuperOCD: [[spoiler: Colin]]

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

* BigFun / FatBastard:
** Howard, [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation depending on your point of view]].
** Also depends on who you are. If Howard genuinely likes someone then his affability is genuine, if he doesn't he's just acting jolly and friendly to wind that person up.

* [[spoiler: BittersweetEnding: Hooray, the local election is over, Andrew and Gaia are making plans to go out in Reading, and some of the citizens of Pagford are starting to like each other! But Krystal, Robbie and Nana Cath are dead, Terri has completely broken down, Fats has become a self-loathing pariah, Colin and Simon's lives have been ruined by their own sons, Gavin is alone and miserable, Kay might be unemployed, Simon is still abusing his family, and Howard is still in the hospital recovering from his heart attack, his condition stable but his ultimate fate unknown.]]

** The book begins and ends with [[spoiler: a casual vacancy, due to Barry's death and Parminder's resignation respectively]].

** Additionally, the Winterdown rowing crew gets a bookend. Early in the book, at Barry's funeral, the rowing team all pay up to give Barry a proper coffin, except for Krystal. In the very last scene of the book, [[spoiler: at the funeral for the Weedons, everyone on the rowing crew pays for nice coffins except for Krystal, because she's dead. Also, Krystal is the only member of the rowing team who's absent at Barry's funeral. At her funeral the absent ones are Barry's daughters, whose [[TheResenter mother]]'d discouraged them to go]].
** [[spoiler: It's heavily implied that the final Ghost_of_Barry_Fairbrother post was made by it's creator, Andrew Price.]]
* TheBully: Fats, to Sukhvinder. He's mean and cowardly.

* ChekhovsGun:
** Oh come on, this is Creator/JKRowling we're talking about. What else were you expecting? [[spoiler: Though to be fair, the way that the various guns come together in the final act is quite different from ''Harry Potter'', and can best be described as a cross between ForWantOfANail and DisasterDominoes]].
** [[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.]]
** [[spoiler: The remains of the computer that Simon throws into the river cause a gash in Sukhvinder's leg when she tries to rescue Robbie, which leads to her parents finding out about her cutting.]]
** [[spoiler: The_Ghost_Of_Barry_Fairbrother, who wreaked havoc during the election, shows up one last time a few days later to expose Howard's affair with Maureen.]]
** [[spoiler: Andrew's Epi Pen is nearly used by Shirley to murder Howard, until he gets a heart attack of his own accord. It stays as a small source of guilt for Shirley, until she quickly suffers from AesopAmnesia.]]
* ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Patricia Mollison is mentioned early on but doesn't show up till near the end, long enough to drop the bombshell that Howard has been having an affair with Maureen before leaving, giving The_Ghost_of_Barry_Fairbrother one last bullet to fire.]]

* CityMouse: Gaia Bawden

* ComfortingTheWidow: [[spoiler: Gavin, who had always been in love with Mary, tries to [[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove tell Mary how he felt just weeks after Barry's death]]. It does not work. '''[[{{Squick}} At all]]'''.]]
* CosmicDeadline: A DoubleSubversion. The election plotline that has driven the story thus far is resolved with 100 pages to go, and considering the large cast of characters, you're led to believe there will be a long, slow denoument. The book complies for a while with everyone [[spoiler: celebrating Miles' election win and Howard's birthday]], and then [[WhamEpisode WHAM!]] In the span of 75 pages, [[spoiler: [[LongList The_Ghost_Of_Barry_Fairbrother strikes again, Samantha takes her Mrs. Robinson antics too far, Gavin's attempt at widow-comforting goes horribly wrong, Shirley finds out about Howard's affair and almost KILLS him before he suffers his second heart attack, Krystal decides she's had enough, tries to run away with Robbie and Fats, Robbie drowns in the river, Krystal commits suicide out of despair, and everyone gets their character arcs resolved and the town is changed forever]]]]. Hope you like your explosive endings, folks!

* DarkerAndEdgier: Edgier, and just as dark, as Rowling's [[Literature/HarryPotter previous work]]. The only thing that's less dark is [[spoiler: the body count]].
* DecoyProtagonist:
** Assuming you [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil hadn't read any press coverage or the summary on the inside jacket]] [[SelfDemonstratingArticle (or the description at the top of this page, for that matter)]], you might be forgiven for thinking Barry Fairbrother was the main character [[PlotTriggeringDeath at first]].
** But then again he just may very will be, [[PosthumousCharacter even in death]].
* DespairEventHorizon: Terri completely loses it when she finds out [[spoiler: Robbie has drowned]]. We don't see her reaction to learning about [[spoiler: Krystal committing suicide]], but presumably she got worse.

* 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]].

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Krystal Weedon, after she realizes that Robbie's death was all her fault]].

* EverybodyHasLotsOfSex: ...which is [[AllWomenArePrudes NOT]] a nice thing [[FanDisservice at all]].

* FanserviceWithASmile:
** The reason Howard Mollison hires Gaia as a waitress.
** Later crosses into {{Squick}}. At first, Howard seems a mostly harmless fat old man that likes to look at pretty young girls because he's not getting any at home. Then, once [[spoiler: his affair with Maureen gets exposed]], it becomes clear that he may have had a far more substantial agenda on Gaia.
* FetishFuel:
** [[invoked]] Samantha gets hot at the idea of an ArrangedMarriage.

** When we are first introduced to Howard Mollison, there's a lengthy monologue about how his weight means he probably hasn't seen his penis in years, and the community wonders whether Howard has ever used it like he should. [[spoiler: His weight leads to his second heart attack in the final act, while his penis has been busy in the mouth of his partner, Maureen.]]
** Terri's MamaBear instincts, and particularly the fear of losing Robbie, are stressed to be one of the only things that can motivate Terri into kicking her drug habit. [[spoiler: The last time we see her, having lost both of her children, she has crossed the DespairEventHorizon without so much as a backward glance.]]
** [[spoiler: Fats' adoption]], [[spoiler: Colin's OCD]] and [[spoiler: Parminder's crush on Barry]] are [[{{Subtext}} indirectly]] addressed near the beginning of Part 2. It's subtle enough that a first-time reader will probably miss them and without giving too much away to spoil the plot for attentive readers, making this more of a [[RewatchBonus Reread Bonus]].
* FunetikAksent:
** Characters from Yarvil get a accent similar to [[Literature/HarryPotter Hagrid's]], with plenty of apostrophes and missing h's, to distinguish them from the Pagford folk.
** See {{BritishAccents}} for more information.
* GloryHound: Andrew suspects that [[spoiler: Fats took the credit for all of The_Ghost_Of_Barry_Fairbrother's posts when he only wrote one of them]] for this reason. (In actual fact, [[spoiler:it was Fats' last-ditch attempt to provoke his parents' mercy and pity by way of ObfuscatingInsanity; i.e. only someone "mad and ill" would do all of that]].)
* GreenEyedMonster: [[spoiler: How Mary Fairbrother feels about Krystal Weedon.]]

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