Book Summary: Since I didn't finish it (and this review will give you all the reasons why I didn't), it's hard to summarize. It seems to be about a small English town where all the people are wildly dysfunctional and perverted and take that out on everyone around them.
Indulgent Book Talk: I write this with such a heavy heart! Everyone knows my love for Harry Potter, and I know, I know, this was never meant to be Harry Potter Book 8, but I don't understand what Ms. Rowling was thinking when she wrote this. It's exactly the kind of writing and content that so infuriated me in my creative writing workshops. Ms. Rowling, anybody can write a string of F-bombs to show anger. Ms. Rowling, it doesn't make much talent to write graphic sex scenes; the pornography industry makes billions of dollars off of a bunch of no-names doing that. Look, I am not opposed to the occasional swear word for deliberate effect or for important characterization. I've read many a book like that where profanity is used with care and for good reason, and even if I would've made a different choice than the author with my own writing, I can at least see justification within their story's context. And as writers, we want to reflect reality, and sometimes reality just isn't rated G all the time, and I get that. But this was gratuitous. It almost seemed as if, knowing that everyone would know her as the author of the "children's" series of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling wanted to prove with this book that she was a "big girl" and could write mature themes. It just saddens me, because with her wild success, she could've written anything under the sun. Why go down the same degenerate path so many authors have already trodden?
Some of the reviews I read of people who did finish the book had similar problems with it, so I know my 27-page impression is not off base. Even they say that all the muck didn't even lead to an ending that was hopeful or redemptive. Does every book need to be hopeful or redemptive? Perhaps not. But there is enough ugliness in real life that I feel like our jobs as authors or artists of any kind is to reveal beauty despite the evil, to show that there is hope beyond this dreadful planet. What's the point in just contributing to what is already nasty? I don't get it.
Rowling herself said that this book was influenced in part by what she experienced before she made the billions (yes, billions) she did with Harry Potter. In an NPR interview I read, she pontificated on how her book is a reflection of the gritty reality of poverty and what it does to people. From what I read, this is more just a literary indulgence in the worst of humanity, writing for "shock" value. I'm so disappointed.
Glorifying Elements: None, really, in the 27 pages I read.
Worldly Elements: Swearing, taking the Lord's name in vain, nasty descriptions of sex and body parts, small-minded characters. On pretty much every page. People who had read further said drugs, physical abuse, and rape come into play too. She must've been trying really hard to fit it all in there.
General Recommendation: Emphatic no. But may I say, please do not let this book influence what you may think of Harry Potter, especially if you haven't read it yet. The books, themes, and characters couldn't be more different. If it didn't say J.K. Rowling across the top of the book, I would've never have known this was the same author. Do read Harry Potter. Don't waste your time with this one. I'm returning my copy today.
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