I was anticipating an interesting, good read...it was a chore to get through...I almost threw it in the trash a couple of times....but I didn't...I kept clinging to the fact that she is such a succesful story teller that it would finally come together....it didn't...However, we did have a fun discussion at our book club, talking about everything except the book!

No loveable characters. slow and borring

I only read 130 pages. Once I start a book, I finish it. Even if I don't care for it. However, I just could not go any further.

Ms. Rowling seems to think all it takes to write an adult novel is the repeated use of f**k. I so wanted this to be a good read but it was terrible. Awful people with depressing lives. Can't really find any redeeming qualities at all. Loved all the Harry Potter books. This was a real disappointment.

Don't waste your time

Our group agreed it was hard to get "into" this book, but we agreed that it was inspiring. It had so dark humor, and some really dark and low points for many characters. At the end, almost everyone was shocked and a little disapointed. However, after about two or three days, we started to really, really, really appreciate the book's message. We saw its influence easily.
Read it. Give it three days. Then, reflect.:)

I guess I was expecting the next Harry Potter. It wasn't awful just not great! It was far too long and way to many characters to keep track of for me. Once I got to about the middle of the book I did start to enjoy it.

The whole "vacant seat" was a strange and pointless storyline for me. But some of the characters were definately readable.

So not worth it!

Don't even bother reading this book.
Waste of time and money.

Everyone in our book club disliked this book.. We found it very slow and uninteresting... it was painful to finish as it NEVER got interesting... Rowling should stick to what she does best which is write for a younger audience.. I enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books, but the style in which she has written this books resembles more of an amateur pretentious writer who thinks that a good story needs to be complex and constantly moving. I could not get into the book and our club is highly upset about having contributed over 250 euros amongst us all to her already ridiculously large account and are outraged by all the media hype which leads readers to believe that it is a MUST read. Save your money dear book lovers!

Terrible book - depressing, rambling and overall very unsatisfying. Not sure of her point, but it was a waste of time and money.

Our book club read it last month and no one would recommend it for anyone else to read!Too many characters, did not keep their attention and was just not worth the time it took to read!

very long with many characters. I found myself taking notes to keep up with all of them. The last 100 pages were redeeming as the action moved to the climax. Wouldn't read this one a second time!

The Ivy Book Club - Frederick Maryland,
The consensus was the same - disappointed! Too many characters - and no one for us to root for. Everyone was morally corrupt and without any redeeming qualities. You kept waiting and hoping that one of these people would rise above the rest but none did. It ended with no resolution and no hope that there would be any resolution for these people. We were left feeling “wanting”.

I thought, like many others, this book was slow to start. There were many characters, so there was a lot of backstory that had to be explained. But once I got into part 2 of the book, I thought, it started to get interesting. I got invested in the characters and wanted to know what was going to happen next. I actually teared up at the end and it really made me think about society once I was finished. Well done Ms. Rowling!

I had high hopes and was shocked at how bad this book was. Everyone was corrupt and I hated the ending.

As most everyone says, this book is slow to start. I was determined to finish it. I kept wondering when I would enter the part of the book where J K Rowling\'s unbelievable imagination takes over, but it didn\'t happen. From the middle of the book on I knew what was going on in the story. By the end of the book, as I closed the last page, I gave a great sigh --- just so very happy to get my mind out of that situation. THEN IT HIT ME, I believe that was what the author wanted, for us to actually feel what it is like to be in these situations, a drug community like the \"Fields\" would be extremely difficult to get out of and to get away from. Barry Fairbrother was able to do just that, but it wasn\'t clear for a long time in the book.
Our author shows us that even in the \"regular\" world of Pagford and with their Parish Council, the one where success happens, that many of the families there had at least one member who was troubled, and troubled enough to cause distress or harm to the family ---- and that is where the comparison is for both the town and the Fields families. All it takes is one person (without help) to bring down a family.

Nothing to speak of. If it weren't for her name, I doubt it would ever have been published. Unremarkable.

This is one of the few books that I just stopped reading. I ended up paying the maximum fine at the library & just returning it without even finishing the book. It was so boring! It was also filled with a lot of English slang that I did not understand.

Overall, this is a really good novel. It was a little slow going at first because she has to take time to introduce the many different characters, but once it started moving I couldn't put it down. This book is brilliant in it's depiction of human nature, including the ugly side of it. But for Harry Potter fans, I warn you. This is not at all a fantasy and is not the feel good novel that her Harry Potter series often was. Instead this book is a work of literary fiction that exposes the petty behavior and apathy of a small town full of fairly affluent middle class people towards a community of impoverished people on there border. Rowling has created a story that most people could see unfolding everyday outside their own doors, if only they would stop and really look. Her characters are totally believable, but not necessarily likable (though there are a few that I liked). These are flawed people, but they have their moments of revelation and introspection that leads a few to rethink their way of living. But at it's core, like Harry Potter, this is a novel about tolerance, understanding, courage, and love. It just isn't shown through rose colored glasses.

This book was very boring, there were too many characters, and I found it hard to follow.

This would be great for character discussions as the author allows the reader to become quite familiar with the many characters in the book. Although the setting and characters are not in anyway extraordinary, the everyday decisions they make call for some interesting debates on moral and ethical levels. Long read but interesting outcome.

This is a complex book about a very insular group of flawed people. The characters are very-well drawn but not very likable for the most part. I enjoyed this book but a lot of people I know did not.

Dark, graphic & gritty. What real life can be like in a small town behind closed doors. Things are not always what they seem ....