Sex, drugs and JK Rowling – we’re not in Hogwarts now

JK ROWLING yesterday defended the “blackly comic” themes addressed in her new adult novel, which include heroin addiction, cyber-bullying, self-harm, teenage sex and parental abuse.

The Casual Vacancy, Rowling’s first foray into adult literature, which is published today, also features a rape scene and includes strong hints of the sexual abuse of a toddler.

Yesterday, Rowling acknowledged that not everyone would embrace her new style, which is a world away from the witchcraft and wizardry of the Harry Potter series.

“This book, some people will hate it, I’m quite sure of that,” she told the BBC. “That’s the
nature of literature and art. That’s the way it goes.”

On the issue of the book’s sexual and violent themes, Rowling said: “I hope that we’ve made it really clear that this isn’t a book for children. I’ve been very open about what the themes are – we’ve talked about what the story is about.”

It is clear she does not expect her younger readers, who until now have made up the majority of her fan-base, to dip into the new novel. Her publishers, Little, Brown, described it as “blackly comic” and not for children.

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“I would have thought that parents can make a very clear choice,” she said, adding that if children did manage to access the book online, “I would have to ask why have kids got such untrammelled access to the
internet that they are downloading [the book].

“I would be worried about other things they could be downloading if they’re running amok on the internet on their own.”

Rowling says she is pleased with her first foray into adult literature.

If other people are less impressed, she maintains it won’t knock her confidence. “There are books, other people call them ‘wonderful books’ that I hate, and that’s OK. It’s a book and no-one’s going to die,” she said.

“I’m proud of this book, I like it, and if you can say that, however nervous you are on publication day, you’re streets ahead of the game. Because to put something out you’re not that happy with, or that you think, ‘God, I wish I’d had another year to
rework it’ – and I have been in that position – is very different.”

Although the novel is ostensibly about the battle to fill a
parish council seat caused by the sudden death of a popular councillor, this provides a vehicle for Rowling to uncover the secrets and lies of the inhabitants in the fictional English town of Pagford in her own native West Country.

For anyone expecting Pagford’s teenagers to behave anything like the ones at Hogwarts, The Casual Vacancy will come as a shock. In most cases, their relationships with their parents are fraught and mutually uncomprehending. Often, their conversations edge ever closer to that danger zone that ends with a flying fist or a forever slammed door. And at times her characters’ use of sexual expletives even matches those in an Irvine Welsh novel.

Some of Pagford’s teens find escape from their claustro­phobic family relationships in sex and drugs. Again, the contrast with their counterparts in the Harry Potter books could not be more marked, and Rowling takes care to ensure that such scenes are realistically described.

In one scene, two teenage boys take cannabis in their secret outdoor hideaway, one wanting to boast about losing his virginity, the other trying to forget being hit by his abusive father, seeking release and finding it.

Already there are critics, with the New York Daily News stating: “Rowling has said the worst anyone might say about The Casual Vacancy is that it is ‘dreadful’ – and that she ‘should have stuck to writing for kids’. Well, here goes … Sorry, JK, The Casual Vacancy isn’t dreadful. It’s just dull.”

But others praise its emotional accuracy.

“There is bound to be a certain amount of hand-wringing and tut-tutting about Rowling’s depiction of teenagers,” said The Scotsman’s books editor, David Robinson, “but it’s actually one of the strengths of the book.

“She’s got a very keen sense of how teens actually behave and the imperatives, for example, of teen cool. The Harry Potter books had many great qualities, but the one thing you won’t find there is any realistic depiction of family life.

“She clearly wants to break away from fantasy and from her fans’ expectations of what kind of writer she should be. Some scenes might shock some readers, but there is never anything gratuitous – they are all absolutely essential to the plot.

“In many ways, it would be ironic if she is attacked for writing a completely different book to what was expected of her, because that would show how closed our own minds are.

“And the whole point of this book is that it shows what goes wrong when one part of society – the well-off and the ‘nimbys’ – closes its mind against another part – the needy and the neds.”

Last night, Emma Watson, who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter film series, said she hoped readers would be “open-minded” about Rowling’s change of direction.

“There’s no way that it isn’t nerve-racking when you have so much attention on what you do. She’s so wonderful and so clever there’s no way it’s not going to be brilliant.

“I just hope that people are open-minded enough to be 
supportive.”