2.5 stars. I was excited to see what JK Rowling had to offer for adults, since my kids and I adored the Harry Potter series. I certainly didn't expect a HP-like book, but I did expect to enjoy this novel more than I did. I had a very difficult time getting started with this book. The characters all ran together at first, and I didn't really like any of them. The storyline did get better toward the end of the book. ( )

So, most of my friends did not enjoy this book. The only people I know who did are my dad and my friend's grandmother. I mentioned this to my dad, who said that seemed right to him, you probably had to be 40-50 to enjoy it properly.

Needless to say, my expectations were low. But that was okay, because if my dad was right I could always come back to it in twenty years and like it more. Which is a very comforting though, in a way.

I didn't hate the book. I actually thought it was interesting, although keeping track of the characters was harder than keeping track of the fucking elves in Silmarillion. But after 100, 200 pages, that sorted itself out. But yeah, I'd recommend anyone reading this book to draw up a character tree or something (pro-Fields or anti-Fields would be an easy way to split it, and then add everyone relationship to each other).

Also, it should come with a trigger warning because there's rape and abuse that I was not expecting.

The end was a lot darker than I expected, it felt like Rowling went "OH SO THE EPILOGUE WAS TOO HAPPY FOR YOU GUYS? WELL, WELL, WELL, WE'LL SEE HOW YOU LIKE THIS".

Still, it was a pretty good book, and I look forward to rereading it in 20 years and appreciating it properly. ( )

I didn't really care for it, within the first seventy five pages, somebody dies of a brain aneurysm, and we just spend so many pages jumping around with everybody finding out. It's like the neighbors got to find out, then the next people find out and react to it, then the next people find out and react to it. I wasn't sure how this one anything but I can guess that it's because her name's on it.

There's no representation and it's not really a good read. It's a very simple story, and instead of having that twist where you start reading it and you know it simple and you think there's going to be a sudden diversion to something interesting, it doesn't.

I didn't mind the drugs, the sex, all the other things she wrote about. I really thought that those were interesting angles and I would like to see JKR right these things more often and stray away from her Kitty friendly and teenage fantasy books. Unfortunately, I don't think she knows anything about what she's writing when in that area so she strays away from it and focuses more on the people than the actual topics that I was hoping she would delve into.

If there is anything you can do that is truly evil, it's bore me. And this book is super boring, it is boring. I don't think I cared about a single person.

There is no way that this one for any other reason on Goodreads other than the author's name is on it, because this book is not good. Just because her name is on this doesn't mean that it's not a bad book. In fact, with the way she's behaved nowadays I think her name on a book is a downgrade.

2 stars.

I don't even care about these people or their lives. I've cared more about my carpet than these characters. ( )

I wish I hadn't waited so long to read this book. It's been sitting on my TBR list and I kept passing it up. Then I saw that HBO was making a mini-series out of it and I didn't want to watch it before I read it.

What an incredible character study. Rowling connects the citizens in Pagford to one another in interesting and sometimes unexpected ways. I wasn't sure where most of the story lines were going much of the time and I didn't want the book to end. I felt like I knew these people, the good and the bad.

Now I'm off to watch the show. ( )

Got 120 pages into it but realized I didn’t want to keep slogging on. Her writing is good and often amusing. I assume the story was going to be hugely complex with funny and unexpected twists - but I just didn’t think the reward was gonna be there for reading the many more hundreds of pages. If I was stuck in a hotel room for a week and this was the only book I’d be delighted to have it. But as it is there are other books available...