JK Rowling New Book 'The Casual Vacancy:' Inside Movie Rumors; Still Tops MacLeans Bestsellers List Despite Mixed Reviews

JK Rowling's new book is still topping bestsellers lists' despite mixed reviews.

"The Casual Vacancy" has topped Maclean's magazine Bestseller's List. it has also made its way onto USAToday and New York Times bestselling lists, beating E.L. James' "Fifty Shades" trilogy.

So what's next for the adult novel? It might be getting a movie deal.

Rumors starting swirling that the novel had a $1.6 million deal with Warner Bros., which was the studio behind the "Harry Potter" franchise, according to Hollywood Reporter.

However, a Warner Bros. source called the story "100 percent frabrication" and a Rowling insider stresses that "no discussions have taken place regarding film rights for The Casual Vacancy at this time." 

In a USAToday interview, Rowling spoke about "The Casual Vacancy" and that it's not a very filmable book.

"Personally, I don't think this is a very filmable book. That is one of the things I like about it. I think it's a very novelly novel in that a lot of what goes on happens internally," Rowling said. "You need to understand what's going on inside people's heads. So even though a lot happens in the novel, part of the appeal of it for me is that so much of it happens in people's interior life, and film isn't necessarily the best medium to portray that."

The Rowling insider, according to Hollywood Reporter, said, "She wrote the book for print publication but is open-minded about film or TV exploitation."

During the USAToday interview, Rowling spoke about her excitement for the new book despite bad reviews.

"I don't think everyone will like the book," she says. "But I'm proud of this book. I like this book. It is what it's meant to be. As an author, you really can't say more than that. I don't mean this arrogantly, but if people don't like it, well, that's how it should be, isn't it? That's art. It's all subjective. And I can live with that."

She's also ready for the critics, saying, "Writers generally write to be published, and so as much as I can be, I'm ready for what comes my way. I haven't published this with any expectation. I've published it because it's what I really wanted to write. My writing path isn't dependent on what people expect or say of the work. I will just keep plowing my furrow."

New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani panned it as "so willfully banal, so depressingly cliched that [it] is not only disappointing -- it's dull, according to the HollywoodReporter.

One review from GoodReads said:

"The biggest strength of the book is also its biggest weakness. The setting up of the characters and their lives just takes too long. The plot, if you can call it that, begins to move ahead only after about 300 pages or so. Which was probably the reason why it took me this long to finish the book - I was plodding along until I was so caught up that I couldn't put the book down."

Have you read "The Casual Vacancy" yet? Sound off below!

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