ladyofastolat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladyofastolat) wrote2019-12-04 04:13 pm
ladyofastolat) wrote2019-12-04 04:13 pm
Books read: Harry Potter
I decided on impulse to re-read the Harry Potter series. My feelings about Harry Potter are complicated. It used to make me Very Cross Indeed when adults would come into the children's library seeking Harry Potter books, taking care to declare loudly to everyone in earshot that although children's books in general were worthless and trivial and couldn't possibly be of any interest to them, or indeed to any adult, Harry Potter was unique and different - the only children's book that could possibly be of any appeal to an adult. It made me Even Crosser when people would pick up a book that was published years before Harry Potter came along, read the blurb or the first page, and toss it away dismissively as a "blatant Harry Potter rip-off." "JK Rowling's written 7 books set in the same setting," I used to mutter darkly. "Diana Wynne Jones [because some of the books thus tossed away were by her] creates a new, wildly original setting for every single book!"
Pellinor is very smug about the fact that he "rejected Harry Potter." This was back when all new children's novels were read and reviewed before it was decided whether to purchase them or not. To ease the workload, I would sometimes delegate some to Pellinor. His judgement on the first Harry Potter was along the lines of, "Rather mediocre, really. Fairly harmless, I suppose, but not a patch on Diana Wynne Jones." We did end up buying it, but IIRC, this because a colleague realised that it was written by a friend of a friend, took it to read herself, and was rather more enthusiastic than Pellinor was.
I remember it being in the library and very few people borrowing it. Those who started it didn't usually finish. Book two came out with similar lack of enthusiasm... but suddenly the media started reporting that this was a growing craze and that children were all wild about the series. They certainly didn't seem wild about it in my library... until, well, suddenly they were. I don't think I read any of them until the third book came out, when I read all 3 together. After that, I read them as they came out, but never with that sense of burning anticipation that comes with a new installment of a series you truly love. It was more a case of knowing that I would want to read them eventually, so might as well read them straight away at the same time as everyone else, so I'd know what people were talking about.
So far, so lukewarm. But it's hard to extract feelings for the books from feelings about the phenomenon. I do remember finding quite a lot to enjoy in the books themselves, and you can't deny that they've embedded themselves deeply in popular culture, so I thought I'd reread.
I still don't think the first book is that good, to be honest. The structure is all wrong, with more than half the book being set-up. I don't think the first chapter should be there. Harry annoys me, poking his nose into things that really shouldn't involve him. The set-up of the school annoys me...
I mean, really annoys me. Annoys me throughout the series, actually. Every teacher, even the "good" ones - especially the "good" ones - are so corrupt, showing blatant favouritism. House points are given out on a whim for completely arbitrary reasons. At the end of the first book, when Slytherin have won and the entire hall is done up in their colours, along comes Dumbledore and hands out just enough points to Harry and his friends for Gryffindor to win instead. Had Gryffindor won, only for Snape to come along and had out 160 points to his favourites, it would have been utter outrage all round. But it's done by goodies, so it's all okay. Grr!!
Okay. Deep breath. Book 2 is better, I think, with at least some sort of overarching plot, and a danger that presents itself fairly early in the book, develops over the book, and gets resolved near the end.
Book 3 is probably my favourite. I could rant for hours about the Marauder's Map, which bothers me intensely, but I will restrain myself. Still like the book, anyway, despite it.
Book 4... Many rants about book 4. The Triwizard Cup is just STUPID. This is ostensibly done to promote cooperation and friendly relations between the wizards of different countries. Co-operation, through an event that pits them as rivals. Okaaay. So delegations from two other schools arrive, and spend an entire year essentially camping in the Hogwarts grounds. There are no joint lessons. Only one champion from each school can compete, but the non-chosen ones still stay around. And stay around ALL YEAR, even though there are only three contents, each one taking half a day, three months apart. WHY? It makes no sense!
Well, anyway. Book 5 is ENORMOUS - far too enormous, really - but I do still like it. It's the angriest of the books, when most of the wizarding world thinks Harry's lying about Voldemort's return, but that does give it quite a bit of emotional power, I feel.
I'm not sure that book 6 really has much point. I seems to meander on, and somehow manages to fill many hundreds of pages, but I'm not entirely sure what the plot is. In my opinion, this one particularly suffers from the need to make the action fill a school year. Urgent things are happening, but still Dumbledore rations out his special lessons to Harry, spreading them through the year.
Book 7... You know, I finished reading this less than a fortnight ago, and find that I really can't remember what I felt about it. Going into this reread, this was the book I remembered least about. Not that I remembered much throughout, but I did at least remember certain key things - big deaths, big betrayals, a few major plot twists. With book 7, I found I remembered NOTHING, beyond the fact that they all left school, and the epilogue. I won't say anything about the epilogue... but I did wish for more aftermath in the final chapters, not just a few pages set 19 years later.
Oh well. Despite the tone of much of the above, I'm glad I reread them, and I did mostly enjoy them. I just wish the organisation of the wizarding world made more sense.
Pellinor is very smug about the fact that he "rejected Harry Potter." This was back when all new children's novels were read and reviewed before it was decided whether to purchase them or not. To ease the workload, I would sometimes delegate some to Pellinor. His judgement on the first Harry Potter was along the lines of, "Rather mediocre, really. Fairly harmless, I suppose, but not a patch on Diana Wynne Jones." We did end up buying it, but IIRC, this because a colleague realised that it was written by a friend of a friend, took it to read herself, and was rather more enthusiastic than Pellinor was.
I remember it being in the library and very few people borrowing it. Those who started it didn't usually finish. Book two came out with similar lack of enthusiasm... but suddenly the media started reporting that this was a growing craze and that children were all wild about the series. They certainly didn't seem wild about it in my library... until, well, suddenly they were. I don't think I read any of them until the third book came out, when I read all 3 together. After that, I read them as they came out, but never with that sense of burning anticipation that comes with a new installment of a series you truly love. It was more a case of knowing that I would want to read them eventually, so might as well read them straight away at the same time as everyone else, so I'd know what people were talking about.
So far, so lukewarm. But it's hard to extract feelings for the books from feelings about the phenomenon. I do remember finding quite a lot to enjoy in the books themselves, and you can't deny that they've embedded themselves deeply in popular culture, so I thought I'd reread.
I still don't think the first book is that good, to be honest. The structure is all wrong, with more than half the book being set-up. I don't think the first chapter should be there. Harry annoys me, poking his nose into things that really shouldn't involve him. The set-up of the school annoys me...
I mean, really annoys me. Annoys me throughout the series, actually. Every teacher, even the "good" ones - especially the "good" ones - are so corrupt, showing blatant favouritism. House points are given out on a whim for completely arbitrary reasons. At the end of the first book, when Slytherin have won and the entire hall is done up in their colours, along comes Dumbledore and hands out just enough points to Harry and his friends for Gryffindor to win instead. Had Gryffindor won, only for Snape to come along and had out 160 points to his favourites, it would have been utter outrage all round. But it's done by goodies, so it's all okay. Grr!!
Okay. Deep breath. Book 2 is better, I think, with at least some sort of overarching plot, and a danger that presents itself fairly early in the book, develops over the book, and gets resolved near the end.
Book 3 is probably my favourite. I could rant for hours about the Marauder's Map, which bothers me intensely, but I will restrain myself. Still like the book, anyway, despite it.
Book 4... Many rants about book 4. The Triwizard Cup is just STUPID. This is ostensibly done to promote cooperation and friendly relations between the wizards of different countries. Co-operation, through an event that pits them as rivals. Okaaay. So delegations from two other schools arrive, and spend an entire year essentially camping in the Hogwarts grounds. There are no joint lessons. Only one champion from each school can compete, but the non-chosen ones still stay around. And stay around ALL YEAR, even though there are only three contents, each one taking half a day, three months apart. WHY? It makes no sense!
Well, anyway. Book 5 is ENORMOUS - far too enormous, really - but I do still like it. It's the angriest of the books, when most of the wizarding world thinks Harry's lying about Voldemort's return, but that does give it quite a bit of emotional power, I feel.
I'm not sure that book 6 really has much point. I seems to meander on, and somehow manages to fill many hundreds of pages, but I'm not entirely sure what the plot is. In my opinion, this one particularly suffers from the need to make the action fill a school year. Urgent things are happening, but still Dumbledore rations out his special lessons to Harry, spreading them through the year.
Book 7... You know, I finished reading this less than a fortnight ago, and find that I really can't remember what I felt about it. Going into this reread, this was the book I remembered least about. Not that I remembered much throughout, but I did at least remember certain key things - big deaths, big betrayals, a few major plot twists. With book 7, I found I remembered NOTHING, beyond the fact that they all left school, and the epilogue. I won't say anything about the epilogue... but I did wish for more aftermath in the final chapters, not just a few pages set 19 years later.
Oh well. Despite the tone of much of the above, I'm glad I reread them, and I did mostly enjoy them. I just wish the organisation of the wizarding world made more sense.
no subject
Honestly, I'm more and more in camp Manipulative!Dumbledore - he urgently needs Harry on his team, and handing out just enough points to top off Gryffindor right when nobody can make up the difference... well, I'd say this was all a little obvious and he overdid it, but Harry apparently eats it up, so what do I know?
I just wish the organisation of the wizarding world made more sense.
You and everybody else.