Bogosity

First some links of interest and then my comments on book seven and the whole series. (some spoilers but not a complete giveaway)

I liked what Tribune of the Plebs had to say about the merit of the series in the face of book-snobs and was thinking similar thoughts on my way home today.

Some people don’t get it. They don’t get it why some of us adults like Harry Potter. “Harry Potter’s for children,” they’ll say.

The Harry Potter books aren’t realistic: they’re simplistic and sanitised. J.K. Rowling isn’t a great writer – her prose is good, solid, reliable – but not great. This is true. But why we like Harry Potter is because of the themes.

Man about Town expresses it well too.

Rowling captures something – that time in adolescence when hope hasn’t turned into idealism, when you’re still innocent but no longer naive – she catches it and runs with it, so that the books sometimes startle and delight, whether it be with the death of a much-loved character, driven home with cruelly economical use of words; or an unexpected moment of trancendent joy that feels utterly, perfectly right.

The Man also admits to crying in parts of it which is echoed by many others I’ve heard of. (I didn’t feel the need to cry but I’ve had an easy life.)

The Librarything HarryPotter group Hogwarts Express (scroll for forum) has some good fan-discussion. The LibraryThing blog notes that there was a day of silence on their site when the book came out as book fans everywhere were actually so busy reading that they didn’t have time to get on LibraryThing and talk about reading.

Wikipedia has a good Potter page if you want some trivia.

I also enjoyed Pavlov’s Cat’s commentary (and funny pictures of people buying the books)

And when you’ve really finished with the book, why not read the satirical version over at Gibberish in Neutral. I’ve read a little bit and got a few laughs but maybe don’t click there if you are a true believer.

Finally, my brilliant remarks: I really loved the first book (Philosophers Stone here in Aus). It was funny and brilliant and full of hope. I loved the way it blended that British style of humour with the fantasy genre. It reminded me a bit of Terry Pratchet only Rowling seemed to get inside of the emotions of the characters a lot more where as Pratchet is more engaged at a thinking level. I’m not even going to dare make the Tolkien comparison. ... because it is just totally different. I mean they are both childrens books that are readable by adults but Tolkien was trying to do something really different. Or should I say Rowling was trying to do something different. I mean every person who writes about magic is going to draw on Tolkien aren’t they?

So onto book two (Chamber of Secrets) which delivered more of the same and I was hooked on the series. (I actually started book one just before book three came out).

Book three (Prisoner of Azkaban) shocked me because I was unexpectedly scared when I got to some parts at the early hours of the morning and I could hear the brush tail possums doing their rattling heavy breathing outside the windows as the dementors closed in and a big black dog was running about.

I loved book four (Goblet of fire) too.

It wasn’t until book five (Order of the Phoenix) that I started finding it a bit repetitive and long. She just seemed to spend too much time with the main characters kind of spinning their wheels. I also found that once Voldemort really came back and started being really really bad and people started really dropping dead all over the shop that the comedic elements were lost. It’s hard to be light and funny and then be dark and dreadful. But many fans seem to like it that Rowling has dared to tackle death in children’s writing. I don’t have a problem with death in children’s books but just found the books didn’t hang together as well.

Same goes for book six (Half blood Prince) although I thought this one managed to rally back to what I liked in the early books. My main criticism is that I just thought it was too long and almost couldn’t be bothered reading it.

Book seven was awesome in the last 200 pages or so. It was really slow in the middle with the characters just wheedling about doing nothing much for too long. I mean I know it’s really good that Rowling really explores lots of emotions and things and that you need quiet periods in which to do it but … I don’t know. It was just a bit boring in patches.

As I said the end totally knocked my socks off and I just was really excited when some of the characters really came forward. I wanted to throw the book in the air when Neville had his moment. And I agree with a comment (on crooked timber I think) where they talk about the Dirty Harry Potter scene with Voldemort.

Many have commented on the epilogue and whether it was a crime against fiction but I liked it’s sentimentality and felt that it fitted with the ending of the series.

Wrapping up. I think this series will have a fond spot on my bookshelf because of it’s humour, emotion and characters. Any writer (technically brilliant or not) who can invent characters that I love and miss when the book finishes is a genius to me.