Harry Potter

I’ve been on quite a Hogwarts kick for awhile – I just got done reading through all the books. What fun! I think it took me about 12 weeks. If you haven’t read ’em, I’d recommend the series for an absorbing, time-wasting, nail-biting good time. I laughed a lot and even had a good cry or two. (And don’t read the rest of this post because I’m talkin’ spoilers in it!)

I think one of J K Rowling’s strengths in the books is how convincing the wizarding world is. You quickly come to feel that you’ve become a student at Hogwarts and find yourself wishing you could visit Diagon Alley in person. The movies have helped with this feeling – I’d seen all 5 that are out before starting the books (though I’d read Book One years ago, after seeing the first movie.) Having images from the film to assist my imagination was fun. That’s also why I wanted to read the books – the movies left me mostly really confused so I wanted to read all the details and subplots for myself and get it all figured out. The books are so long and complex that I think the movie makers sometimes have to just count on people having read the books to follow the plot and catch the details.

There are also some really great characters – I absolutely adore Hagrid’s little domestic tendencies (he cooks, knits, gardens, and cossets his pets. He’s a regular Martha Stewart… ok, maybe not) and emotional meltdowns. He’s so tenderhearted. Rita Skeeter is so infuriating… and Snape! Where do I start. I think his movie self helps his book self be more believable and… dare I say endearing? (Alan Rickman rocks!) I (mostly) always knew he hadn’t gone back to the dark side. I think Rowling made a lot of great choices in things like having the Weasleys be Harry’s surrogate family. They’re great… giving us a glimpse of the normal wizard family life that Harry never had. One thing I never thought worked was the whole Sirius thing. I think Rowling never gave them time to bond, and then S was killed and it was sad but only because Harry’d only known him for 2 years, and never spent any significant time with him, really. That was troubling. I also disapproved of killing off Fred during the climax. He’s a twin!! you just can’t do that. Wouldn’t Percy have been a better choice? He comes back to the good side, and nobly dies for the cause. ‘Course, that’s what I was expecting so maybe JKR thought it would be too predictable.

She managed to bring things to a somewhat resolved ending in book 7, quite tastefully too. I wish there would have been more than just one chapter about “what happened after.” Also I think there were a few too many near-death episodes for Harry, Ron and Hermione in book 7. It just started to get wearying. Unlike the first six, they spend very little time at Hogwarts in year 7 and I think the book suffered a little from that lack of stable context for the action. One moment they’re in Godric’s Hollow and then next they’re inside Gringotts, escaping by the skin of their teeth, again. And again. I guess I should have expected it, since Voldemort attacked in chapter 4! Things don’t calm down much after that. Whew. That’s gonna be a heck of a movie… too many action scenes already!