Discovering Harry Potter

[strange_complex]

I thought Harry Potter was perfectly OK already before this Christmas, but although I've seen all three films to date, I'd only bothered to read the first two books, and had then got bored. Then I re-watched Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone late on Christmas night, and also spent a fascinating half-hour at Valid.Pop on Tuesday quizzing damien_mocata, whose knowledge of the books is quasi-encyclopaedic, about the plots of books 3, 4 and 5. I now see that I seem to have stopped reading just at the point when the initial process of establishing characters and setting had been completed, and before the interesting plot-twists and surprises had really begun.

Therefore, I have been spending some time over the last two evenings mooching around on sites such as J.K. Rowling's official site, MuggleNet.com (which has some really impressive articles!) and The Harry Potter Lexicon. I've found out lots of interesting things, and I think I shall now aim to continue reading the books in the new year. (Not straight away, though, as I got several for Xmas which I want to finish first). I still don't think J.K. Rowling's writing is ever going to thrill me in quite the way Diana Wynne Jones' does. But I now have greater respect for her ability to set up complex plots and mysteries, and to create well-defined characters.

I also got myself sorted into a House:



I'm a Ravenclaw!
It is kind of what I expected / hoped for after damien_mocata and captainlucy told me all about the characteristics of the different Houses on Tuesday, but it's nice to have it confirmed.

Comments

[ekatemba.livejournal.com]

Rowling's writing is very dull and pedestrian, and doesn't get any better in later books. What she does very well is plot: she really did have it all worked out from the beginning. As long as the lack of magic doesn't put you off irreparably, the later books are worth reading for the depth they explore; and I thought the newest one was much the best. The characters are older and more angsty: it is quite realistic about children's feelings.

[kantti.livejournal.com]

Except for Goblet of Fire, which I felt had the most glaring plot holes. I never understood why it was necessary for Voldemort to rig an elaborate contest just to get Harry to touch a particular object. Why not just send him a piece of post, say?

It all seemed terribly contrived, but maybe I missed something.

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Why not just send him a piece of post, say?

Sounds to me like the problem there would be that it just wasn't a sufficiently eeeeeviiilll thing to do. But I have some reading to do before I can really judge!

[strange-complex.livejournal.com]

Yes, the dull and pedestrian aspect of the prose in the earlier books was what put me off continuing with the series. I'm not surprised to hear that aspect doesn't change, but I've now heard enough about interesting plot developments to decide that it's worth reading more for that reason. It sounds like you would feel much the same.