Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-J.K.Rowling
How I found this book: After getting hysterical about it for two years, it was finally announced that it was coming out…WHILE I WAS IN ROME! So I got to be in Rome, Italy for the big, coming out party as it were, and got to enjoy the fun with French and Italian fans of the series.
Setting: In the ’97-’98 school year, though for the first time not at Hogwarts, (save at the very end of the book.) Most of it is spread out as Harry, Ron, and Hermione move all over the country, from Grimmauld Place to Bill and Fleur’s house, Godric’s Hollow, and lots of forests in between.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: Just turning seventeen, Harry is preparing himself for his hardest challenge yet, quitting school permanently to find the Horcruxes, the items that contain the fractured bits of Voldemort soul. Sent on the run after Bill and Fleur’s wedding and the fall of the Ministry, Harry must criss cross the country, seeking the answers to the mystery of the Horcruxes, as well as the mythical Deathly Hallows, and figure out how all these factors tie into defeating Voldemort. It forces Harry to make hard choices…ones that might force Harry to chose to sacrifice himself for those that he loves.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron sticks by Harry’s side, going into hiding and danger with him. But the weight of the Horocruxes is a heavy one, especially for Ron who has so many insecurities and is unable to deal with them. He makes the choice to leave his friends for a while, but realizes soon enough that not only does he miss them horribly, he needs them, and he needs to face his own insecurities and issues, and come out as the strong, decisive person he is in his own right, outside of his brother’s and famous best friend.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, Hermione uses her brains to help Harry unravel the mystery behind the Horcruxes, and stands by his side even when she doubts he knows what is going on, sticking by him when Ron leaves. It breaks her heart to see Ron go, and she is the one left to help Harry in some of his most trying and terrifying moments. A lot is asked of Hermione, including having to face the terrifying Bellatrix Lestrange, but in the end her wits help Harry and Ron persevere.
Ginny Weasley: Ron’s younger sister, and Harry’s ex-girlfriend, she is forced to stay behind and return to Hogwarts while her brother, best friend, and boyfriend run off to face Voldemort. That’s not to say that Ginny is idyll in their absence, and she, along with Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood start an insurrection at Hogwarts to throw off the oppressive administration of Severus Snape and his Deatheater cronies.
Luna Lovegood: One of Harry’s friends from Dumbledore’s Army, she, along with Ginny, helps to fight against the Death Eaters who have taken over the school. But she is captured from the Hogwarts Express on her way back to school from the holidays, and causes her father to try and capture the fugitive Harry for her release. When she is rescued by her dear friends, she too joins the efforts outside to help fight Lord Voldemort.
Neville Longbottom: One of Harry’s Gryffindor dorm mates, and another of the rabble rousers in Hogwarts while Harry is gone, he rallies Dumbledore’s Army while Harry is out searching for Horcruxes, hoping for Harry to return so they can begin to finally fight back and take on Voldemort.
Professor Dumbledore: Killed at the end of the last book, Dumbledore left only the slightest clues for Harry to figure out how to defeat Voldemort. His guidance is limited, but his hope was that Harry and his friends would have the brains and courage to figure them out and help defeat Tom Riddle before it was too late. Still, much of Dumbledore’s past is a mystery to Harry, one that is coming out to him now, after his mentor’s death, in fits and starts. It turns out that Dumbledore’s history is deeply entwined with that of Tom Riddle, and that he can learn from the mistakes both men made in their past.
Severus Snape: The new headmaster of Hogwarts, he takes over when the Ministry falls. While he allows the Death Eaters to run rampant in the school, he also tries to assist Harry in secret ways all throughout the book. Snape’s allegiances are complex and deep, and it is only at the tragic end that Harry finds out the true reason for Snape’s dislike of James Potter, and by extension Harry, but also the true love he had for Harry’s own mother, and the promise he made to himself on behalf of the girl he had once befriended and cared for.
Draco Malfoy: Spared the punishment that could have been his had Dumbledore not been killed, he is returned to his parents, but they are all in disgrace. Draco tries to do what he must to keep them all alive, but in the end, his desire to protect his own life and that of his family overwhelms any desire he truly has to serve the Dark Lord.
Lucius Malfoy: Now disgraced, he is forced to allow Lord Voldemort the use of his home as a headquarters. He and Bellatrix, his sister-in-law, are always on the lookout for ways to improve their standing with the Dark Lord.
Bellatrix Lestrange: The sister of Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks, and disgraced favorite of Lord Voldemort she is consumed by her desire to serve her master, and to get into his good graces. Lord Voldemort is all that she loves in this world, and she will do anything to please him, even killing her own family members.
Narcissa Malfoy: The wife of Lucius and mother of Draco, sister to Bellatrix Lestrange and Andromeda Tonks, she perhaps is the only one of all the Malfoys that knows the true danger they are in and the true cost to her family. She plays her cards close, and when the opportunity to extract them all presents itself, Narcissa takes it, aiding Harry Potter in his most desperate moment.
Remus Lupin: Harry’s former Defense teacher, and best friend of James and Sirius, he has married Nymphadora Tonks, and is expecting his first child with her. Despite this blessing, he worries about the war, his own werewolf-ism, and whether he is fit to be a husband and father, and tries to run off with Harry instead. Harry sets him down, angering him at first, but he returns to his wife and child, and begins to take up as a voice on the underground Wizarding Wireless.
Nymphadora Tonks Lupin: Wife of Remus Lupin, daughter of Ted and Andromeda Tonks, niece of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and mother of Teddy Lupin, Nymphadora is an Auror and metamorphmagus. She spends much of the book pregnant with young Teddy, but stands by her husband’s side when war finally comes to Hogwarts.
Fred and George Weasley: Ron’s older twin brothers, George looses an ear when rescuing Harry from Death Eaters in an effort to get Harry out from the Dursley’s house. Both boys are active in the Order.
Bill Weasley: Ron’s oldest brother, he works for Gringott’s Bank as a curse breaker. He and Fleur marry at the beginning of the book, their wedding reception crashed by the news that the Ministry had fallen to Death Eaters. He and Fleur move into a small house, which serves as a resting point for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Luna after a narrow escape from Malfoy Manor.
Fleur Weasley: Wife of Bill Weasley, she helps take care of Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, and Mr. Ollivander when they arrive at her house after narrowly escaping from Malfoy Manor.
Lord Voldemort: Now having defeated Dumbledore, Voldemort begins his reign of terror on the wizarding world, unleashing persecutions against Muggle-borns and Half-bloods alike, all the while hunting down the one person he suspects can bring down his reign…Harry Potter.
Plot: Harry is now left alone as he turns seventeen, the age of majority in the wizarding world. His mentor, Professor Dumbledore has died, and there is no one else left now to protect him from Lord Voldemort…or to face the Dark Wizard either. It is now up to Harry alone to bring down the darkest wizard in generations, but before he even has a chance to formulate a plan, the Dark Lord strikes, taking over the Ministry, and causing chaos in the world of magic. Harry, Ron, and Hermione become fugitives as they hide out, trying to find the clues of where the remaining horcruxes lay, based on the scant clues Harry knows, and the strange items left behind by Dumledore. In fact, it is in his old headmaster’s own mysterious and suspect past that Harry finds not only the clues to defeat Lord Voldemort, but learns the most important lessons about life…and death. As Harry becomes something of an underground hero for the beleagured witches and wizards of England, he prepares to face perhaps the greatest challenge of his young life, but will he come out of it alive?
Themes:
Even great heroes are flawed: We all know Harry is flawed, as we’ve seen through his development in the series, but we’ve yet to see all the chinks in the armor of Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore never denied he had weaknesses, and even tried to encourage people to keep that in mind, but we are now learning all the aspects of Dumbledore’s own history that explain much of what he became, and also sets the stage for Harry to ultimately discover how to defeat Tom Riddle. Dumbledore has made mistakes, some very great ones that marked his life. Harry, ever Dumbledore’s pupil, learns from those mistakes, and perhaps in learning from them surpasses his old teacher as well.
Give me something to believe in: For the first time, in a large sense, we see Harry becoming a figure for people to believe in. Now it isn’t just his housemates or schoolmates, but it is the entire wizarding world of Great Britain who is looking to Harry to help stop the menace of Voldemort. He comes off in the wizarding world as some strange, Robin Hood like figure, a fugitive who frees the half-bloods and Muggle-borns and is leading an underground movement, (which he isn’t, but he becomes their symbol). Whether Harry likes it or not, he is the symbol for the free witches and wizards everywhere, something they can latch on to during these dark times.
Fairytales do come true: In this case, perhaps it’s more accurate that a fairytale can stem from a true story. The Deathly Hallows is a child’s tale, or so everyone thinks, a legend of magical objects, much like the Holy Grail in our world. But in reality they did exist, (perhaps not quite in the form the legend has them in), and their existence, and the effort to discover them is tied intimately to Dumbledore’s past, as well as to Harry’s ability to defeat the Dark Lord. Ironically, Tom Riddle, for all his knowledge and bravado, knows or understands little about the Deathly Hallows outside of the Death Stick, and it’s this ignorance that Harry is able to manipulate.
War is hell: Gah…so many characters you’ve grown to love during this series are killed! It’s so not fair. And yet, it happens. It is war, that is how it happens, that is what happens. It’s not something that is pleasant, but Rowling doesn’t flinch from these deaths, and instead lets us feel every wound to help emphasis the fact that this is a world that is indeed at war.
Genocide: Part of Lord Voldemort’s plan is to rid the wizarding world of people who are ironically very much like him, Muggle borns and Halfbloods. Many Muggle borns, such as Hermione, Ted Tonks, and Dean Thomas, are sent into hiding, so as to protect themselves and their loved ones from harm, risking hiding in the countryside and potentially running into gangs of thugs and thieves. Others are herded up by the Ministry, in nearly Nazi-like trials to determine who they ‘stole’ their magic from. The amount of racism reaches epic, disgusting proportions, and it does make your stomach turn to read some of it.
SIT DOWN, THERE’S AN EPILOGUE- (This line in reference to my dear friend Dawna, who had to remind a movie theatre full of people there was an epilogue to Romeo and Juliet.) There is an Epilogue when it is all said and done, one that closes up what happens to Harry, Ron, Hermione, and some others after it is all said and done…I won’t tell you how it goes, but it was certainly well worth the wait.
Every book sucks somewhere: I can think of very few areas this book sucked in. It has nearly equal rating in my head with my favorite Harry Potter book, Goblet of Fire. However, I must say the endless wandering through the woods as Harry, Hermione, and Ron try to evade everyone on the search for Horcruxes was a bit tedious and repetitive, and you sort of wanted to say “get on with it already.”
In addition, I have to say…some of the deaths really hurt. A lot. I won’t say who, but..yeah…mmm….I cried and cried while reading this book, and of course I felt like an idiot when my roomie in my hotel in Rome came in and saw me huddled up on my small little twin bed, crying my eyes out over a Harry Potter book! At least I was sober this time around.
What did I like: I LOVED all of it, but best of all, I loved the mystery of the Deathly Hallows, and learning some of the deep, dark secrets of Dumbeldore’s own past. I loved the fact that Ron and Hermione FINALLY cotton on they are meant to be together. And the final scene between Harry and Tom Riddle couldn’t be scripted any better than if it were an epic film. All I have to say is I hope the film makers get it right when they finally get around to doing it, because it just gives you chills reading it.
How would I rate this wormy book: NOM, NOM, NOM, NOM, MONSTER, NOM, NOM, NOM……I wouldn’t suggest reading this book without reading the others in the series, but believe me, getting to this book really makes it all worth while.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-J.K.Rowling
How I found this book: I squealed like a school girl when the name was released, and called my Mom in a tizzy. I was so excited about this book, and then…it got delivered to my old house. When I went to my old house, it wasn’t there. I finally managed to buy it at Target the day it was released. So I bought TWO copies of the book. *grumble* Then worse, because I waited all day for a book that never came, I didn’t get a chance to read it all before having to go to a friend’s party that night. So of course….I read the end first, just so I wouldn’t have to anticipate! (Anyone who knows me knows I read the ends of ALL books first, even textbooks.)
Setting: In the ’96-’97 school year, almost completely at Hogwarts.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: It’s been rough the last few years for our now sixteen-year-old hero. He’s lost a classmate and his godfather to Lord Voldemort and his allies. And he now lives with the full weight of the prophesy made about him years ago and the knowledge that he must be the one to face Lord Voldemort. But there is some respite for the weary, as Harry gets to do some ‘normal’ things for a change, including captaining his house Quidditch team, studying for his upcoming NEWT exams, and falling for someone new. Sadly, this someone new is Ron’s little sister, Ginny. Figuring out how to get Ginny to notice him and not having Ron kill him is the least of Harry’s worries this year. His favorite and best class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, is being taught by Professor Snape this year, making it almost as unbearable as the year before. Thankfully he has a potions book, annotated by the Half-Blood Prince, whoever that is, to help him with the new Potions Master, who had a special affection for Harry’s mother. And Dumbledore has Harry studying with him in particular this year, privately and alone. Dumbledore is preparing Harry to face his greatest challenge, but will Harry find all the answers he needs in the mystery of Tom Riddle?
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron is flying high after leading the Quidditch team to a House Cup the year before, and looking forward to making the team again under the leadership of his best mate. Not even Quidditch is simple for Ron, though, who not only has to worry about his performance issues, but about the changes in his relationship with Hermione, and his sister Ginny’s popularity with the boys. When he loses his temper and ends up dating Lavender Brown, he not only hurts Hermione, but makes a mess he isn’t so sure he can get out of readily. But Ron has his best friend Harry to help him out when he’s being stupid, and Hermione isn’t as lost as he thinks. It’s their deep loyalty to one another that will hold them in stead for the things to come.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, studies aside, Hermione is having a tough year. Just when she thought things between her and Ron were changing, he grew angry and began dating Lavender Brown, her roommate, and she has to face the two of them all over each other all the time. And then Harry is outperforming her for a change in Potions with a textbook she is sure is a form of cheating. Nothing seems to be going her way this year. But she will find that her boys will need her more than ever in the days and weeks to come, and when the unthinkable happens and puts them all in danger, it will tie her to Harry and Ron even more closely than they were before.
Ginny Weasley: Ron’s younger sister, she is starting to come into her own, and becoming more and more popular, particularly with the boys. And amongst her admirers is suddenly Harry. Ginny comes up big on the Quidditch field, and suddenly she comes up big in the romance department as well, as the one boy she’s always cared for suddenly feels the same way about her.
Professor Dumbledore: Injured in some unexplained accident before the start of term, Dumbledore seems to be trying his best to prepare everyone for the war to come. Even more so, he is trying the help Harry finally understand just who and what he is up against in the form of Lord Voldemort, where he came from, and how to defeat him. But the dangers are looming on the horizon, and will he be able to impart all that Harry needs to know before Harry must face Voldemort?
Severus Snape: Now finally in the position he always wanted, Snape seems delighted that he can make Harry and the others lives miserable at a subject he knows so well. But what games is Snape playing at anyway? Harry feels he should trust him to some degree as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and Dumbledore refuses to Harry’s insistence that there might be something more going on with the new Defense teacher. What is it that Dumbledore is so sure of that he won’t share with anyone else?
Horace Slughorn: A former Potions teacher at Hogwarts, he was infamous for having favorites and ensuring his students found good positions after school to ensure he had a web of highly placed connections with which to make his life comfortable. One of his favorites was Harry’s mother, Lily. After the last war, he retired, and since the start of this one, he has gone into hiding, knowing that he could be in danger because of who and what he knows through his network. Dumbledore convinces him to return to Hogwarts as a teacher, to side firmly with Dumbledore, and be safe. He is easily talked into it, especially with the thought of having “The Boy Who Lived” as one of his pupils.
Remus Lupin: Harry’s former Defense teacher, and best friend of James and Sirius, he has gone deep undercover tracking Fenrir Greyback, an evil werewolf who preys on children, such as Remus when he was bitten as a boy.
Nymphadora Tonks: While doing double duty for the Ministry and the Order, Tonks seems to be depressed and listless, even her hair is its normal color rather than one of her favorite crazy ones. Harry assumes that it must be due in part to Sirius’s death, and that perhaps she was in love with her cousin.
Fred and George Weasley: Ron’s older twin brothers, they have left Hogwarts and have started a joke shop in Diagon Alley called Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes.
Bill Weasley: Ron’s oldest brother, he works for Gringott’s Bank as a curse breaker. He is engaged to Fleur Delacour, one of Harry’s rival champions at the Tri-Wizards Tournament.
Fleur Delacour: One of Harry’s former Tri-Wizard Championship rivals, she has fallen in love with Bill Weasley and the two are engaged, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, who dislike her.
Draco Malfoy: The archenemy of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he has become a Deatheater over the summer, in retaliation for his father’s failure at the Ministry of Magic. He is charged with a horrible task, one that, if he doesn’t complete it well it could cost him his life.
Bellatrix Lestrange: One of Voldemort’s trusted leaders; she is the sister to Narcissa Malfoy and aunt to Draco. She distrusts Severus Snape, and is proud of her nephew for the mantel he’s taken on as a Deatheater.
Lucius Malfoy: The father of Draco, he was one of Voldemort’s most trusted leaders, but when he failed at the Ministry he not only was arrested and sent to Azkaban, but he was in disgrace with the Dark Lord as well. His disgrace has dire consequences for his son, ones that could lead to Draco’s eventual demise.
Rufus Scrimgeor: The new Minister of Magic and former head of the Auror division, he has set out to take a head on approach towards Voldemort, as well as repair the damage done to the Ministry’s reputation caused by the ineptness of Cornelius Fudge. He would like Harry to speak up about being the so called “Chosen One” as well as show his support for the Ministry, something Harry refuses to do. He seems more fond of getting Dumbledore and Harry to play politics with him than actually working with them to help stop Voldemort, though he is more accepting of the work Dumbledore is doing than Fudge ever was.
Plot: After the loss of his godfather, sixteen-year-old Harry has been despondent. Not even the public’s terrified realization that “You-Know-Who” has returned is a balm to him, rather it is a reminder of the horrible realization he has discovered. He is the only one who can face Voldemort, and it will either end up with him being a murder, or him being dead. But while the war between Voldemort and the Ministry begins, and the Death Eaters start their reign of terror, Harry begins his sixth year at Hogwarts. This year brings many other, more positive changes for Harry, he is named the Captain of the Quidditch team, and he has become a natural leader amongst his other students. Many look up to him, especially after his leadership of Dumbledore’s Army the year before. But there are not-so-good changes as well, as Snape has finally been granted the post of Defense teacher, and Harry’s favorite class is now an exercise in holding his temper. At least in Potions he is excelling, thanks to the help of a mysterious Potions textbook with notes from a mysterious former student who calls themselves the “Half-blood Prince”. The Prince can’t help Harry in affairs of the heart, when he finds himself falling rather hard for someone rather unexpected…Ron’s little sister, Ginny. It certainly doesn’t help when Ron begins dating Lavender Brown, hurting Hermione and causing a rift between them that Harry has to navigate carefully. But none of these issues compares to the problem of Lord Voldemort and how to defeat him. Only Professor Dumbeldore seems to know the answers to that, and he begins teaching Harry the secrets of just who Tom Marvolo Riddle was, and what he did, and how this orphaned boy became the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. In this, he hopes that Harry will learn just how it was that Voldemort lived on that night so long ago when Harry’s parents died, and how is it that Harry can possibly defeat him.
Themes:
Even the Dark Lord was a boy once: Unlike Darth Vader, who started out as the sweet, cute, and helpful Anakin Skywalker, Lord Voldemort started out as a mean, creepy, sociopathic, psycho kid named Tom Riddle. To be honest…yeah, he was messed up, we are talking Stephen King level of messed up. When you meet his family, the Gaunts, and see how inbred and backwards they are, it’s little wonder that Tom Riddle is a bit…different. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree there. And his father’s family, the rich, indolent Muggles the Riddles, with their upper crust disdain for everyone and everything, he has it no better on his dad’s side. One can criticize the Dark Lord for not making better choices, for deciding to do the evil things he did, as everyone has a choice to do and be something different. But with that genetic pool to choose from, its small wonder Lord Voldmort became what he became. Still, I find it hard to feel sorry for him, Harry was an orphan as well, and from all accounts had a much harder childhood than Tom did in his orphanage, and didn’t make the choices Tom Riddle did, nor did he blame his parents for the situation and try to subvert it somehow. In the end, Lord Voldemort comes out even more evil in my mind because he willfully made the decisions he did, and even if he did have a banana or two missing from the bunch, he could have chosen differently. He just didn’t. Who knows, maybe the nuttiness in his head meant he couldn’t even begin seeing the issue differently, it’s hard saying. What a wack job.
Sometimes a kid has to be a kid: One thing Harry has never been is ‘normal’. This is the one book in the series where we see Harry finally, for once, being comfortable in his own skin. He is growing up before our very eyes, and enjoying being a sixteen-year-old kid who has all the same problems other kids his age do. He has to deal with the adulation of girls younger than him who wish to try and make him notice them, he is stuck in the middle of a potential lover’s spat between his two best friends, (and he’s not so sure he’d be keen on the idea of the two of them hooking up), and he’s FINALLY noticed that Ginny is a cute, attractive girl. The Ginny angle is one fan’s have suspected for some time, since book one really, and many were happy to see it, (except if you happened to be one of the strange, Harry/Hermione fans who got so mad about it, that was disturbing.) Harry for once gets to deal with all the same things other kids deal with. It’s a pity that it doesn’t last.
Harry turning into an adult: Harry has been sort of at the mercy of his elders most of his life. Either he was told he was too young to understand, or he was too young to fight, but with little to no explanation about why things are happening, or what he should do about it, if anything. Much of this has of course led to bad, bad results, with even Albus Dumbledore finally coming to the realization that Harry is growing up, and what’s more, he isn’t a child anymore. While Molly Weasley hasn’t come to this conclusion, (hopefully she does by the next book), Dumbledore at least begins to treat Harry less with kid gloves, and begins to be more honest with him as to what is going on.
Harry as a leader: On top of growing up, Harry is also becoming more and more of a leader. He not only is the Captain of the Quidditch team, but he is seen by other students as someone who understands what is going on in a world that is rapidly falling apart, especially by former members of the DA. Younger students look up to Harry, part of it is natural as they all grew up with stories of Harry Potter as children, but part of it is in seeing who he is, hearing the stories of his exploits at Hogwarts, and the growing rumbles in the wizarding community about Harry being the “Chosen One.” A sign of maturity on Harry’s part, in another time, all this attention to him and dependence on him would have made him angry or frustrated. Now he simply accepts it as something that just is, and moves on.
The bonds of friendship: This book shows ever growing shifts in the bonds of friendship Harry has built for himself with those closest to him. Hermione, who he was always close to, but never as close to as Ron, begins to fill in more and more that role of older sister she’s always inhabited for Harry, giving him advice, being the sympathetic ear, and of course coming to him when her own troubles get too much for her. Just because he is Ron’s best mate doesn’t mean he doesn’t have room for Hermione in his heart when the two are feuding. With Ron, he has the ability to tell Ron the truth, even when it hurts, knowing that Ron will not hate him for it. And he doesn’t laugh at Ron about Lavender, though you get the sense he hardly approves, but instead is willing to let his friend make his mistakes and is there for him when he needs picking up. It is Harry who saves Ron’s life, binding the already close pair even further, (much like we see the relationship of James and Sirius), and Ron and Hermione are able to get over their differences, and take those first, ever so tentative steps to the changes in their own relationship. Dumbledore cautions Harry that the only two he should really ever trust are Ron and Hermione, and it is those two he entrusts his secrets, knowing that neither will break that confidence. And when he must do what he must at the end of the novel, it is Ron and Hermione who unquestioningly stand by his side, even at great personal cost to them. Their bonds of friendship go so deep now, that Harry doesn’t even try to talk them out of it. This friendship will be a key aspect to the next book of the series.
Draco Malfoy is up to something: No one else believes Harry in this, and Harry knows Draco is up to something, and that its potentially dangerous. While Harry doesn’t realize the true ramifications till too late, it does change how he perceives Malfoy, and Harry begins to understand that perhaps Draco is forced into the situation and is as much a victim in his own way as any of the countless people who have actually lost their lives.
What is up with Snape anyway: This is a questions that readers keep repeatedly asking since book one, when I think this theme first appeared in my review. Snape is a very complex character, and becomes even more so in the next book as well. What is the real motivation he has for putting up with Harry, who he clearly hates, and why is it that he hates Harry’s father so much? What was his role in the prophecy surrounding Harry, and was it really Snape who set up Harry’s family for the ultimate betrayal by Peter Pettigrew? Even worse, was Snape ever REALLY a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and why was it that Dumbledore trusted him so much anyway?
Every book sucks somewhere: Well besides the most obvious sucking point, (and if you haven’t read it, I’m not admitting to it in this review,) the book had few sucking points for me. I have to say that this is one of my more favorite books in the series, though I think 4 and 7 certainly take those top spots. Perhaps it sucks because we know this is the last of the good times at Hogwarts for Harry.
What did I like: Watching Harry grow up as a person. He starts to come into all the potential we saw for the little, stunted kid who lives his life in a broom closet, and you start to feel proud of Harry as a person.
How would I rate this wormy book: This is a big, MONSTER WORM, it sets you up so well for the ending of the series, and slowly leads you up to the top of the big, old hill for the ride of the rollercoaster finish. It is great.
How I found this book: I squealed like a school girl when the name was released, and called my Mom in a tizzy. I was so excited about this book, and then…it got delivered to my old house. When I went to my old house, it wasn’t there. I finally managed to buy it at Target the day it was released. So I bought TWO copies of the book. *grumble* Then worse, because I waited all day for a book that never came, I didn’t get a chance to read it all before having to go to a friend’s party that night. So of course….I read the end first, just so I wouldn’t have to anticipate! (Anyone who knows me knows I read the ends of ALL books first, even textbooks.)
Setting: In the ’96-’97 school year, almost completely at Hogwarts.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: It’s been rough the last few years for our now sixteen-year-old hero. He’s lost a classmate and his godfather to Lord Voldemort and his allies. And he now lives with the full weight of the prophesy made about him years ago and the knowledge that he must be the one to face Lord Voldemort. But there is some respite for the weary, as Harry gets to do some ‘normal’ things for a change, including captaining his house Quidditch team, studying for his upcoming NEWT exams, and falling for someone new. Sadly, this someone new is Ron’s little sister, Ginny. Figuring out how to get Ginny to notice him and not having Ron kill him is the least of Harry’s worries this year. His favorite and best class, Defense Against the Dark Arts, is being taught by Professor Snape this year, making it almost as unbearable as the year before. Thankfully he has a potions book, annotated by the Half-Blood Prince, whoever that is, to help him with the new Potions Master, who had a special affection for Harry’s mother. And Dumbledore has Harry studying with him in particular this year, privately and alone. Dumbledore is preparing Harry to face his greatest challenge, but will Harry find all the answers he needs in the mystery of Tom Riddle?
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron is flying high after leading the Quidditch team to a House Cup the year before, and looking forward to making the team again under the leadership of his best mate. Not even Quidditch is simple for Ron, though, who not only has to worry about his performance issues, but about the changes in his relationship with Hermione, and his sister Ginny’s popularity with the boys. When he loses his temper and ends up dating Lavender Brown, he not only hurts Hermione, but makes a mess he isn’t so sure he can get out of readily. But Ron has his best friend Harry to help him out when he’s being stupid, and Hermione isn’t as lost as he thinks. It’s their deep loyalty to one another that will hold them in stead for the things to come.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, studies aside, Hermione is having a tough year. Just when she thought things between her and Ron were changing, he grew angry and began dating Lavender Brown, her roommate, and she has to face the two of them all over each other all the time. And then Harry is outperforming her for a change in Potions with a textbook she is sure is a form of cheating. Nothing seems to be going her way this year. But she will find that her boys will need her more than ever in the days and weeks to come, and when the unthinkable happens and puts them all in danger, it will tie her to Harry and Ron even more closely than they were before.
Ginny Weasley: Ron’s younger sister, she is starting to come into her own, and becoming more and more popular, particularly with the boys. And amongst her admirers is suddenly Harry. Ginny comes up big on the Quidditch field, and suddenly she comes up big in the romance department as well, as the one boy she’s always cared for suddenly feels the same way about her.
Professor Dumbledore: Injured in some unexplained accident before the start of term, Dumbledore seems to be trying his best to prepare everyone for the war to come. Even more so, he is trying the help Harry finally understand just who and what he is up against in the form of Lord Voldemort, where he came from, and how to defeat him. But the dangers are looming on the horizon, and will he be able to impart all that Harry needs to know before Harry must face Voldemort?
Severus Snape: Now finally in the position he always wanted, Snape seems delighted that he can make Harry and the others lives miserable at a subject he knows so well. But what games is Snape playing at anyway? Harry feels he should trust him to some degree as a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and Dumbledore refuses to Harry’s insistence that there might be something more going on with the new Defense teacher. What is it that Dumbledore is so sure of that he won’t share with anyone else?
Horace Slughorn: A former Potions teacher at Hogwarts, he was infamous for having favorites and ensuring his students found good positions after school to ensure he had a web of highly placed connections with which to make his life comfortable. One of his favorites was Harry’s mother, Lily. After the last war, he retired, and since the start of this one, he has gone into hiding, knowing that he could be in danger because of who and what he knows through his network. Dumbledore convinces him to return to Hogwarts as a teacher, to side firmly with Dumbledore, and be safe. He is easily talked into it, especially with the thought of having “The Boy Who Lived” as one of his pupils.
Remus Lupin: Harry’s former Defense teacher, and best friend of James and Sirius, he has gone deep undercover tracking Fenrir Greyback, an evil werewolf who preys on children, such as Remus when he was bitten as a boy.
Nymphadora Tonks: While doing double duty for the Ministry and the Order, Tonks seems to be depressed and listless, even her hair is its normal color rather than one of her favorite crazy ones. Harry assumes that it must be due in part to Sirius’s death, and that perhaps she was in love with her cousin.
Fred and George Weasley: Ron’s older twin brothers, they have left Hogwarts and have started a joke shop in Diagon Alley called Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes.
Bill Weasley: Ron’s oldest brother, he works for Gringott’s Bank as a curse breaker. He is engaged to Fleur Delacour, one of Harry’s rival champions at the Tri-Wizards Tournament.
Fleur Delacour: One of Harry’s former Tri-Wizard Championship rivals, she has fallen in love with Bill Weasley and the two are engaged, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny, who dislike her.
Draco Malfoy: The archenemy of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he has become a Deatheater over the summer, in retaliation for his father’s failure at the Ministry of Magic. He is charged with a horrible task, one that, if he doesn’t complete it well it could cost him his life.
Bellatrix Lestrange: One of Voldemort’s trusted leaders; she is the sister to Narcissa Malfoy and aunt to Draco. She distrusts Severus Snape, and is proud of her nephew for the mantel he’s taken on as a Deatheater.
Lucius Malfoy: The father of Draco, he was one of Voldemort’s most trusted leaders, but when he failed at the Ministry he not only was arrested and sent to Azkaban, but he was in disgrace with the Dark Lord as well. His disgrace has dire consequences for his son, ones that could lead to Draco’s eventual demise.
Rufus Scrimgeor: The new Minister of Magic and former head of the Auror division, he has set out to take a head on approach towards Voldemort, as well as repair the damage done to the Ministry’s reputation caused by the ineptness of Cornelius Fudge. He would like Harry to speak up about being the so called “Chosen One” as well as show his support for the Ministry, something Harry refuses to do. He seems more fond of getting Dumbledore and Harry to play politics with him than actually working with them to help stop Voldemort, though he is more accepting of the work Dumbledore is doing than Fudge ever was.
Plot: After the loss of his godfather, sixteen-year-old Harry has been despondent. Not even the public’s terrified realization that “You-Know-Who” has returned is a balm to him, rather it is a reminder of the horrible realization he has discovered. He is the only one who can face Voldemort, and it will either end up with him being a murder, or him being dead. But while the war between Voldemort and the Ministry begins, and the Death Eaters start their reign of terror, Harry begins his sixth year at Hogwarts. This year brings many other, more positive changes for Harry, he is named the Captain of the Quidditch team, and he has become a natural leader amongst his other students. Many look up to him, especially after his leadership of Dumbledore’s Army the year before. But there are not-so-good changes as well, as Snape has finally been granted the post of Defense teacher, and Harry’s favorite class is now an exercise in holding his temper. At least in Potions he is excelling, thanks to the help of a mysterious Potions textbook with notes from a mysterious former student who calls themselves the “Half-blood Prince”. The Prince can’t help Harry in affairs of the heart, when he finds himself falling rather hard for someone rather unexpected…Ron’s little sister, Ginny. It certainly doesn’t help when Ron begins dating Lavender Brown, hurting Hermione and causing a rift between them that Harry has to navigate carefully. But none of these issues compares to the problem of Lord Voldemort and how to defeat him. Only Professor Dumbeldore seems to know the answers to that, and he begins teaching Harry the secrets of just who Tom Marvolo Riddle was, and what he did, and how this orphaned boy became the evil wizard Lord Voldemort. In this, he hopes that Harry will learn just how it was that Voldemort lived on that night so long ago when Harry’s parents died, and how is it that Harry can possibly defeat him.
Themes:
Even the Dark Lord was a boy once: Unlike Darth Vader, who started out as the sweet, cute, and helpful Anakin Skywalker, Lord Voldemort started out as a mean, creepy, sociopathic, psycho kid named Tom Riddle. To be honest…yeah, he was messed up, we are talking Stephen King level of messed up. When you meet his family, the Gaunts, and see how inbred and backwards they are, it’s little wonder that Tom Riddle is a bit…different. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree there. And his father’s family, the rich, indolent Muggles the Riddles, with their upper crust disdain for everyone and everything, he has it no better on his dad’s side. One can criticize the Dark Lord for not making better choices, for deciding to do the evil things he did, as everyone has a choice to do and be something different. But with that genetic pool to choose from, its small wonder Lord Voldmort became what he became. Still, I find it hard to feel sorry for him, Harry was an orphan as well, and from all accounts had a much harder childhood than Tom did in his orphanage, and didn’t make the choices Tom Riddle did, nor did he blame his parents for the situation and try to subvert it somehow. In the end, Lord Voldemort comes out even more evil in my mind because he willfully made the decisions he did, and even if he did have a banana or two missing from the bunch, he could have chosen differently. He just didn’t. Who knows, maybe the nuttiness in his head meant he couldn’t even begin seeing the issue differently, it’s hard saying. What a wack job.
Sometimes a kid has to be a kid: One thing Harry has never been is ‘normal’. This is the one book in the series where we see Harry finally, for once, being comfortable in his own skin. He is growing up before our very eyes, and enjoying being a sixteen-year-old kid who has all the same problems other kids his age do. He has to deal with the adulation of girls younger than him who wish to try and make him notice them, he is stuck in the middle of a potential lover’s spat between his two best friends, (and he’s not so sure he’d be keen on the idea of the two of them hooking up), and he’s FINALLY noticed that Ginny is a cute, attractive girl. The Ginny angle is one fan’s have suspected for some time, since book one really, and many were happy to see it, (except if you happened to be one of the strange, Harry/Hermione fans who got so mad about it, that was disturbing.) Harry for once gets to deal with all the same things other kids deal with. It’s a pity that it doesn’t last.
Harry turning into an adult: Harry has been sort of at the mercy of his elders most of his life. Either he was told he was too young to understand, or he was too young to fight, but with little to no explanation about why things are happening, or what he should do about it, if anything. Much of this has of course led to bad, bad results, with even Albus Dumbledore finally coming to the realization that Harry is growing up, and what’s more, he isn’t a child anymore. While Molly Weasley hasn’t come to this conclusion, (hopefully she does by the next book), Dumbledore at least begins to treat Harry less with kid gloves, and begins to be more honest with him as to what is going on.
Harry as a leader: On top of growing up, Harry is also becoming more and more of a leader. He not only is the Captain of the Quidditch team, but he is seen by other students as someone who understands what is going on in a world that is rapidly falling apart, especially by former members of the DA. Younger students look up to Harry, part of it is natural as they all grew up with stories of Harry Potter as children, but part of it is in seeing who he is, hearing the stories of his exploits at Hogwarts, and the growing rumbles in the wizarding community about Harry being the “Chosen One.” A sign of maturity on Harry’s part, in another time, all this attention to him and dependence on him would have made him angry or frustrated. Now he simply accepts it as something that just is, and moves on.
The bonds of friendship: This book shows ever growing shifts in the bonds of friendship Harry has built for himself with those closest to him. Hermione, who he was always close to, but never as close to as Ron, begins to fill in more and more that role of older sister she’s always inhabited for Harry, giving him advice, being the sympathetic ear, and of course coming to him when her own troubles get too much for her. Just because he is Ron’s best mate doesn’t mean he doesn’t have room for Hermione in his heart when the two are feuding. With Ron, he has the ability to tell Ron the truth, even when it hurts, knowing that Ron will not hate him for it. And he doesn’t laugh at Ron about Lavender, though you get the sense he hardly approves, but instead is willing to let his friend make his mistakes and is there for him when he needs picking up. It is Harry who saves Ron’s life, binding the already close pair even further, (much like we see the relationship of James and Sirius), and Ron and Hermione are able to get over their differences, and take those first, ever so tentative steps to the changes in their own relationship. Dumbledore cautions Harry that the only two he should really ever trust are Ron and Hermione, and it is those two he entrusts his secrets, knowing that neither will break that confidence. And when he must do what he must at the end of the novel, it is Ron and Hermione who unquestioningly stand by his side, even at great personal cost to them. Their bonds of friendship go so deep now, that Harry doesn’t even try to talk them out of it. This friendship will be a key aspect to the next book of the series.
Draco Malfoy is up to something: No one else believes Harry in this, and Harry knows Draco is up to something, and that its potentially dangerous. While Harry doesn’t realize the true ramifications till too late, it does change how he perceives Malfoy, and Harry begins to understand that perhaps Draco is forced into the situation and is as much a victim in his own way as any of the countless people who have actually lost their lives.
What is up with Snape anyway: This is a questions that readers keep repeatedly asking since book one, when I think this theme first appeared in my review. Snape is a very complex character, and becomes even more so in the next book as well. What is the real motivation he has for putting up with Harry, who he clearly hates, and why is it that he hates Harry’s father so much? What was his role in the prophecy surrounding Harry, and was it really Snape who set up Harry’s family for the ultimate betrayal by Peter Pettigrew? Even worse, was Snape ever REALLY a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and why was it that Dumbledore trusted him so much anyway?
Every book sucks somewhere: Well besides the most obvious sucking point, (and if you haven’t read it, I’m not admitting to it in this review,) the book had few sucking points for me. I have to say that this is one of my more favorite books in the series, though I think 4 and 7 certainly take those top spots. Perhaps it sucks because we know this is the last of the good times at Hogwarts for Harry.
What did I like: Watching Harry grow up as a person. He starts to come into all the potential we saw for the little, stunted kid who lives his life in a broom closet, and you start to feel proud of Harry as a person.
How would I rate this wormy book: This is a big, MONSTER WORM, it sets you up so well for the ending of the series, and slowly leads you up to the top of the big, old hill for the ride of the rollercoaster finish. It is great.
Monday, June 9, 2008
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix-J.K.Rowling
How I found this book: I had to wait for this book, like everyone else! I had finally caught up to everything, but I only had to wait a year, everyone else had to wait two and a half! It was my first Potter book release, though, and the anticipation made it a lot of fun.
Setting: The ’95-’96 school year, starting at Grimmauld Place and ending in the Ministry of Magic, with lots of Hogwarts castle in between.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: Harry has had a lot to worry about the summer he turns 15. Still reeling over the return of Voldemort and the death of Cedric Diggory, he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it doesn’t seem to be. Instead, he’s having to deal with an increasingly more antagonistic Ministry of Magic, as the Daily Prophet is calling himself and Dumbledore liars and worse. Even his own classmates wonder if he’s making it up, let alone what happened that horrible night the year before. And no one, not even Dumbledore, is telling him anything, and frankly he’s pissed off and fed up. Harry doesn’t back down from what he says, however, despite the accusations, and he finds it within himself to be the leader that his classmates need in the storm that he knows is coming.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron has done the one thing he hadn’t expected to do, make Prefect. While he’s pleased that he too has the honor that several of his older siblings have had, he has to live with the taunts of Fred and George, who don’t hold much stock with Prefects. It’s a tough balancing game for Ron, between taking his new duties seriously, and not getting on his twin older brothers bad side. On top of that, Ron goes out for Quidditch for the first time, but unlike his brothers and Harry seems to have much more performance issues. In the meantime, there are the worries about the war, and the growing threat that no one seems to be addressing, and Harry is getting increasingly touchy with everyone as nobody believes him. Ron and Hermione decide that perhaps they should push their friend into a leadership position, to have him teach them how to protect themselves when no one else will.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, Hermione is thrilled at being made a Prefect. But for Hermione, who is normally as ‘by the book’ and proper as they come, she can not stomach the idea that no one is preparing them for the threat of Voldemort, and that no one is taking Harry seriously. She and Ron decide it is time for them to learn some real Defense Against the Dark Arts, and they convince Harry that he’s just the person to teach them.
Cho Chang: Still grieving over the loss of Cedric, Cho finds herself returning Harry’s attraction, though her memories of Cedric seem to make everything so very complicated.
Professor Dumbledore: In much of the same boat as Harry in terms of public opinion, Dumbledore has busied himself with the running of the re-formed Order of the Phoenix, the organization he had put together years before to help fight against Voldemort. As much as Harry would like for Dumbledore to start giving him answers, the Headmaster seems to be trying to avoid Harry, without a real explanation as to why.
Delores Umbridge: As the Ministry, (read Minister Fudge), becomes more and more paranoid about Dumbledore and his actions, they send Delores Umbridge to serve as his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and general overseer. She has some very definite opinions on how the school should be run, especially in teaching the Dark Arts, something Harry, Ron, and Hermione object to. She is most concerned with squelching the ‘rumors’ of “He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named’s” return, and silencing Harry at every possible turn.
Severus Snape: The still disgruntled Potions Master at Hogwarts, he has resumed his double role as both a Deatheater in the service of Voldemort and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, acting as a double-agent. He taunts Sirius Black on the fact that he is confined to the headquarters and not out doing ‘real’ missions. He is supposed to teach Harry the art of Occulmency, but fails doing that.
Sirius Black: Harry’s godfather and owner of Grimmauld Place, he offers it to the Order of the Phoenix as a headquarters, but resents the fact that he’s kept there in secret, unable to go out and help the Order because of his status as a fugitive.
Remus Lupin: Harry’s former Defense teacher, he has re-joined the order, and keeps an eye both on Sirius and for the Order.
Nymphadora Tonks: A rather accident prone and clumsy Auror, she has a metamorphmagus, with the ability to change her shape, (most often her hair). She has joined the Order of the Phoenix. She is the niece of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and cousin of Sirius Black.
“Mad Eye” Moody: The real Moody this time, he is about as irascible and eccentric as the fake Moody. He is also a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Fred and George Weasley: Ron’s older twin brothers, they have created a new business together, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, and are attempting to try their products on their fellow students, much to the chagrin of Prefect Hermione. Their pranks will come in good stead with Delores Umbridge around, becoming a dictator in the school.
Ginny Weasley: Ron’s younger sister, she becomes a member of Harry’s new “Dumbledore’s Army’.
Luna Lovegood: A strange Ravenclaw in Ginny’s year, her father runs The Quibbler, a magazine that focuses on conspiracy theories and mythical (for wizards) animals. She seems to be convinced that many of these strange creatures exist, and expounds upon them when asked. She joins “Dumbledore’s Army” as well, and proves to not only be a talented witch, but a rather more insightful one than anyone realized.
Neville Longbottom: One of Harry’s roommates in Gryffindor Tower, Neville throughout the series has been something of a shy, nervous boy, who has yet to come out of his shell. But when the woman who engineered the torturing of his parents escapes from Azkaban, Neville joins Harry’s “DA”, and begins to blossom and come into his own.
Draco Malfoy: The archenemy of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he is enjoying the reign of terror that Professor Umbridge is imposing on Hogwarts, especially since it tends to benefit him.
Bellatrix Lestrange: The cousin to Sirius Black, and sister to Narcissa Malfoy, she is one of Voldemort’s main lieutenants, and is responsible for the torturing of Neville Longbottom’s parents.
Lucius Malfoy: The father of Draco, and one of the richest and most influential members of wizarding society, he seems to be helping to convince Minster Fudge that Dumbledore and Harry are rabble-rousers and just trying to stir things up. He is also a former key lieutenant in Voldemort’s Death Eaters.
Lord Voldemort: The newly restored Dark Lord lays low for most of the book, before returning towards the end in a spectacular duel with Professor Dumbledore.
Plot: War has come to the wizarding world, only no one seems to know it. Harry Potter spends the summer he turns 15 waiting to hear the awful news of the killings and disappearances now that Lord Voldemort has returned, but the dark wizard is strangely quiet. Harry has a whole other set of problems though when he returns to the magical world. He discovers that no one in the wizarding world takes him seriously and believes he and Dumbledore are making up the story so Dumbledore can take power. This leads to new, sudden Ministry interference in Hogwarts, in the form of Professor Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who seems determined to prove that Harry is a liar and that there is nothing to worry about. And worse, no one in the re-formed “Order of the Phoenix” is willing to tell him anything about what is going on with Voldemort, especially not Professor Dumbledore, who seems to be avoiding him. Frustrated at the lack of progress on anything, and knowing that his fellow students will be totally unprepared for what comes, Harry, Hermione, and Ron for a secretive group to help learn how to fight in the coming war. But what will the tyrannical Umbridge say about it when she discovers what they are up to? And why has Lord Voldemort been quiet all this time anyway?
Themes:
Kids, why do they want to grow up anyway: Throughout the series, Rowling has presented children, and in particular Harry, as being much more aware of the world than many of the adults they deal with care to admit. Often this leads to consequences as the children must act on presuppositions they have built because they lack the input from the adults that could have prevented things from happening. Many of Harry’s adventures actually start this way. While the case may be made that ‘they are too young’ and ‘you should let the adults handle it’, and I’m not denying that, and I don’t think Rowling is either, by not being honest with them from the start, it can lead to a world of hurt latter on by not recognizing that they are as part of things as everything else. That’s not to say you should send your kids to war, by no means, but don’t be secretive about what is going on…chances are, they will find out through other means and will make their own judgments on it. This goes with a lot of things in kids lives, such as drugs, sex, violence…you get the picture.
Rage Against the Machine: Being 15 is fun! You get to be angry all the time and hate authority, and no one thinks badly of you. They all shrug and say ‘it’s a phase’. It’s true, oh Holden Caulfields of the world, it is. And Harry spends much of this book being angry at everyone. Caps lock Harry screams at everyone, from his friends, to Professor Dumbledore. Sometimes he has a good reason, and sometimes…well. You can’t blame the kid, he’s going through a lot, and people seem to still think of him as this cute, vulnerable one-year-old, when in reality he’s inching ever closer to being legally a man in the wizarding world.
Girls are a VERY complicated thing: I think Harry’s first real relationship was handled so well. The first one is always strange and weird, especially when it’s wrapped up in a situation as complex as Cho’s. But I think Rowling handled it with humor and sympathy, and with all the confusion a fifteen-year-old would have about it.
Damn the man, save the Empire: Adults tend to forget that the youth are a dynamic force of change, and when they set their sights to change the world, that’s what they are out to do. The young people in this book rebel against what they see as tyranny, (it is), and go about learning how to protect themselves in the only way possible. They don’t take orders from the Ministry lying down. And you have to respect a bunch of kids who are willing to stand and fight, even when it’s the last thing their parents would want them to do. Ahh, the young and idealistic.
What happens when we die: Harry has had to deal with more death in his young life than is possibly fair. It is only reasonable that he would have questions to ask regarding it, and about how to handle it, what happens afterwards, and the separation of loss. These are important themes in Rowlings book, the fact that the dead do not come back, and that despite this, we have to go on living. It’s a hard lesson for Harry to learn, how to keep on losing but keep on living. It’s very important for him to learn though, as the story progresses, because Harry and his understanding of death is a key concept to the entire story.
Every book sucks somewhere: Umbridge….I…I still can’t stand that character. I feel physically ill reading about that character. The woman was so horrible…..ahhh….there are whole sections of the book I couldn’t read. I can say that there has never been another character in all of fiction who has elicited such a visceral reaction out of me.
What did I like: This isn’t a happy, fun book. This is an angry, frustrating book, with Harry being attacked from all sides and lashing out. In other words, it’s him growing up. Harry isn’t staying this cute, starry eyed kid anymore, but is becoming a real person, a grown up person, and it’s wonderful to see him do it. Everything from his first kiss, to dealing with death, Harry has a lot of things to understand, a lot of it he doesn’t get, and some he doesn’t handle particularly well or messes up completely, putting people in danger. In other words, he’s a human hero, and I love that Rowling wasn’t afraid to knock her boy around a bit.
How would I rate this wormy book: This one only gets a FAT WORM from me as it is actually is my least favorite of the Harry Potter series. Umbridge…yeah, she was just too much for me. And Angry Harry got a bit out of hand after a while. And Sirius…yeah, well that was awful. It was just a brutal, brutal book. And while I appreciate it for that…Umbridge…oye.
How I found this book: I had to wait for this book, like everyone else! I had finally caught up to everything, but I only had to wait a year, everyone else had to wait two and a half! It was my first Potter book release, though, and the anticipation made it a lot of fun.
Setting: The ’95-’96 school year, starting at Grimmauld Place and ending in the Ministry of Magic, with lots of Hogwarts castle in between.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: Harry has had a lot to worry about the summer he turns 15. Still reeling over the return of Voldemort and the death of Cedric Diggory, he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. But it doesn’t seem to be. Instead, he’s having to deal with an increasingly more antagonistic Ministry of Magic, as the Daily Prophet is calling himself and Dumbledore liars and worse. Even his own classmates wonder if he’s making it up, let alone what happened that horrible night the year before. And no one, not even Dumbledore, is telling him anything, and frankly he’s pissed off and fed up. Harry doesn’t back down from what he says, however, despite the accusations, and he finds it within himself to be the leader that his classmates need in the storm that he knows is coming.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron has done the one thing he hadn’t expected to do, make Prefect. While he’s pleased that he too has the honor that several of his older siblings have had, he has to live with the taunts of Fred and George, who don’t hold much stock with Prefects. It’s a tough balancing game for Ron, between taking his new duties seriously, and not getting on his twin older brothers bad side. On top of that, Ron goes out for Quidditch for the first time, but unlike his brothers and Harry seems to have much more performance issues. In the meantime, there are the worries about the war, and the growing threat that no one seems to be addressing, and Harry is getting increasingly touchy with everyone as nobody believes him. Ron and Hermione decide that perhaps they should push their friend into a leadership position, to have him teach them how to protect themselves when no one else will.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, Hermione is thrilled at being made a Prefect. But for Hermione, who is normally as ‘by the book’ and proper as they come, she can not stomach the idea that no one is preparing them for the threat of Voldemort, and that no one is taking Harry seriously. She and Ron decide it is time for them to learn some real Defense Against the Dark Arts, and they convince Harry that he’s just the person to teach them.
Cho Chang: Still grieving over the loss of Cedric, Cho finds herself returning Harry’s attraction, though her memories of Cedric seem to make everything so very complicated.
Professor Dumbledore: In much of the same boat as Harry in terms of public opinion, Dumbledore has busied himself with the running of the re-formed Order of the Phoenix, the organization he had put together years before to help fight against Voldemort. As much as Harry would like for Dumbledore to start giving him answers, the Headmaster seems to be trying to avoid Harry, without a real explanation as to why.
Delores Umbridge: As the Ministry, (read Minister Fudge), becomes more and more paranoid about Dumbledore and his actions, they send Delores Umbridge to serve as his new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and general overseer. She has some very definite opinions on how the school should be run, especially in teaching the Dark Arts, something Harry, Ron, and Hermione object to. She is most concerned with squelching the ‘rumors’ of “He-Who-Must-Not-Be Named’s” return, and silencing Harry at every possible turn.
Severus Snape: The still disgruntled Potions Master at Hogwarts, he has resumed his double role as both a Deatheater in the service of Voldemort and a member of the Order of the Phoenix, acting as a double-agent. He taunts Sirius Black on the fact that he is confined to the headquarters and not out doing ‘real’ missions. He is supposed to teach Harry the art of Occulmency, but fails doing that.
Sirius Black: Harry’s godfather and owner of Grimmauld Place, he offers it to the Order of the Phoenix as a headquarters, but resents the fact that he’s kept there in secret, unable to go out and help the Order because of his status as a fugitive.
Remus Lupin: Harry’s former Defense teacher, he has re-joined the order, and keeps an eye both on Sirius and for the Order.
Nymphadora Tonks: A rather accident prone and clumsy Auror, she has a metamorphmagus, with the ability to change her shape, (most often her hair). She has joined the Order of the Phoenix. She is the niece of Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy, and cousin of Sirius Black.
“Mad Eye” Moody: The real Moody this time, he is about as irascible and eccentric as the fake Moody. He is also a member of the Order of the Phoenix.
Fred and George Weasley: Ron’s older twin brothers, they have created a new business together, Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes, and are attempting to try their products on their fellow students, much to the chagrin of Prefect Hermione. Their pranks will come in good stead with Delores Umbridge around, becoming a dictator in the school.
Ginny Weasley: Ron’s younger sister, she becomes a member of Harry’s new “Dumbledore’s Army’.
Luna Lovegood: A strange Ravenclaw in Ginny’s year, her father runs The Quibbler, a magazine that focuses on conspiracy theories and mythical (for wizards) animals. She seems to be convinced that many of these strange creatures exist, and expounds upon them when asked. She joins “Dumbledore’s Army” as well, and proves to not only be a talented witch, but a rather more insightful one than anyone realized.
Neville Longbottom: One of Harry’s roommates in Gryffindor Tower, Neville throughout the series has been something of a shy, nervous boy, who has yet to come out of his shell. But when the woman who engineered the torturing of his parents escapes from Azkaban, Neville joins Harry’s “DA”, and begins to blossom and come into his own.
Draco Malfoy: The archenemy of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he is enjoying the reign of terror that Professor Umbridge is imposing on Hogwarts, especially since it tends to benefit him.
Bellatrix Lestrange: The cousin to Sirius Black, and sister to Narcissa Malfoy, she is one of Voldemort’s main lieutenants, and is responsible for the torturing of Neville Longbottom’s parents.
Lucius Malfoy: The father of Draco, and one of the richest and most influential members of wizarding society, he seems to be helping to convince Minster Fudge that Dumbledore and Harry are rabble-rousers and just trying to stir things up. He is also a former key lieutenant in Voldemort’s Death Eaters.
Lord Voldemort: The newly restored Dark Lord lays low for most of the book, before returning towards the end in a spectacular duel with Professor Dumbledore.
Plot: War has come to the wizarding world, only no one seems to know it. Harry Potter spends the summer he turns 15 waiting to hear the awful news of the killings and disappearances now that Lord Voldemort has returned, but the dark wizard is strangely quiet. Harry has a whole other set of problems though when he returns to the magical world. He discovers that no one in the wizarding world takes him seriously and believes he and Dumbledore are making up the story so Dumbledore can take power. This leads to new, sudden Ministry interference in Hogwarts, in the form of Professor Umbridge, the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who seems determined to prove that Harry is a liar and that there is nothing to worry about. And worse, no one in the re-formed “Order of the Phoenix” is willing to tell him anything about what is going on with Voldemort, especially not Professor Dumbledore, who seems to be avoiding him. Frustrated at the lack of progress on anything, and knowing that his fellow students will be totally unprepared for what comes, Harry, Hermione, and Ron for a secretive group to help learn how to fight in the coming war. But what will the tyrannical Umbridge say about it when she discovers what they are up to? And why has Lord Voldemort been quiet all this time anyway?
Themes:
Kids, why do they want to grow up anyway: Throughout the series, Rowling has presented children, and in particular Harry, as being much more aware of the world than many of the adults they deal with care to admit. Often this leads to consequences as the children must act on presuppositions they have built because they lack the input from the adults that could have prevented things from happening. Many of Harry’s adventures actually start this way. While the case may be made that ‘they are too young’ and ‘you should let the adults handle it’, and I’m not denying that, and I don’t think Rowling is either, by not being honest with them from the start, it can lead to a world of hurt latter on by not recognizing that they are as part of things as everything else. That’s not to say you should send your kids to war, by no means, but don’t be secretive about what is going on…chances are, they will find out through other means and will make their own judgments on it. This goes with a lot of things in kids lives, such as drugs, sex, violence…you get the picture.
Rage Against the Machine: Being 15 is fun! You get to be angry all the time and hate authority, and no one thinks badly of you. They all shrug and say ‘it’s a phase’. It’s true, oh Holden Caulfields of the world, it is. And Harry spends much of this book being angry at everyone. Caps lock Harry screams at everyone, from his friends, to Professor Dumbledore. Sometimes he has a good reason, and sometimes…well. You can’t blame the kid, he’s going through a lot, and people seem to still think of him as this cute, vulnerable one-year-old, when in reality he’s inching ever closer to being legally a man in the wizarding world.
Girls are a VERY complicated thing: I think Harry’s first real relationship was handled so well. The first one is always strange and weird, especially when it’s wrapped up in a situation as complex as Cho’s. But I think Rowling handled it with humor and sympathy, and with all the confusion a fifteen-year-old would have about it.
Damn the man, save the Empire: Adults tend to forget that the youth are a dynamic force of change, and when they set their sights to change the world, that’s what they are out to do. The young people in this book rebel against what they see as tyranny, (it is), and go about learning how to protect themselves in the only way possible. They don’t take orders from the Ministry lying down. And you have to respect a bunch of kids who are willing to stand and fight, even when it’s the last thing their parents would want them to do. Ahh, the young and idealistic.
What happens when we die: Harry has had to deal with more death in his young life than is possibly fair. It is only reasonable that he would have questions to ask regarding it, and about how to handle it, what happens afterwards, and the separation of loss. These are important themes in Rowlings book, the fact that the dead do not come back, and that despite this, we have to go on living. It’s a hard lesson for Harry to learn, how to keep on losing but keep on living. It’s very important for him to learn though, as the story progresses, because Harry and his understanding of death is a key concept to the entire story.
Every book sucks somewhere: Umbridge….I…I still can’t stand that character. I feel physically ill reading about that character. The woman was so horrible…..ahhh….there are whole sections of the book I couldn’t read. I can say that there has never been another character in all of fiction who has elicited such a visceral reaction out of me.
What did I like: This isn’t a happy, fun book. This is an angry, frustrating book, with Harry being attacked from all sides and lashing out. In other words, it’s him growing up. Harry isn’t staying this cute, starry eyed kid anymore, but is becoming a real person, a grown up person, and it’s wonderful to see him do it. Everything from his first kiss, to dealing with death, Harry has a lot of things to understand, a lot of it he doesn’t get, and some he doesn’t handle particularly well or messes up completely, putting people in danger. In other words, he’s a human hero, and I love that Rowling wasn’t afraid to knock her boy around a bit.
How would I rate this wormy book: This one only gets a FAT WORM from me as it is actually is my least favorite of the Harry Potter series. Umbridge…yeah, she was just too much for me. And Angry Harry got a bit out of hand after a while. And Sirius…yeah, well that was awful. It was just a brutal, brutal book. And while I appreciate it for that…Umbridge…oye.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire-J.K.Rowling
How I found this book: This was actually the first Harry Potter book I had ever heard of. It came out the summer before the first movie, and that was when Potter-mania had first hit American shores, (around 2000). I didn’t get it then, especially when I heard it was a kid’s book. Man, I didn’t know what I was in for.
Setting: The ’94-’95 school year, (ahh, the year I graduated high school), mostly at Hogwarts School, though the opening takes place at the Quidditch World Cup.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: Our hero is now fourteen, and is preparing to go to see the Quidditch World Cup final. When things don’t go as expected, though, Harry begins seeing that there is an undercurrent of something going on, though he isn’t sure what that something is, though he worries that it might be connected to the strange pain he is feeling in his scar. His feelings of worry aren’t helped any when he starts back to school and finds that his name has been entered, without his knowledge, into the Tri-Wizard Tournament, an inter-school event Hogwarts is hosting this year. Now, Harry must fight his way through challenges that are designed for someone much older and more skilled than himself, and hope that he gets through it all alive. If he’s lucky, he might actually win the Tri-Wizard cup and all its glory for himself.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron is having a rough go of it this year. Worried about finances, with growing pressure to outshine his older siblings, having his already famous best friend now get into the Tri-Wizard’s tournament is too much for Ron, and he lashes out at Harry. It’s only when he sees the true danger his friend is in that he realizes not only that someone is seriously out to kill Harry, but just how important his friend is in his life. Hermione as well manages to predictably irritate Ron again, this time it’s because Hermione has notices a certain handsome, young Quidditch player and fellow champion from Bulgaria. Though he hasn’t quite figured out why it is that this bothers him, he certainly does make life difficult for his friends.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, the boys in her life do not make things easy for her. Harry being shanghaied into the Tri-Wizard Tournament is one thing, but when the two have their first real fight and don’t speak to each other for weeks, Hermione is forced to play go between for her two closest friends, something she rather hates doing. And then there is the Bulgarian champion, a young boy named Viktor Krum, who seems to be paying attention to her in ways neither Harry nor Ron ever would. Hermione is growing up, perhaps faster than her two male friends, but in true Hermione fashion she would never leave them behind.
Cho Chang: The Ravenclaw Seeker, and a smart, pretty girl, Harry has a secret crush on her, and would like nothing better to impress her enough to make her want to go out with him.
Cedric Diggory: One of the Tri-Wizards champions, a popular and handsome seventh year Hufflepuff, Cedric is the favorite for many at Hogwarts, especially since several people think Harry stole Cedric’s thunder by sneaking into the tournament.
Fleur Delacour: A beautiful girl from Beauxbaton Academy and of the same age as Cedric Diggory, Fleur is her schools champion. She appears to be pretty and frail, and a cold person who hates everything about England, except for flirting with the boys. But she is stronger than she lets on, and does have a good heart, especially in regards to her sister, and has more than a passing interest in Ron’s oldest brother, Bill.
Viktor Krum: The champion from Durmstrang School, Viktor is already a celebrity as he was the celebrated Bulgarian Seeker from the Quidditch World Cup. Harry finds him all right, though Ron, who at first idolized him, now hates him as Viktor has shown a lot of attention towards Hermione. And Ron, for one, doesn’t really like that too much.
Professor Dumbledore: The Hogwarts Headmaster, he is concerned about the Tournament, especially Harry being in it, and he’s beginning to notice some troubling signs occurring in the world beyond Hogwarts, ones that don’t bode well.
Igor Karkaroff: The head of Durmstrang School, and a former Deatheater who served under Lord Voldemort.
Madam Maxime: The head of Beauxbaton, and the love interest of Hagrid. It is revealed in their relationship that both of them are descendants from giants.
Rita Skeeter: A reporter for the Daily Prophet, Rita is as nosey as she is scandalous, and writes all sorts of gossip, twisting stories around to get the most sensational scoop. Harry has no use for her, and Hermione makes it her mission to get revenge on Rita after a particularly nasty story came out regarding her.
Sirius Black: Harry’s godfather, and an escaped criminal on the run, Sirius returns to England both to keep an eye on his godson, but because of the disturbing things he too has begun to notice going on.
Barty Crouch: The Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, he is a distant, precise little man, a stickler for rules, who at one time was considered a favorite to be the Minister of Magic. This changed when his son, Barty Jr., was discovered to be a Deatheater. He now is in charge of helping to run the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and is one of the judges.
Ludo Bagman: A former famous Quidditch player, and Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. He is a compulsive gambler, making a bet with the Weasley twins on the World Cup match, and is one of the judges of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He was at one time suspected of being a Deatheater, but was cleared on those charges as it was clear he thought he was assisting a friend of his father’s.
Alaistor “Mad Eye” Moody: A former Auror during the first war against Voldemort, he is asked to teach at Hogwarts as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He is a tough, grizzled, slightly frightening character, with a magical eye that can see through many objects, replacing an eye he had lost fighting Death Eaters. He is cantankerous and paranoid, but impresses the students with his real world experiences fighting all manner of Dark Arts.
Peter Pettigrew: Once one of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin’s dearest friends, he betrayed them all when he joined forces with Lord Voldemort and became a spy. Now he has returned to the Dark Lord, though he is weak, in an effort to help restore him to power.
Lord Voldemort: Week after fourteen years outside of his body, Voldemort is attempting to return to the land of the living. But only one thing can make his transformation complete, and that is the capture and slaying of Harry Potter.
Plot: Harry Potter gets a special treat the summer he turns fourteen, the chance to go to the finals of the Quidditch World Cup. The celebration is marred by the appearance of a group of hooded and cloaked figures, called Death Eaters, who seem to be the remnants of supporters for Voldemort back in the day, scaring the populace. This is only the first in a whole series of strange happenings that occur as Harry starts his fourth year at Hogwarts. However, Harry will get little time to focus on these events, as for the first time in centuries, the Tri-Wizards tournament is being held between Europe’s top magical schools, and it is being hosted at Hogwarts. Harry believes that he, like his friends, will get to sit comfortably and watch the events as everyone younger than seventeen is barred from the event. But when his name gets pulled out of the magical Goblet of Fire, Harry is forced to compete in the most dangerous situations he’s ever had to face, without the experience and knowledge the other competitors have. What’s more, his best friend, Ron, won’t speak to him, his beloved godfather, Sirius, has returned from his safe exile to keep an eye on him, and Harry is fairly certain that his name was put in the Goblet so that he could be killed. At this point, all he wants to do is to get through the Tournament in one piece. But with the pretty Cho Chang there to impress, Harry perhaps wouldn’t mind winning the Tournament, if possible, and perhaps winning the girl in the end as well. When things go horribly wrong though in the last challenge, Harry is faced with the greatest challenge of his life…how do survive the return of his arch-nemesis.
Themes:
Harry having to grow up early: Harry has already had to face things that other magical children his age would never have to live with. Now he’s being asked to do it again by going through the Tri-Wizard Tournament. While he despairs at it, and quite possibly without the extra help from his friends he wouldn’t have made it, Harry’s heart and tenacity get him through. But even in the face of the ultimate adversity, surviving Voldemort, Harry stands his ground, as best he can, showing a bravery that goes well beyond his fourteen years.
The return of Lord Voldemort: We all knew that Voldemort wasn’t dead, we just didn’t know how he’d get back to having a real body. While the scene itself is rather gruesome, the fact remains that the big baddie has returned, and he’s out for Harry. Now a new war is on, and the wizarding world will have to scramble to prevent the rise of the Dark Lord again. Not everyone is on board, especially not the status quo government, who would rather hide their heads in the sand, (typical.) This is the turning point of the series; this is the fulcrum which turns it from a whimsical tale about a boy wizard to a story about going to a magic school to a fight between good and evil.
Facing death for the first time: Nothing can properly prepare you for that first ‘real’ death you experience in your life. Sometimes it’s a family member, such as a grandparent, sometimes it’s a friend. For me it was a classmate who was killed in a drunk driving accident, (one who I wasn’t particular friends with, but whose death still shook me at 15.) I think it’s even worse when it’s a contemporary to your age, because with an older person, often there’s an element of acceptance. When it is the tragic death of someone so close to your own age in unexpected circumstances, it is something that lives with you. It’s at that point that many young people realize that they are not supernatural, that they aren’t immortal, and that they too can die. I think Jo Rowling handled it as matter-of-factly as possible, without bending to the idea that you can’t discuss death in a children’s book, (I think this series stopped being a children’s book right here.)
Nothing will ever be the same: There are defining moments in history, and in everyone’s lives, and those moments mean that everything we though was comfortable is gone now. Often times that situation is war, but it could be a disaster, or even a sudden shattering of ones family. It’s sad that in real life we face this as well, but I think Jo Rowling, in her use of it in her fantasy world, has helped her readers understand how those tough times come, and giving them a character to relate to in terms of getting through those tough times. I know even I, a grown adult, would murmur to myself I needed to be a “brave Gryffindor” when life was getting to one of those breaking points.
Every book sucks somewhere: I can pick one, massively sucky part…Lord Voldemort returned. I know, I know, we have been expecting it, but…oh God, that sucked.
What did I like: Everything. This is my favorite book in the entire series, the one book where everything changed, (though book seven runs a close, close second). I though that the tension was great, the sense of foreboding really set you up for the ending, and the finish really puts you at that cross-roads concerning, “now, where do we go.” It’s a roller-coaster ride to the final three books, and I think it’s at this book, Book Four, that I really, truly fell in love with the Harry Potter series.
How would I rate this wormy book: MONSTER! Go, buy it, read it, try not to cry at the end. I didn’t manage it…there is an embarrassing story involving me getting drunk at a party right after this book and crying in someone’s bathtub over the end. Regardless, it’s a great book, and if you were only ‘meh’ about the HP series up to this point, read it. It really does bring a whole new dimension to the series after this.
How I found this book: This was actually the first Harry Potter book I had ever heard of. It came out the summer before the first movie, and that was when Potter-mania had first hit American shores, (around 2000). I didn’t get it then, especially when I heard it was a kid’s book. Man, I didn’t know what I was in for.
Setting: The ’94-’95 school year, (ahh, the year I graduated high school), mostly at Hogwarts School, though the opening takes place at the Quidditch World Cup.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: Our hero is now fourteen, and is preparing to go to see the Quidditch World Cup final. When things don’t go as expected, though, Harry begins seeing that there is an undercurrent of something going on, though he isn’t sure what that something is, though he worries that it might be connected to the strange pain he is feeling in his scar. His feelings of worry aren’t helped any when he starts back to school and finds that his name has been entered, without his knowledge, into the Tri-Wizard Tournament, an inter-school event Hogwarts is hosting this year. Now, Harry must fight his way through challenges that are designed for someone much older and more skilled than himself, and hope that he gets through it all alive. If he’s lucky, he might actually win the Tri-Wizard cup and all its glory for himself.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron is having a rough go of it this year. Worried about finances, with growing pressure to outshine his older siblings, having his already famous best friend now get into the Tri-Wizard’s tournament is too much for Ron, and he lashes out at Harry. It’s only when he sees the true danger his friend is in that he realizes not only that someone is seriously out to kill Harry, but just how important his friend is in his life. Hermione as well manages to predictably irritate Ron again, this time it’s because Hermione has notices a certain handsome, young Quidditch player and fellow champion from Bulgaria. Though he hasn’t quite figured out why it is that this bothers him, he certainly does make life difficult for his friends.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, the boys in her life do not make things easy for her. Harry being shanghaied into the Tri-Wizard Tournament is one thing, but when the two have their first real fight and don’t speak to each other for weeks, Hermione is forced to play go between for her two closest friends, something she rather hates doing. And then there is the Bulgarian champion, a young boy named Viktor Krum, who seems to be paying attention to her in ways neither Harry nor Ron ever would. Hermione is growing up, perhaps faster than her two male friends, but in true Hermione fashion she would never leave them behind.
Cho Chang: The Ravenclaw Seeker, and a smart, pretty girl, Harry has a secret crush on her, and would like nothing better to impress her enough to make her want to go out with him.
Cedric Diggory: One of the Tri-Wizards champions, a popular and handsome seventh year Hufflepuff, Cedric is the favorite for many at Hogwarts, especially since several people think Harry stole Cedric’s thunder by sneaking into the tournament.
Fleur Delacour: A beautiful girl from Beauxbaton Academy and of the same age as Cedric Diggory, Fleur is her schools champion. She appears to be pretty and frail, and a cold person who hates everything about England, except for flirting with the boys. But she is stronger than she lets on, and does have a good heart, especially in regards to her sister, and has more than a passing interest in Ron’s oldest brother, Bill.
Viktor Krum: The champion from Durmstrang School, Viktor is already a celebrity as he was the celebrated Bulgarian Seeker from the Quidditch World Cup. Harry finds him all right, though Ron, who at first idolized him, now hates him as Viktor has shown a lot of attention towards Hermione. And Ron, for one, doesn’t really like that too much.
Professor Dumbledore: The Hogwarts Headmaster, he is concerned about the Tournament, especially Harry being in it, and he’s beginning to notice some troubling signs occurring in the world beyond Hogwarts, ones that don’t bode well.
Igor Karkaroff: The head of Durmstrang School, and a former Deatheater who served under Lord Voldemort.
Madam Maxime: The head of Beauxbaton, and the love interest of Hagrid. It is revealed in their relationship that both of them are descendants from giants.
Rita Skeeter: A reporter for the Daily Prophet, Rita is as nosey as she is scandalous, and writes all sorts of gossip, twisting stories around to get the most sensational scoop. Harry has no use for her, and Hermione makes it her mission to get revenge on Rita after a particularly nasty story came out regarding her.
Sirius Black: Harry’s godfather, and an escaped criminal on the run, Sirius returns to England both to keep an eye on his godson, but because of the disturbing things he too has begun to notice going on.
Barty Crouch: The Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, he is a distant, precise little man, a stickler for rules, who at one time was considered a favorite to be the Minister of Magic. This changed when his son, Barty Jr., was discovered to be a Deatheater. He now is in charge of helping to run the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and is one of the judges.
Ludo Bagman: A former famous Quidditch player, and Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. He is a compulsive gambler, making a bet with the Weasley twins on the World Cup match, and is one of the judges of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He was at one time suspected of being a Deatheater, but was cleared on those charges as it was clear he thought he was assisting a friend of his father’s.
Alaistor “Mad Eye” Moody: A former Auror during the first war against Voldemort, he is asked to teach at Hogwarts as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He is a tough, grizzled, slightly frightening character, with a magical eye that can see through many objects, replacing an eye he had lost fighting Death Eaters. He is cantankerous and paranoid, but impresses the students with his real world experiences fighting all manner of Dark Arts.
Peter Pettigrew: Once one of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin’s dearest friends, he betrayed them all when he joined forces with Lord Voldemort and became a spy. Now he has returned to the Dark Lord, though he is weak, in an effort to help restore him to power.
Lord Voldemort: Week after fourteen years outside of his body, Voldemort is attempting to return to the land of the living. But only one thing can make his transformation complete, and that is the capture and slaying of Harry Potter.
Plot: Harry Potter gets a special treat the summer he turns fourteen, the chance to go to the finals of the Quidditch World Cup. The celebration is marred by the appearance of a group of hooded and cloaked figures, called Death Eaters, who seem to be the remnants of supporters for Voldemort back in the day, scaring the populace. This is only the first in a whole series of strange happenings that occur as Harry starts his fourth year at Hogwarts. However, Harry will get little time to focus on these events, as for the first time in centuries, the Tri-Wizards tournament is being held between Europe’s top magical schools, and it is being hosted at Hogwarts. Harry believes that he, like his friends, will get to sit comfortably and watch the events as everyone younger than seventeen is barred from the event. But when his name gets pulled out of the magical Goblet of Fire, Harry is forced to compete in the most dangerous situations he’s ever had to face, without the experience and knowledge the other competitors have. What’s more, his best friend, Ron, won’t speak to him, his beloved godfather, Sirius, has returned from his safe exile to keep an eye on him, and Harry is fairly certain that his name was put in the Goblet so that he could be killed. At this point, all he wants to do is to get through the Tournament in one piece. But with the pretty Cho Chang there to impress, Harry perhaps wouldn’t mind winning the Tournament, if possible, and perhaps winning the girl in the end as well. When things go horribly wrong though in the last challenge, Harry is faced with the greatest challenge of his life…how do survive the return of his arch-nemesis.
Themes:
Harry having to grow up early: Harry has already had to face things that other magical children his age would never have to live with. Now he’s being asked to do it again by going through the Tri-Wizard Tournament. While he despairs at it, and quite possibly without the extra help from his friends he wouldn’t have made it, Harry’s heart and tenacity get him through. But even in the face of the ultimate adversity, surviving Voldemort, Harry stands his ground, as best he can, showing a bravery that goes well beyond his fourteen years.
The return of Lord Voldemort: We all knew that Voldemort wasn’t dead, we just didn’t know how he’d get back to having a real body. While the scene itself is rather gruesome, the fact remains that the big baddie has returned, and he’s out for Harry. Now a new war is on, and the wizarding world will have to scramble to prevent the rise of the Dark Lord again. Not everyone is on board, especially not the status quo government, who would rather hide their heads in the sand, (typical.) This is the turning point of the series; this is the fulcrum which turns it from a whimsical tale about a boy wizard to a story about going to a magic school to a fight between good and evil.
Facing death for the first time: Nothing can properly prepare you for that first ‘real’ death you experience in your life. Sometimes it’s a family member, such as a grandparent, sometimes it’s a friend. For me it was a classmate who was killed in a drunk driving accident, (one who I wasn’t particular friends with, but whose death still shook me at 15.) I think it’s even worse when it’s a contemporary to your age, because with an older person, often there’s an element of acceptance. When it is the tragic death of someone so close to your own age in unexpected circumstances, it is something that lives with you. It’s at that point that many young people realize that they are not supernatural, that they aren’t immortal, and that they too can die. I think Jo Rowling handled it as matter-of-factly as possible, without bending to the idea that you can’t discuss death in a children’s book, (I think this series stopped being a children’s book right here.)
Nothing will ever be the same: There are defining moments in history, and in everyone’s lives, and those moments mean that everything we though was comfortable is gone now. Often times that situation is war, but it could be a disaster, or even a sudden shattering of ones family. It’s sad that in real life we face this as well, but I think Jo Rowling, in her use of it in her fantasy world, has helped her readers understand how those tough times come, and giving them a character to relate to in terms of getting through those tough times. I know even I, a grown adult, would murmur to myself I needed to be a “brave Gryffindor” when life was getting to one of those breaking points.
Every book sucks somewhere: I can pick one, massively sucky part…Lord Voldemort returned. I know, I know, we have been expecting it, but…oh God, that sucked.
What did I like: Everything. This is my favorite book in the entire series, the one book where everything changed, (though book seven runs a close, close second). I though that the tension was great, the sense of foreboding really set you up for the ending, and the finish really puts you at that cross-roads concerning, “now, where do we go.” It’s a roller-coaster ride to the final three books, and I think it’s at this book, Book Four, that I really, truly fell in love with the Harry Potter series.
How would I rate this wormy book: MONSTER! Go, buy it, read it, try not to cry at the end. I didn’t manage it…there is an embarrassing story involving me getting drunk at a party right after this book and crying in someone’s bathtub over the end. Regardless, it’s a great book, and if you were only ‘meh’ about the HP series up to this point, read it. It really does bring a whole new dimension to the series after this.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-J.K. Rowling
How I found this book: I was so into the series by now that I borrowed this book from a friend to keep on reading. I did buy it for myself eventually.
Setting: The ’93-’94 school year, beginning weeks after book two, and taking place mostly at Hogwarts, with further glimpses of Diagon Alley, and the Shrieking Shack.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: After managing to ‘accidentally’ blow up his ‘Aunt’ Marge, (really Uncle Vernon’s sister and no relation to Harry), Harry returns to Hogwarts for his third year with many worries and doubts. First off the escaped criminal, Sirius Black, is after him, though Harry doesn’t know why. Second, everyone, including his Divination teacher, seems to think he’s marked for death by his sighting of a large, black dog. Then there is the Dementors, the guards of Azkaban who are looking for Black, who make Harry relieve the most horrible moment of his life over and over, the death of his parents. And to top it all off, he’s developed a crush on the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, and he doesn’t quite know what to do about it. Life doesn’t get any easier for Harry in his third year.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron keeps Harry’s spirits up during the hullabaloo regarding Black, even though he and Hermione seem to be at each others throats regarding their respective pets, Scabbers, Ron’s rat, and Crookshanks, Hermione’s cat. When Ron thinks Crookshanks has killed his beloved rat, he and Hermione spend weeks not speaking to each other, and he ignores the fact that Hermione is over-worked, and spread too thinly in what she is trying to do.
Hermione Granger: Harry’s other best friend, Hermione being studious and industrious, has enrolled in far too many classes this term, and is desperately trying to hold it all together while still maintaining her friendships…badly. Her temper is short, especially when it comes to Ron’s accusation that her cat, Crookshanks, is out to get his stupid rat, Scabbers. The two quarrel, often sticking poor Harry in the middle of it all.
Draco Malfoy: The nemesis of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he manages to not only try to have Hagrid sacked from his position at Hogwarts, but also tries to have an innocent magical creature killed for attacking him, (a situation Draco provoked.)
Professor Remus Lupin: The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he is a shabby, sickly fellow, who look much older than his rather young age. He was once a great friend of James Potter, and takes Harry under his wing to help him against his problem with Dementors. There seems to be a lingering animosity and distrust between Lupin and Snape, causing Harry to warn his new, favorite teacher about Snape and what he’s capable of.
Professor Rebeus Hagrid: Now cleared of the crimes involving the Chamber of Secrets so long ago, Hagrid is asked to come on staff as the new Professor of Care of Magical Creatures. The problem is, Hagrid’s idea of a safe, harmless Magical Creature isn’t what most people would consider either ‘safe’ or ‘harmless’.
Professor Severus Snape: Harry’s still hated Potions professor; he has some secret history and lingering distrust of Lupin, and seems to be out to personally sack the new Defense teacher.
Sirius Black: A dangerous murderer escaped from Azkaban Prison, he is out on the loose, and many assume it is because he seeks to try and find a way to resurrect the Dark Lord. Harry knows that Black is really after him, but doesn’t know why. It is only later that he realizes that Sirius Black was not only once James Potter’s greatest and dearest friend, he is also Harry’s own godfather. What’s more, he is the very man who is responsible for selling out his dear friends to Voldemort, ending in their deaths.
Scabbers: More than a mere rat, Scabbers has a dark secret, one he’s been hiding for twelve years. He wasn’t always Ron Weasley’s rat, once he was a young man too, one who had torn allegiances and committed a great betrayal.
Plot: Now thirteen, life for Harry is certainly getting more complicated. After accidentally ‘blowing up’ his uncle’s sister, Harry nearly goes on the lam before being expelled for using underage magic. But before he gets far, he is found by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Confused as to why the Minister would get involved in something like this, it is Mr. Weasley who tells Harry that Sirius Black, an infamous murderer has escaped prison and is looking for Harry. Now, as he starts his third year at Hogwarts, he is surrounded by the wraith-like, joy-sucking Dementors, who are both guarding the school and looking for Black. Harry’s particularly negative reaction to the Dementors, (he is forced to relieve his worst memory, his parents’ death), causes him no end of grief from Malfoy and his gang, and worse, his Divination teacher seems convinced that he will suffer an immanent death thanks to his sightings of a mysterious, large black dog all over the place. Not even Quidditch is a welcome relief when his broomstick is smashed in an accident. As Harry tries to slog through his difficult year, he begins to uncover some of the past of his parents and their lives, and just why exactly it was that his parents were killed that night so long ago. Harry now knows who it was that helped to kill his parents…and he would like nothing more than to see that person dead.
Themes:
Facing your fears: Harry’s plight with the Dementors is really Harry facing his own fears…his being that he’s more afraid of fear than of any one thing in particular, telling as Harry has had to deal with many more frightful things in his young life than most people have. Harry’s struggle to be able to face the Dementors without fear helps to teach Harry how to deal with all such difficult and fearful tasks in the future. Rather than being dominated by his fears, Harry seeks to find strength from them.
Revenge is a dish best served cold: Revenge is a key theme in the third story, and efforts on the parts of many people to get revenge on others. Of course, there is Draco’s typical revenge on Hagrid, as Draco wasn’t paying attention in class and made himself into a fool. There is Snape’s revenge on Lupin for the anger and resentment he felt towards Lupin, Black, and the long dead James Potter over childhood grudges decades old now. There is Harry’s desire to avenge himself on Sirius Black for the murder of his parents so long ago, denying Harry the normal childhood he’s always craved. And there is Black’s revenge on Peter Pettigrew, the friend who betrayed them all and who put Black in the position that he was in. It is a vicious cycle, revenge, one that always has nasty consequences. Thankfully, of all of them, it is Harry who has the clearest head, and makes the wisest decision, urging his father’s friends to not take out their revenge. It isn’t something James Potter would have wanted for them.
Parents are people too: Even when our parents are living, we tend to forget that they were once people too, and that they had friends, adventures, romances, and even made mistakes. Harry is only slowly learning these things about his own, long dead parents, and he is learning from the people who knew them best. Hungry for any knowledge of Lily and James he can get, he sucks up whatever Lupin imparts to him. Harry starts putting an image together of his parents, who they were, especially James, and what they were like. Of course, as with any image, it is just an image, and as we see in later books, Harry’s parents were the perfect people he builds up in his mind, just like ours aren’t.
Voldemort’s shattering of lives: While this is the only book where Voldemort has no direct influence in the book, his past crimes haunt people in Harry’s day. Not only are there hundreds who lost family members in the last war, but people like Sirius and Remus had their entire lives ruined by Voldemort, and Harry was left like several others, an orphan. It drives home to Harry just what the destructive nature of Voldemort was, and how much pain he has caused in so many lives, not just his own.
What it means to have ‘real’ family: While Harry loves the Weasleys, he doesn’t have a real family, as in terms of someone he connects to and loves like a father or mother. And the Weasleys didn’t know his parents or any of his history, so there is very little that connects Harry to them beyond affection. Finding out he has a godfather who not only loves him, but still wants him gives Harry something that he hasn’t ever had in his life before, someone who cares for him unquestioningly.
Every book sucks somewhere: This book actually has few things I think suck about it. If I had to pick anything sucky, it would be what fate doled out for Sirius Black. Jo Rowling, you are a cruel, merciless author sometimes, but I know, it has to be done. Poor Sirius is both bound by his impetuous nature, and the fact that life just dealt him a really crappy hand!
What did I like: Everything…but in particular, I liked the depth that Rowling added to all of her characters, something I felt lacking in book two. We see Harry starting to grow and mature, as well as Ron and Hermione, and realizing both where they were wrong, and what their limitations are. And we see their bond as friends growing as well, something that will be tried repeatedly over the upcoming years. I also liked how Rowling skillfully expanded even more to the story of Harry and Voldemort, showing the effect of Voldemort on the lives of all those who lived then, especially those who worked against him. And we get to learn more about the family that Harry never got to know, of James, and Lily, and their friends, (affectionately known as the Marauders in the fandom), and it has given us a whole history that, while never explored fully, adds depth to the series, and gives us a sense that this is a continuous world with real cause, effect, and a past.
How would I rate this wormy book: This one is a MONSTER WORM, and marks a turning in the series from the light, fun feeling of the first two books, to the heavier, darker tones that reflect the rest of the series. It also marks Harry’s official turning from child to teenager, and all the angst, woe, and difficulties that go with that. It certainly makes Harry much more believable and human, but at the same time taking nothing away from the heroic qualities he’s already displayed.
How I found this book: I was so into the series by now that I borrowed this book from a friend to keep on reading. I did buy it for myself eventually.
Setting: The ’93-’94 school year, beginning weeks after book two, and taking place mostly at Hogwarts, with further glimpses of Diagon Alley, and the Shrieking Shack.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: After managing to ‘accidentally’ blow up his ‘Aunt’ Marge, (really Uncle Vernon’s sister and no relation to Harry), Harry returns to Hogwarts for his third year with many worries and doubts. First off the escaped criminal, Sirius Black, is after him, though Harry doesn’t know why. Second, everyone, including his Divination teacher, seems to think he’s marked for death by his sighting of a large, black dog. Then there is the Dementors, the guards of Azkaban who are looking for Black, who make Harry relieve the most horrible moment of his life over and over, the death of his parents. And to top it all off, he’s developed a crush on the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, and he doesn’t quite know what to do about it. Life doesn’t get any easier for Harry in his third year.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, Ron keeps Harry’s spirits up during the hullabaloo regarding Black, even though he and Hermione seem to be at each others throats regarding their respective pets, Scabbers, Ron’s rat, and Crookshanks, Hermione’s cat. When Ron thinks Crookshanks has killed his beloved rat, he and Hermione spend weeks not speaking to each other, and he ignores the fact that Hermione is over-worked, and spread too thinly in what she is trying to do.
Hermione Granger: Harry’s other best friend, Hermione being studious and industrious, has enrolled in far too many classes this term, and is desperately trying to hold it all together while still maintaining her friendships…badly. Her temper is short, especially when it comes to Ron’s accusation that her cat, Crookshanks, is out to get his stupid rat, Scabbers. The two quarrel, often sticking poor Harry in the middle of it all.
Draco Malfoy: The nemesis of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, he manages to not only try to have Hagrid sacked from his position at Hogwarts, but also tries to have an innocent magical creature killed for attacking him, (a situation Draco provoked.)
Professor Remus Lupin: The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he is a shabby, sickly fellow, who look much older than his rather young age. He was once a great friend of James Potter, and takes Harry under his wing to help him against his problem with Dementors. There seems to be a lingering animosity and distrust between Lupin and Snape, causing Harry to warn his new, favorite teacher about Snape and what he’s capable of.
Professor Rebeus Hagrid: Now cleared of the crimes involving the Chamber of Secrets so long ago, Hagrid is asked to come on staff as the new Professor of Care of Magical Creatures. The problem is, Hagrid’s idea of a safe, harmless Magical Creature isn’t what most people would consider either ‘safe’ or ‘harmless’.
Professor Severus Snape: Harry’s still hated Potions professor; he has some secret history and lingering distrust of Lupin, and seems to be out to personally sack the new Defense teacher.
Sirius Black: A dangerous murderer escaped from Azkaban Prison, he is out on the loose, and many assume it is because he seeks to try and find a way to resurrect the Dark Lord. Harry knows that Black is really after him, but doesn’t know why. It is only later that he realizes that Sirius Black was not only once James Potter’s greatest and dearest friend, he is also Harry’s own godfather. What’s more, he is the very man who is responsible for selling out his dear friends to Voldemort, ending in their deaths.
Scabbers: More than a mere rat, Scabbers has a dark secret, one he’s been hiding for twelve years. He wasn’t always Ron Weasley’s rat, once he was a young man too, one who had torn allegiances and committed a great betrayal.
Plot: Now thirteen, life for Harry is certainly getting more complicated. After accidentally ‘blowing up’ his uncle’s sister, Harry nearly goes on the lam before being expelled for using underage magic. But before he gets far, he is found by the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Confused as to why the Minister would get involved in something like this, it is Mr. Weasley who tells Harry that Sirius Black, an infamous murderer has escaped prison and is looking for Harry. Now, as he starts his third year at Hogwarts, he is surrounded by the wraith-like, joy-sucking Dementors, who are both guarding the school and looking for Black. Harry’s particularly negative reaction to the Dementors, (he is forced to relieve his worst memory, his parents’ death), causes him no end of grief from Malfoy and his gang, and worse, his Divination teacher seems convinced that he will suffer an immanent death thanks to his sightings of a mysterious, large black dog all over the place. Not even Quidditch is a welcome relief when his broomstick is smashed in an accident. As Harry tries to slog through his difficult year, he begins to uncover some of the past of his parents and their lives, and just why exactly it was that his parents were killed that night so long ago. Harry now knows who it was that helped to kill his parents…and he would like nothing more than to see that person dead.
Themes:
Facing your fears: Harry’s plight with the Dementors is really Harry facing his own fears…his being that he’s more afraid of fear than of any one thing in particular, telling as Harry has had to deal with many more frightful things in his young life than most people have. Harry’s struggle to be able to face the Dementors without fear helps to teach Harry how to deal with all such difficult and fearful tasks in the future. Rather than being dominated by his fears, Harry seeks to find strength from them.
Revenge is a dish best served cold: Revenge is a key theme in the third story, and efforts on the parts of many people to get revenge on others. Of course, there is Draco’s typical revenge on Hagrid, as Draco wasn’t paying attention in class and made himself into a fool. There is Snape’s revenge on Lupin for the anger and resentment he felt towards Lupin, Black, and the long dead James Potter over childhood grudges decades old now. There is Harry’s desire to avenge himself on Sirius Black for the murder of his parents so long ago, denying Harry the normal childhood he’s always craved. And there is Black’s revenge on Peter Pettigrew, the friend who betrayed them all and who put Black in the position that he was in. It is a vicious cycle, revenge, one that always has nasty consequences. Thankfully, of all of them, it is Harry who has the clearest head, and makes the wisest decision, urging his father’s friends to not take out their revenge. It isn’t something James Potter would have wanted for them.
Parents are people too: Even when our parents are living, we tend to forget that they were once people too, and that they had friends, adventures, romances, and even made mistakes. Harry is only slowly learning these things about his own, long dead parents, and he is learning from the people who knew them best. Hungry for any knowledge of Lily and James he can get, he sucks up whatever Lupin imparts to him. Harry starts putting an image together of his parents, who they were, especially James, and what they were like. Of course, as with any image, it is just an image, and as we see in later books, Harry’s parents were the perfect people he builds up in his mind, just like ours aren’t.
Voldemort’s shattering of lives: While this is the only book where Voldemort has no direct influence in the book, his past crimes haunt people in Harry’s day. Not only are there hundreds who lost family members in the last war, but people like Sirius and Remus had their entire lives ruined by Voldemort, and Harry was left like several others, an orphan. It drives home to Harry just what the destructive nature of Voldemort was, and how much pain he has caused in so many lives, not just his own.
What it means to have ‘real’ family: While Harry loves the Weasleys, he doesn’t have a real family, as in terms of someone he connects to and loves like a father or mother. And the Weasleys didn’t know his parents or any of his history, so there is very little that connects Harry to them beyond affection. Finding out he has a godfather who not only loves him, but still wants him gives Harry something that he hasn’t ever had in his life before, someone who cares for him unquestioningly.
Every book sucks somewhere: This book actually has few things I think suck about it. If I had to pick anything sucky, it would be what fate doled out for Sirius Black. Jo Rowling, you are a cruel, merciless author sometimes, but I know, it has to be done. Poor Sirius is both bound by his impetuous nature, and the fact that life just dealt him a really crappy hand!
What did I like: Everything…but in particular, I liked the depth that Rowling added to all of her characters, something I felt lacking in book two. We see Harry starting to grow and mature, as well as Ron and Hermione, and realizing both where they were wrong, and what their limitations are. And we see their bond as friends growing as well, something that will be tried repeatedly over the upcoming years. I also liked how Rowling skillfully expanded even more to the story of Harry and Voldemort, showing the effect of Voldemort on the lives of all those who lived then, especially those who worked against him. And we get to learn more about the family that Harry never got to know, of James, and Lily, and their friends, (affectionately known as the Marauders in the fandom), and it has given us a whole history that, while never explored fully, adds depth to the series, and gives us a sense that this is a continuous world with real cause, effect, and a past.
How would I rate this wormy book: This one is a MONSTER WORM, and marks a turning in the series from the light, fun feeling of the first two books, to the heavier, darker tones that reflect the rest of the series. It also marks Harry’s official turning from child to teenager, and all the angst, woe, and difficulties that go with that. It certainly makes Harry much more believable and human, but at the same time taking nothing away from the heroic qualities he’s already displayed.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets –J.K.Rowling
How I found this book: I realized I was seriously addicted to book one, and bought book two off of a used book seller on Amazon. CRACK!
Setting: During the ’92-’93 school year, starting several weeks after the ending of Book One, mostly at Hogwarts.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: Harry is turning twelve this summer before his second year at Hogwarts, and it isn’t easy for him. His family is typically horrible, his friends from school haven’t written all summer as they promised they would, and he gets in trouble for something that he didn’t do. When he finally does get to go back to school, things don’t improve much. A horrible monster from Hogwarts legendary past has been unleashed in the school, and many suspect that Harry is the one who has set it loose on the student population of Hogwarts.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, younger brother of Percy, Fred, and George, and older brother to Ginny. It is his idea to fly his father’s flying car to school when the boys miss their train, and because of this Ron breaks his wand, (a hand-me-down from older brother Charlie), and spends much of the book functioning with a broken wand. He assists Harry in finding out the mysterious behind the Chamber of Secrets.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, Hermione is smart, and practical, and has eased a bit on her rule breaking and is willing to bend things a bit more to help Harry in discovering the secret behind the Chamber of Secrets. She also has a hopeless crush on the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, much to the annoyance of Ron, and amusement of Harry. She cracks the mystery of the Chamber first, and is petrified by the monster, missing much of the school year.
Ginny Weasley: Ron’s younger sister, she is ignored for the most part by her brothers, except when she starts becoming more quiet and withdrawn towards the end of the school year. She has a very schoolgirl crush on Harry, so much so that she can barely speak around him, something Ron finds weird. She’s described as being a small girl, with the Weasley red hair, and is one year younger than Ron. This is her first year at Hogwarts.
Molly Weasley: The Matriarch of the Weasley clan, she keeps her rambunctious sons in line, and dotes on her only daughter. She becomes a mother figure for Harry.
Arthur Weasley: The Patriarch of the Weasley clan, he works at the Ministry of Magic at a low paying job, (it is implied it is due to his Muggle sympathies). He has a fascination with all things Muggle, and it is he who modified the Ford Anglia that Harry and Ron fly to school.
Percy, Fred, and George Weasley: Ron’s older brothers who still live at home, (Bill and Charlie, two others, are grown and live away from home). Fred and George are identical twins, Percy is two years older, and is a Prefect. He is usually taunted unmercifully by the twins, who are pranksters and jokesters and have little use for their ‘perfect’ older brother.
Draco Malfoy: Harry and Ron’s nemesis at school, he is the son of the wealthy and influential Lucius Malfoy, and believes his father’s status makes him something special. The Malfoys are known as a Pureblood family, and Draco has a particular dislike of ‘Mudbloods’, or wizards and witches born in Muggle families, such as Hermione Granger. He is Harry and Ron’s first suspect in the mystery behind the Chamber of Secrets.
Lucius Malfoy: Draco’s father, he is a wealthy, arrogant wizard, who disdains Muggles, and dislikes Arthur Weasley for his sympathy for Muggles, feeling the other Pureblood wizard lacks “proper wizarding pride.” It is rumored that he at one time used to serve Lord Voldemort, and that he still has many objects of dark magic in his home. Harry actually sees him selling some in Knockturn Alley, and alerts Mr. Weasley. Lucius is a very influential wizard thanks to his wealth and status, and it is he who seeks to oust Dumbledore when the Chamber of Secrets is mysteriously opened.
Dobby: A well-meaning House-elf who works for the Malfoys, he is trying to protect Harry and keep him out of some suspected danger. However, his solution to keep Harry out of trouble usually end up with Harry in more trouble than good.
Professor Albus Dumbledore: The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he must keep the school running while a monster is on the loose, praying on the population of the school.
Professor Gilderoy Lockhart: The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he is a famous author, and claims to be an expert in all things Dark Magic. Handsome and charming, he loves the media attention and can spot a good PR opportunity a mile away, (or so he thinks), and he proves to be completely inept when it comes to the Dark Arts. Many of the witches in the school, including Hermione, think he is handsome, and have crushes on him.
Rebeus Hagrid: The Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, he is a failed wizard who was expelled in his third year, the last time the Chamber was opened. The monster-loving Hagrid was trying to raise a giant spider who some mistook for being the monster from the Chamber. Hagrid has worked at Hogwarts ever since, but many start looking to him when the Chamber is opened again, and suspect that he might have something to do with it.
Moaning Mrytle: A ghost who inhabits one of the girl’s bathrooms, she usually spends most of her time crying and sulking over imagined slights. She haunts Hogwarts because she was a student during the last time the Chamber was opened, and was actually killed by the monster, nearly causing the closing of the school.
Tom Riddle: The memory of a boy who attended Hogwarts during the time of the last Chamber opening, the memory is locked in his old diary, which finds its way into Harry’s hands. Tom was much like Harry, an orphaned boy, but was a handsome, seemingly nice enough boy, who was a Prefect, and won a special award for service to the school. He is the one who discovered Hagrid with Aragog, and turns him in to the then headmaster.
Aragog: A giant spider who lives in the Forbidden Forest, he was raised by Hagrid when the latter was a boy, and has an affection for the large man, though not for anyone else. This is really because humans are the spider’s favorite source of meat for his large family.
Plot: Harry Potter hasn’t had a good 12th summer. His family has been particularly horrendous to him, and he is blamed for something the well-meaning House-elf, Dobby, did. When he is rescued from his home by the Weasley boys, he thinks that his troubles are over, and he can go back to enjoying his normal life at Hogwarts. However, the school year starts off just as badly for Harry, when first he and Ron get in trouble for flying a car to school after missing the train. Then, to make it all worse, a mysterious, legendary monster from Hogwarts past is set loose in the school, and no one knows who the perpetrator is, but several students start to suspect Harry. As he, Hermione, and Ron try to figure out just what the Chamber of Secrets is and who has opened it, the victims of the monster are petrified and turned to stone, one after another. When Hermione and Ron’s sister Ginny become two more of the monster’s victims, Harry and Ron act to find out the truth about the Chamber of Secrets, and what it is that is attacking the students of Hogwarts.
Themes:
Racism, wizard style: While the wizarding world doesn’t seem to recognize racism according to skin color, they do seem to have a racism that is all theirs based on blood. Some wizards and witches, those who are supposedly “Pureblooded”, claim that Muggles are inferior to Wizards, and that they are also of lesser stock. Any wizard who has Muggle blood in them is somehow inferior to the “purebloods.” This is especially true for wizards and witches, like Hermione, who were born in a Muggle family with a Muggle heritage. Now, the vast majority of witches and wizards are actually of “mixed blood”, either “half-bloods” or “Muggle borns/Mudbloods”, (Mudbloods is the pejorative term.) But the Purebloods are single minded in their racism, and dislike anyone supports Muggles or Mudbloods.
The cruelty of Lord Voldemort and his supporters: We kind of got the gist in the first book that Lord Voldemort wasn’t exactly the world’s nicest guy, but we now start to see glimpses of just how cruel some of his supporters were as well as manipulative. Lucius Malfoy thinks nothing of mistreating his servant, Dobby, or of potentially harming or killing students at Hogwarts. What his ends are for aren’t revealed in this book, but it begins to firmly set Lucius in the camp of Lord Voldemort.
There are wizards, and then there is everyone else: Not to mention the racism of the wizards towards each other, there is the prejudice they display when discussing other magical races, such as House-elves. Dobby is less than a slave in his house where he serves, and you get the feeling things were even worse when Lord Voldemort was around. The plight of the House-elf, who can’t even speak against their masters without feeling the need to physically harm themselves, becomes a re-occuring theme in the series.
The history of Lord Voldemort: Big secret….Lord Voldemort used to be a normal person once! This shocking revelation doesn’t quite rank up there with “Luke, I’m your father,” but it begins to build into the already growing mystery of Lord Voldemort and Harry. How is it that this evil, reptilian like creature who has caused all this misery started off as a charming, even likeable boy? How did the sweet, Anakin Skywalker turn into Darth Vader? We won’t know till you keep on reading. This is built into the story very well, and just tantalizes the reader enough to make them want to keep on reading and find out more.
Harry’s new, adoptive family: Harry’s introduction to the Weasley clan begins the process by which Harry finds a family of his own, one that he can connect with and who will love him like his biological family, the Dursleys, never could. While we would all wish that James and Lily could have raised their son, I don’t think they would have disapproved of Arthur and Molly doing it.
Harry as a hero: Well we already know Harry is the ‘hero’ of the series, but in this book, Harry starts to more fully take on the mantle of hero. Where in the last book he was trying to prevent something from falling into the hands of Voldemort, this book he actually risks his own life for that of another. This is an important facet of Harry’s character, both for the good and for the bad, and it is an aspect he must truly learn to understand as the series progresses.
Every book sucks somewhere: I will admit, of all the books, two is my second least favorite, and I found that the book wasn’t nearly as engaging as book one. Part of this could be that I felt, at the time I read the book; the story was a bit contrived, with a monster, and a diary that had the memory of a past student, and all of that. It only really fits into it all when you read it in context of the entire series, and then you get that ‘ah-ha’ moment. Because of that, the book has been redeemed a great deal in my eyes. But still, I feel of all the books, it is one of the weaker ones in terms of story and character development. It throws a lot at you, but you don’t really see anyone grow out of it just yet.
What did I like: More yummy, geeky history on who Lord Voldemort was, and establishing the world of Harry Potter even further. I am the type of person who loves a well rounded fantasy world.
How would I rate this wormy book: This book gets a FAT WORM from me, as I still think that this book isn’t nearly as good as the first, or even some of the later books, but still is very important in the whole ‘canon’ of Harry Potter knowledge. I think that as far as development of characters goes, it really didn’t add a lot, especially to Ron or Hermione, but it did flesh out the world a great deal, and certainly sets you up for the events in books six and seven.
How I found this book: I realized I was seriously addicted to book one, and bought book two off of a used book seller on Amazon. CRACK!
Setting: During the ’92-’93 school year, starting several weeks after the ending of Book One, mostly at Hogwarts.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: Harry is turning twelve this summer before his second year at Hogwarts, and it isn’t easy for him. His family is typically horrible, his friends from school haven’t written all summer as they promised they would, and he gets in trouble for something that he didn’t do. When he finally does get to go back to school, things don’t improve much. A horrible monster from Hogwarts legendary past has been unleashed in the school, and many suspect that Harry is the one who has set it loose on the student population of Hogwarts.
Ron Weasley: One of Harry’s best friends, younger brother of Percy, Fred, and George, and older brother to Ginny. It is his idea to fly his father’s flying car to school when the boys miss their train, and because of this Ron breaks his wand, (a hand-me-down from older brother Charlie), and spends much of the book functioning with a broken wand. He assists Harry in finding out the mysterious behind the Chamber of Secrets.
Hermione Granger: The other of Harry’s best friends, Hermione is smart, and practical, and has eased a bit on her rule breaking and is willing to bend things a bit more to help Harry in discovering the secret behind the Chamber of Secrets. She also has a hopeless crush on the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, much to the annoyance of Ron, and amusement of Harry. She cracks the mystery of the Chamber first, and is petrified by the monster, missing much of the school year.
Ginny Weasley: Ron’s younger sister, she is ignored for the most part by her brothers, except when she starts becoming more quiet and withdrawn towards the end of the school year. She has a very schoolgirl crush on Harry, so much so that she can barely speak around him, something Ron finds weird. She’s described as being a small girl, with the Weasley red hair, and is one year younger than Ron. This is her first year at Hogwarts.
Molly Weasley: The Matriarch of the Weasley clan, she keeps her rambunctious sons in line, and dotes on her only daughter. She becomes a mother figure for Harry.
Arthur Weasley: The Patriarch of the Weasley clan, he works at the Ministry of Magic at a low paying job, (it is implied it is due to his Muggle sympathies). He has a fascination with all things Muggle, and it is he who modified the Ford Anglia that Harry and Ron fly to school.
Percy, Fred, and George Weasley: Ron’s older brothers who still live at home, (Bill and Charlie, two others, are grown and live away from home). Fred and George are identical twins, Percy is two years older, and is a Prefect. He is usually taunted unmercifully by the twins, who are pranksters and jokesters and have little use for their ‘perfect’ older brother.
Draco Malfoy: Harry and Ron’s nemesis at school, he is the son of the wealthy and influential Lucius Malfoy, and believes his father’s status makes him something special. The Malfoys are known as a Pureblood family, and Draco has a particular dislike of ‘Mudbloods’, or wizards and witches born in Muggle families, such as Hermione Granger. He is Harry and Ron’s first suspect in the mystery behind the Chamber of Secrets.
Lucius Malfoy: Draco’s father, he is a wealthy, arrogant wizard, who disdains Muggles, and dislikes Arthur Weasley for his sympathy for Muggles, feeling the other Pureblood wizard lacks “proper wizarding pride.” It is rumored that he at one time used to serve Lord Voldemort, and that he still has many objects of dark magic in his home. Harry actually sees him selling some in Knockturn Alley, and alerts Mr. Weasley. Lucius is a very influential wizard thanks to his wealth and status, and it is he who seeks to oust Dumbledore when the Chamber of Secrets is mysteriously opened.
Dobby: A well-meaning House-elf who works for the Malfoys, he is trying to protect Harry and keep him out of some suspected danger. However, his solution to keep Harry out of trouble usually end up with Harry in more trouble than good.
Professor Albus Dumbledore: The Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he must keep the school running while a monster is on the loose, praying on the population of the school.
Professor Gilderoy Lockhart: The new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, he is a famous author, and claims to be an expert in all things Dark Magic. Handsome and charming, he loves the media attention and can spot a good PR opportunity a mile away, (or so he thinks), and he proves to be completely inept when it comes to the Dark Arts. Many of the witches in the school, including Hermione, think he is handsome, and have crushes on him.
Rebeus Hagrid: The Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, he is a failed wizard who was expelled in his third year, the last time the Chamber was opened. The monster-loving Hagrid was trying to raise a giant spider who some mistook for being the monster from the Chamber. Hagrid has worked at Hogwarts ever since, but many start looking to him when the Chamber is opened again, and suspect that he might have something to do with it.
Moaning Mrytle: A ghost who inhabits one of the girl’s bathrooms, she usually spends most of her time crying and sulking over imagined slights. She haunts Hogwarts because she was a student during the last time the Chamber was opened, and was actually killed by the monster, nearly causing the closing of the school.
Tom Riddle: The memory of a boy who attended Hogwarts during the time of the last Chamber opening, the memory is locked in his old diary, which finds its way into Harry’s hands. Tom was much like Harry, an orphaned boy, but was a handsome, seemingly nice enough boy, who was a Prefect, and won a special award for service to the school. He is the one who discovered Hagrid with Aragog, and turns him in to the then headmaster.
Aragog: A giant spider who lives in the Forbidden Forest, he was raised by Hagrid when the latter was a boy, and has an affection for the large man, though not for anyone else. This is really because humans are the spider’s favorite source of meat for his large family.
Plot: Harry Potter hasn’t had a good 12th summer. His family has been particularly horrendous to him, and he is blamed for something the well-meaning House-elf, Dobby, did. When he is rescued from his home by the Weasley boys, he thinks that his troubles are over, and he can go back to enjoying his normal life at Hogwarts. However, the school year starts off just as badly for Harry, when first he and Ron get in trouble for flying a car to school after missing the train. Then, to make it all worse, a mysterious, legendary monster from Hogwarts past is set loose in the school, and no one knows who the perpetrator is, but several students start to suspect Harry. As he, Hermione, and Ron try to figure out just what the Chamber of Secrets is and who has opened it, the victims of the monster are petrified and turned to stone, one after another. When Hermione and Ron’s sister Ginny become two more of the monster’s victims, Harry and Ron act to find out the truth about the Chamber of Secrets, and what it is that is attacking the students of Hogwarts.
Themes:
Racism, wizard style: While the wizarding world doesn’t seem to recognize racism according to skin color, they do seem to have a racism that is all theirs based on blood. Some wizards and witches, those who are supposedly “Pureblooded”, claim that Muggles are inferior to Wizards, and that they are also of lesser stock. Any wizard who has Muggle blood in them is somehow inferior to the “purebloods.” This is especially true for wizards and witches, like Hermione, who were born in a Muggle family with a Muggle heritage. Now, the vast majority of witches and wizards are actually of “mixed blood”, either “half-bloods” or “Muggle borns/Mudbloods”, (Mudbloods is the pejorative term.) But the Purebloods are single minded in their racism, and dislike anyone supports Muggles or Mudbloods.
The cruelty of Lord Voldemort and his supporters: We kind of got the gist in the first book that Lord Voldemort wasn’t exactly the world’s nicest guy, but we now start to see glimpses of just how cruel some of his supporters were as well as manipulative. Lucius Malfoy thinks nothing of mistreating his servant, Dobby, or of potentially harming or killing students at Hogwarts. What his ends are for aren’t revealed in this book, but it begins to firmly set Lucius in the camp of Lord Voldemort.
There are wizards, and then there is everyone else: Not to mention the racism of the wizards towards each other, there is the prejudice they display when discussing other magical races, such as House-elves. Dobby is less than a slave in his house where he serves, and you get the feeling things were even worse when Lord Voldemort was around. The plight of the House-elf, who can’t even speak against their masters without feeling the need to physically harm themselves, becomes a re-occuring theme in the series.
The history of Lord Voldemort: Big secret….Lord Voldemort used to be a normal person once! This shocking revelation doesn’t quite rank up there with “Luke, I’m your father,” but it begins to build into the already growing mystery of Lord Voldemort and Harry. How is it that this evil, reptilian like creature who has caused all this misery started off as a charming, even likeable boy? How did the sweet, Anakin Skywalker turn into Darth Vader? We won’t know till you keep on reading. This is built into the story very well, and just tantalizes the reader enough to make them want to keep on reading and find out more.
Harry’s new, adoptive family: Harry’s introduction to the Weasley clan begins the process by which Harry finds a family of his own, one that he can connect with and who will love him like his biological family, the Dursleys, never could. While we would all wish that James and Lily could have raised their son, I don’t think they would have disapproved of Arthur and Molly doing it.
Harry as a hero: Well we already know Harry is the ‘hero’ of the series, but in this book, Harry starts to more fully take on the mantle of hero. Where in the last book he was trying to prevent something from falling into the hands of Voldemort, this book he actually risks his own life for that of another. This is an important facet of Harry’s character, both for the good and for the bad, and it is an aspect he must truly learn to understand as the series progresses.
Every book sucks somewhere: I will admit, of all the books, two is my second least favorite, and I found that the book wasn’t nearly as engaging as book one. Part of this could be that I felt, at the time I read the book; the story was a bit contrived, with a monster, and a diary that had the memory of a past student, and all of that. It only really fits into it all when you read it in context of the entire series, and then you get that ‘ah-ha’ moment. Because of that, the book has been redeemed a great deal in my eyes. But still, I feel of all the books, it is one of the weaker ones in terms of story and character development. It throws a lot at you, but you don’t really see anyone grow out of it just yet.
What did I like: More yummy, geeky history on who Lord Voldemort was, and establishing the world of Harry Potter even further. I am the type of person who loves a well rounded fantasy world.
How would I rate this wormy book: This book gets a FAT WORM from me, as I still think that this book isn’t nearly as good as the first, or even some of the later books, but still is very important in the whole ‘canon’ of Harry Potter knowledge. I think that as far as development of characters goes, it really didn’t add a lot, especially to Ron or Hermione, but it did flesh out the world a great deal, and certainly sets you up for the events in books six and seven.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone-J.K. Rowling
How I found this book: I was actually introduced to the movie first. It hadn’t even come out on video yet, one of my friends had an illegal bootleg and had brought it to one of my drinking, boozy parties, (don’t ask me why we’d watch Harry Potter at a booze party, we were young and drunk!) It got left, and so I decided to watch it the next day again, this time sober, and found I kind of liked it. Now, eight years later, as I stare at a movie calendar on my office wall, I think Harry’s story kind of stuck.
Setting: The school year of ’91-’92, (when I myself was only a wee thing of 14, barely older than Harry,) at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, somewhere in Scotland.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: He for whom the books are named, Harry is one of the most famous children in the secret world of witches and wizards, only he doesn’t know it. Raised by a horrid aunt and uncle after the death of his magical parents, he isn’t even aware of his true powers until a mysterious letter arrives one day telling him that he has a place at a magical school. A whole new world opens up for Harry, one with magic wands, broomsticks, and all manner of strange, new people, some of whom are friendly, and some he discovers are not. Most of all, Harry begins to unravel the mystery of his past, of who he is, why he’s famous, and why he wasn’t killed too that fateful Halloween night so many years before when his parents perished at the hands of the darkest wizard ever known, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”. He is smallish for his age, with a mop of black, untamable hair, and emerald green eyes with glasses, and a jagged, lightening bolt scar on his forehead that seems to give him some mysterious connection to the dark wizard, Voldemort.
The Dursleys: Harry’s mother’s sister and her husband and child, they have raised Harry since he was one, after the death of Harry’s mother, Lily and her husband, James. Petunia and Vernon, his aunt and uncle, are particularly afraid of magic, and try to stamp any possibility of it out of Harry, at the same time trying to ensure that he remembers that he is in no way better than their spoiled, fat son Dudley. Dudley’s main role in life is to eat, watch television, and bully his cousin. Aunt Petunia is tall, boney, and horse-faced, Uncle Vernon is large, red-faced, and usually loud, and Dudley is fat, and bullying.
Professor Albus Dumbledore: The headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Dumbledore is who deposits Harry on his aunt’s doorstep after his parents’ death. Dumbledore is a great wizard, as Harry finds out, famous in his own time for both defeating the dark wizard, Grindelwald, but also for discovering the twelve uses of dragon’s blood with his friend, Nicholas Flamel, a noted alchemist, and creator of the Philosopher’s Stone, (called Sorcerer’s Stone in America because they assume American school children are idiots.) Dumbledore is a bit of a mystery for Harry, appearing both very wise, and in the words of Percy Weasley, perhaps a bit mad. He’s a tall, thin wizard, with a long silver beard and hair, and a crooked nose, where he has half-moon spectacles that perch in front of sparkling blue eyes.
Professor Minerva McGonagall: The head of Gryffindor House, Harry’s house in school, she is also the Transfiguration teacher, and an avid fan of the wizarding sport of Quidditch. She bends the rules to allow Harry to join the house team his first year as a Seeker. She is a thin, black-haired witch, which is usually kept up in a tight bun, severe in her demeanor, though she often shows a soft side. She is also an animagus, and can change her form from human to a cat, with spectacle markings around her eyes, (analogous to the human glasses she wears).
Rebeus Hagrid: The Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, he is a large, friendly man who actually helped Dumbledore deliver Harry to the Dursleys when he was a baby. He collects Harry from his all too unwilling aunt and uncle, and is the first person to introduce Harry to the world of magic. He is a kind hearted soul, despite his fierce appearance, and he is very attached to Harry. He is impossibly big for a human, both in height and in proportions, with wiry hair and beard, and a moleskin coat with which he keeps all manner of things. He carries around a pink umbrella that holds the remains of his wand, which was broken when he was expelled from Hogwarts his third year.
Ronald Weasley: Harry’s first friend in the wizarding world, (or ever for that matter), Ron comes from a very large, very red-haired, and very poor family. Despite this, they seem to be very caring, and Ron himself is very loyal to Harry, even if he can be a bit rude, abrasive, and self-absorbed. The Weasley’s are an old, Pureblood family, despite their poverty, and unlike other Pureblood families like the Malfoys, they are known for sympathizing with Muggles, or non-magic people. Ron is the youngest son of the large Weasley clan, consisting of five boys older than Ron, and one girl younger than Ron, his sister Ginny. Ron can sometimes be lazy, loves to eat, and is often seen quarreling with Hermione Granger. He is tall and thin, with a long, thin nose, and bright red hair, with blue eyes.
Hermione Granger: Harry’s second best friend, Hermione at first puts off both Harry and Ron by her know-it-all manner and her strict outlook in terms of rules, (something both Harry and Ron are willing to bend). She befriends the pair, however, after an incident with a troll brought them all close. Hermione is the only daughter of Muggle parents, (neither of her parents is magical), and while she wasn’t raised in the wizarding world as Ron was, she has made up for this by reading about it prodigiously. While she is often the ‘bossy, big sister’ type to Harry, (she is in fact ten months older than he is), she is most often seen quarreling with Ron, as her punctual, precise manner, and her determination to get things done often clash with his nature. She has very bushy, brown hair, and front teeth that are slightly too long in the front, (the irony of that being that Hermione’s parents are both dentists.)
Draco Malfoy: Harry and Ron’s immediate enemy, Draco is from a very rich, very powerful wizarding family, who had ties to the evil wizard who killed Harry’s parents. He is a member of Slytherin House, and is haughty, conceited, and dislikes Harry, Ron, and Hermione immensely. He tries as best he might to get the three in trouble, usually by luring them into traps, or makes fun of them all in front of their classmates. He is a thin, pointy faced boy, with silvery-blonde hair, and gray eyes.
Professor Severus Snape: Harry’s other great enemy at Hogwarts, he is the Potions professor, and head of Slytherin House. He takes an immediate dislike for Harry, though Harry doesn’t understand why, and seems to go out of his way to make Harry’s life difficult, even unjustly so. Dumbledore tells Harry that much of this stems from an incident when Snape was in school with Harry’s own father, where James Potter saved the other man’s life. This was much to Snape’s chagrin as he hated James. Snape is a tall man, with greasy, lank black hair, and sallow, yellow skin, and dark, black eyes. He is often described as ‘bat-like’, swooping down on students.
Professor Quirrel: The professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrel is a nervous man, who tends to stutter and shake, and seems afraid of his own shadow, which is funny as he teaches a class on how to defend yourself against magical evils and dark creatures. He wears a turban on his head he claims he received as a gift, and is often made fun off by the students.
Lord Voldemort: The evilest Dark Wizard in generations, Lord Voldemort and his followers had been at war with the wizarding world in the years leading up to Harry’s birth. They caused a general feeling of dread and fear, and using terrorist tactics spread their message of hate. For reasons unclear to most people, on Halloween Night, 1981, he attacked James and Lily Potter in their home in Godric’s Hollow, before attacking their small son, Harry. For whatever reason, however, the Killing Curse he turned on the toddler backfired, and killed him instead of Harry, leaving the child with the lightening shaped scar. While many rejoice and celebrate Harry as being the reason for “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s” downfall, (he was so feared, people couldn’t say his name), there is a suspicion that Voldemort isn’t dead, and that somehow he survived and is biding his time till his return.
Plot: Harry Potter is an orphaned, ten-going-on-eleven-year old boy, raised by his mean aunt and uncle, and putting up with his bullying cousin. He of course dreams of having another life, but he never imagined that indeed…he does have one. Unbeknownst to Harry, he is indeed a wizard, part of a long line of witches and wizards, as were his parents, and that he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to use his talents. What opens up for Harry is a whole world of magic, from his first wand to broomsticks, Charms to Potions, as well as his first real friends, and his first real enemies. But what else begins to unfold for Harry is the truth about his past, about why it was his parents died when he was a baby, and who is responsible for it…and why it is that the wizards and witches of Great Britain call him “The-Boy-Who-Lived.” Now at Hogwarts, Harry makes instant enemies with one of his professors, Severus Snape, who seems to hate him on sight for reasons he can’t understand. One possible answer might lay in the strange thing that the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore has protected in the banned third floor wing, something so powerful that duplicitous Snape might not be able to resist trying to get it, but for whom? Harry learns that sometimes old enemies are hard to kill, especially when they are powerful enough and evil enough to manage to subvert death, and are eager to try and find ways to come back into the world of the living and take hold once again.
Themes:
Even an ordinary boy can be special: Harry, all things considered, isn’t an extraordinary boy or wizard. He is smallish, of average intelligence, and like most boys his age is curious, has a healthy disregard for rules, and a bit obstinate when it comes to over-bearing authority. But despite Harry being ordinary, he really is extraordinary in many other ways, and not just the fact he survived an attack that should have killed him. He has great heart, and hasn’t been beaten down by all that life has thrown his way. He is loyal to his friends; even if it means that he makes enemies of others, or occasionally gets himself in trouble for it. And despite the many fears and insecurities he has, he stands up and tries to overcome them. In Harry lies a bit of all of us, a hero who really is a very normal person, but who chooses to do great things.
Doing what is right isn’t necessarily doing what is easy: This is one of the major themes Rowling has running through the entire series, and it starts early with Harry making decisions that often get him in trouble, (such as with Hermione and the troll, or Hagrid and the dragon), but which in the end are in his mind the right things to do. No one said it was easy trying to do what was right, but sometimes it just has to be done.
The connection between Lord Voldemort and Harry: The mystery begins here, where a powerful dark wizard tries to kill Harry, with no real explanation given. There seems to be some sort of weird connection between the two, though no answers are given in this book, it is the central theme on which the entire plot of the series pivots, and what the great mystery is linking the two together.
Why in the world does Dumbledore keep Snape around again: OK, this is never answered to the very LAST book in the series, but it begins to be a bigger and bigger question in the series as Snape continuous to be a pain in Harry’s side and a more and more mysterious character, who might not be as EV-AL as Harry thinks he is, but he is certainly up to something.
It does no good to dwell on dreams and to forget how to live: Perhaps the first, really important lesson Harry has had to learn, it is hard for a boy whose only had dreams and wishes to keep him going to let go of those dreams and live his life. As we find out in the series, perhaps no one understands that better than Albus Dumbledore, who gives Harry this sage advice. Dreams can be all consuming, but are ultimately fleeting. Life can be a much better adventure.
Every book sucks somewhere: There are few reasons I can think of for this book sucking. It was a marvelous first outing. My one complaint lies in the timeline at the beginning between when Harry’s parents are killed and when Dumbledore, Hagrid, and McGonagall deliver him to the Dursley’s. This is a point that has been argued and re-argued by fans, and I think the best way to answer it is leave it up to your imagination.
Also, Scholastic, (the American publishers), WHY did you need to change it from Philospher’s Stone, (which is a historic concept), to Sorcerer’s Stone. Really…that was just silly. Have a kid pick up an encyclopedia for crying out loud!
What did I like: All of it! This is a great, interesting, fun world, and a great new retelling of a very old story, of the hero who must go out on his quest. Of course, this hero’s quest involves Quidditch, evil wizards, and the Weasley twins, which makes it all the more fun.
How would I rate this wormy book: This is a big, MONSTER WORM. Even if you think that Harry Potter got sucked into pop cultural hype, the fact is this first story is so much fun, and so addictive, and so entrancing, that you realize that it really is a ton of fun to read. And besides, who doesn’t want to have a magic wand, a broomstick, and go to school in a castle?
How I found this book: I was actually introduced to the movie first. It hadn’t even come out on video yet, one of my friends had an illegal bootleg and had brought it to one of my drinking, boozy parties, (don’t ask me why we’d watch Harry Potter at a booze party, we were young and drunk!) It got left, and so I decided to watch it the next day again, this time sober, and found I kind of liked it. Now, eight years later, as I stare at a movie calendar on my office wall, I think Harry’s story kind of stuck.
Setting: The school year of ’91-’92, (when I myself was only a wee thing of 14, barely older than Harry,) at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, somewhere in Scotland.
Main Characters:
Harry Potter: He for whom the books are named, Harry is one of the most famous children in the secret world of witches and wizards, only he doesn’t know it. Raised by a horrid aunt and uncle after the death of his magical parents, he isn’t even aware of his true powers until a mysterious letter arrives one day telling him that he has a place at a magical school. A whole new world opens up for Harry, one with magic wands, broomsticks, and all manner of strange, new people, some of whom are friendly, and some he discovers are not. Most of all, Harry begins to unravel the mystery of his past, of who he is, why he’s famous, and why he wasn’t killed too that fateful Halloween night so many years before when his parents perished at the hands of the darkest wizard ever known, “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”. He is smallish for his age, with a mop of black, untamable hair, and emerald green eyes with glasses, and a jagged, lightening bolt scar on his forehead that seems to give him some mysterious connection to the dark wizard, Voldemort.
The Dursleys: Harry’s mother’s sister and her husband and child, they have raised Harry since he was one, after the death of Harry’s mother, Lily and her husband, James. Petunia and Vernon, his aunt and uncle, are particularly afraid of magic, and try to stamp any possibility of it out of Harry, at the same time trying to ensure that he remembers that he is in no way better than their spoiled, fat son Dudley. Dudley’s main role in life is to eat, watch television, and bully his cousin. Aunt Petunia is tall, boney, and horse-faced, Uncle Vernon is large, red-faced, and usually loud, and Dudley is fat, and bullying.
Professor Albus Dumbledore: The headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Professor Dumbledore is who deposits Harry on his aunt’s doorstep after his parents’ death. Dumbledore is a great wizard, as Harry finds out, famous in his own time for both defeating the dark wizard, Grindelwald, but also for discovering the twelve uses of dragon’s blood with his friend, Nicholas Flamel, a noted alchemist, and creator of the Philosopher’s Stone, (called Sorcerer’s Stone in America because they assume American school children are idiots.) Dumbledore is a bit of a mystery for Harry, appearing both very wise, and in the words of Percy Weasley, perhaps a bit mad. He’s a tall, thin wizard, with a long silver beard and hair, and a crooked nose, where he has half-moon spectacles that perch in front of sparkling blue eyes.
Professor Minerva McGonagall: The head of Gryffindor House, Harry’s house in school, she is also the Transfiguration teacher, and an avid fan of the wizarding sport of Quidditch. She bends the rules to allow Harry to join the house team his first year as a Seeker. She is a thin, black-haired witch, which is usually kept up in a tight bun, severe in her demeanor, though she often shows a soft side. She is also an animagus, and can change her form from human to a cat, with spectacle markings around her eyes, (analogous to the human glasses she wears).
Rebeus Hagrid: The Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, he is a large, friendly man who actually helped Dumbledore deliver Harry to the Dursleys when he was a baby. He collects Harry from his all too unwilling aunt and uncle, and is the first person to introduce Harry to the world of magic. He is a kind hearted soul, despite his fierce appearance, and he is very attached to Harry. He is impossibly big for a human, both in height and in proportions, with wiry hair and beard, and a moleskin coat with which he keeps all manner of things. He carries around a pink umbrella that holds the remains of his wand, which was broken when he was expelled from Hogwarts his third year.
Ronald Weasley: Harry’s first friend in the wizarding world, (or ever for that matter), Ron comes from a very large, very red-haired, and very poor family. Despite this, they seem to be very caring, and Ron himself is very loyal to Harry, even if he can be a bit rude, abrasive, and self-absorbed. The Weasley’s are an old, Pureblood family, despite their poverty, and unlike other Pureblood families like the Malfoys, they are known for sympathizing with Muggles, or non-magic people. Ron is the youngest son of the large Weasley clan, consisting of five boys older than Ron, and one girl younger than Ron, his sister Ginny. Ron can sometimes be lazy, loves to eat, and is often seen quarreling with Hermione Granger. He is tall and thin, with a long, thin nose, and bright red hair, with blue eyes.
Hermione Granger: Harry’s second best friend, Hermione at first puts off both Harry and Ron by her know-it-all manner and her strict outlook in terms of rules, (something both Harry and Ron are willing to bend). She befriends the pair, however, after an incident with a troll brought them all close. Hermione is the only daughter of Muggle parents, (neither of her parents is magical), and while she wasn’t raised in the wizarding world as Ron was, she has made up for this by reading about it prodigiously. While she is often the ‘bossy, big sister’ type to Harry, (she is in fact ten months older than he is), she is most often seen quarreling with Ron, as her punctual, precise manner, and her determination to get things done often clash with his nature. She has very bushy, brown hair, and front teeth that are slightly too long in the front, (the irony of that being that Hermione’s parents are both dentists.)
Draco Malfoy: Harry and Ron’s immediate enemy, Draco is from a very rich, very powerful wizarding family, who had ties to the evil wizard who killed Harry’s parents. He is a member of Slytherin House, and is haughty, conceited, and dislikes Harry, Ron, and Hermione immensely. He tries as best he might to get the three in trouble, usually by luring them into traps, or makes fun of them all in front of their classmates. He is a thin, pointy faced boy, with silvery-blonde hair, and gray eyes.
Professor Severus Snape: Harry’s other great enemy at Hogwarts, he is the Potions professor, and head of Slytherin House. He takes an immediate dislike for Harry, though Harry doesn’t understand why, and seems to go out of his way to make Harry’s life difficult, even unjustly so. Dumbledore tells Harry that much of this stems from an incident when Snape was in school with Harry’s own father, where James Potter saved the other man’s life. This was much to Snape’s chagrin as he hated James. Snape is a tall man, with greasy, lank black hair, and sallow, yellow skin, and dark, black eyes. He is often described as ‘bat-like’, swooping down on students.
Professor Quirrel: The professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Quirrel is a nervous man, who tends to stutter and shake, and seems afraid of his own shadow, which is funny as he teaches a class on how to defend yourself against magical evils and dark creatures. He wears a turban on his head he claims he received as a gift, and is often made fun off by the students.
Lord Voldemort: The evilest Dark Wizard in generations, Lord Voldemort and his followers had been at war with the wizarding world in the years leading up to Harry’s birth. They caused a general feeling of dread and fear, and using terrorist tactics spread their message of hate. For reasons unclear to most people, on Halloween Night, 1981, he attacked James and Lily Potter in their home in Godric’s Hollow, before attacking their small son, Harry. For whatever reason, however, the Killing Curse he turned on the toddler backfired, and killed him instead of Harry, leaving the child with the lightening shaped scar. While many rejoice and celebrate Harry as being the reason for “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named’s” downfall, (he was so feared, people couldn’t say his name), there is a suspicion that Voldemort isn’t dead, and that somehow he survived and is biding his time till his return.
Plot: Harry Potter is an orphaned, ten-going-on-eleven-year old boy, raised by his mean aunt and uncle, and putting up with his bullying cousin. He of course dreams of having another life, but he never imagined that indeed…he does have one. Unbeknownst to Harry, he is indeed a wizard, part of a long line of witches and wizards, as were his parents, and that he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to learn how to use his talents. What opens up for Harry is a whole world of magic, from his first wand to broomsticks, Charms to Potions, as well as his first real friends, and his first real enemies. But what else begins to unfold for Harry is the truth about his past, about why it was his parents died when he was a baby, and who is responsible for it…and why it is that the wizards and witches of Great Britain call him “The-Boy-Who-Lived.” Now at Hogwarts, Harry makes instant enemies with one of his professors, Severus Snape, who seems to hate him on sight for reasons he can’t understand. One possible answer might lay in the strange thing that the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore has protected in the banned third floor wing, something so powerful that duplicitous Snape might not be able to resist trying to get it, but for whom? Harry learns that sometimes old enemies are hard to kill, especially when they are powerful enough and evil enough to manage to subvert death, and are eager to try and find ways to come back into the world of the living and take hold once again.
Themes:
Even an ordinary boy can be special: Harry, all things considered, isn’t an extraordinary boy or wizard. He is smallish, of average intelligence, and like most boys his age is curious, has a healthy disregard for rules, and a bit obstinate when it comes to over-bearing authority. But despite Harry being ordinary, he really is extraordinary in many other ways, and not just the fact he survived an attack that should have killed him. He has great heart, and hasn’t been beaten down by all that life has thrown his way. He is loyal to his friends; even if it means that he makes enemies of others, or occasionally gets himself in trouble for it. And despite the many fears and insecurities he has, he stands up and tries to overcome them. In Harry lies a bit of all of us, a hero who really is a very normal person, but who chooses to do great things.
Doing what is right isn’t necessarily doing what is easy: This is one of the major themes Rowling has running through the entire series, and it starts early with Harry making decisions that often get him in trouble, (such as with Hermione and the troll, or Hagrid and the dragon), but which in the end are in his mind the right things to do. No one said it was easy trying to do what was right, but sometimes it just has to be done.
The connection between Lord Voldemort and Harry: The mystery begins here, where a powerful dark wizard tries to kill Harry, with no real explanation given. There seems to be some sort of weird connection between the two, though no answers are given in this book, it is the central theme on which the entire plot of the series pivots, and what the great mystery is linking the two together.
Why in the world does Dumbledore keep Snape around again: OK, this is never answered to the very LAST book in the series, but it begins to be a bigger and bigger question in the series as Snape continuous to be a pain in Harry’s side and a more and more mysterious character, who might not be as EV-AL as Harry thinks he is, but he is certainly up to something.
It does no good to dwell on dreams and to forget how to live: Perhaps the first, really important lesson Harry has had to learn, it is hard for a boy whose only had dreams and wishes to keep him going to let go of those dreams and live his life. As we find out in the series, perhaps no one understands that better than Albus Dumbledore, who gives Harry this sage advice. Dreams can be all consuming, but are ultimately fleeting. Life can be a much better adventure.
Every book sucks somewhere: There are few reasons I can think of for this book sucking. It was a marvelous first outing. My one complaint lies in the timeline at the beginning between when Harry’s parents are killed and when Dumbledore, Hagrid, and McGonagall deliver him to the Dursley’s. This is a point that has been argued and re-argued by fans, and I think the best way to answer it is leave it up to your imagination.
Also, Scholastic, (the American publishers), WHY did you need to change it from Philospher’s Stone, (which is a historic concept), to Sorcerer’s Stone. Really…that was just silly. Have a kid pick up an encyclopedia for crying out loud!
What did I like: All of it! This is a great, interesting, fun world, and a great new retelling of a very old story, of the hero who must go out on his quest. Of course, this hero’s quest involves Quidditch, evil wizards, and the Weasley twins, which makes it all the more fun.
How would I rate this wormy book: This is a big, MONSTER WORM. Even if you think that Harry Potter got sucked into pop cultural hype, the fact is this first story is so much fun, and so addictive, and so entrancing, that you realize that it really is a ton of fun to read. And besides, who doesn’t want to have a magic wand, a broomstick, and go to school in a castle?
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America- Barbara Ehrenreich
How I found this book: Patric got it for cheap, and was curious as our friend Randy pretty much holds one of these low-paying jobs. We wanted to see what the author had to say about it.
Setting: Key West, Florida, Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, all circa 1999-2000.
Main Characters: It’s a non-fiction book, and follows Barbara Ehrenreich.
Plot: PhD author Barbara Ehrenreich explores through first hand experience how those living on minimum wage make it in different regions and in different areas of work. She spends a month in each region, with specific rules she sets for her experiment, to see if she can make enough to live for a month in each place on the wages she gets. Meanwhile, she also gets to know many of her co-workers, the very people in these situations, and tries to learn how it is they make it on the wages that they earn.
Themes:
Damn the man, he’s screwing you anyway: Ehrenreich’s observations highlight what in her opinion are the abuses of the corporate machine and in particular the thirty-something managers who she sees as ‘the man’ pushing down on the mass of minimum wage labor. She points out many of the gross abuses of people’s time and health, (in particularly one place where a woman was injured on the job), and the unethical practices by many employers, some even breaking the law, (as in the case of a restaurant hiring illegal workers in Key West.)
Just trying to make ends meet: When you are barely holding it together financially, every little thing is a huge obstacle to overcome, and everything from rent to groceries must be calculated to be handled just so, or you sink. Unaccountable things, such as broken down cares, illness, or an accident because major situations that can put someone out of work or on the streets, and there is very little recourse or help for people when life just happens. It’s a very precarious existence on the edge of destitution, and people make do as best as they can to just try to make things happen.
Aren’t we lucky to be edumacated: Ehrenreich has a constant and steady soliloquy on just how lucky she is for her father getting out of the coal mines and putting her through college, so she can be a happy, white, middle-class yuppie unlike all of these poor folk. It’s a mixed message of, ‘gee, aren’t we glad we are smart and better off’, and ‘but we suck so bad for being soft and middle class, and why can’t we do more to effect change for these people?” It’s a schizophrenic tone through much of the book.
Every book sucks somewhere: I had a lot of beefs with this book. First of, Ehrenreich above mentioned ‘schizophrenic’ tone became very grating after a while. While I don’t mind the bleeding-heart liberalism, especially in relation to the working, minimum wage class, it got a bit distracting when I couldn’t decide if she really empathized with the people she was working with for those months, or was she just counting down the days till she could go back to her low-fat, caramel macchiatos. It gave her a very condescending voice, on the one hand almost frowning in disgust at the lives these people have to lead because they can’t afford better, and at the same time upbraiding the rest of us educated folks for not caring about these people. It was very disjointed.
I also resented a bit the fact that Ehrenreich never really ‘lived’ the lives of the people she was attempting to emulate. She had all the buffer and comfort that someone going into any social experiment, such as a reporter, would have, an extra wad of cash to cover things in case her wages didn’t, a car, (which often many on minimum wage don’t have or have to share), and with the knowledge that this was all a temporary sentence, like being condemned to be the char girl for a month by her evil-step mother. This pill is particularly bitter for myself, who grew up in a household with parents who made the kind of money that they make at these jobs, neither of my parents has ever had a well-paying job in my memory. Thanks to their hard work and perseverance, and the talents and intelligence they fostered in my siblings and I, some of us have been able to claw our way up to middle-class respectability, with two of us having attained our college degrees, and two already owning their own homes before age 30. But I don’t forget those rough days, and neither do they, when we worried if our parents could pull together the rent, or how they would pay the electric bill, or get the money together for gas and groceries all in the same week. It’s difficult, and it’s hard, and you make do with it as you can, not because it’s a fun experiment, but because it is the way life is, and either you swim, or you sink. Perhaps someday, as in the case of my parents, you get to see your children succeed, and there, you get to feel that at least something has gone right. Ehrenreich portrays these struggles as ‘injustices’ rather than ‘it’s just how life is’, and you learn to survive and overcome as you can. For some, yes, perhaps it is in changing the system, for others it’s just learning to get by in the hope that something better comes of all of it eventually.
Enrenreich tries hard to add some humor and levity to the work, while keeping her sword of righteous justice still firmly outstretched so we won’t forget it. It doesn’t work, really. Instead, it seems to come off as her making light of a way of life that millions in this country are forced to live everyday, rather than bringing levity to a very serious subject.
What did I like: Ehrenreich tries to be honest in what she sees in terms of the jobs and the problems that go on behind the scenes. This expose of the practices of some employers brings to light a lot of shady things that I hear about from my work in HR, and in doing so perhaps gets a conversation going on how to effect change so those things do not happen again.
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate it a LITTLE WORM. It has a noble premise, I won’t deny that, but its execution is sloppy, it’s not very entertaining, and in spots it’s a bit insulting. I think that in the hands of another author, it perhaps could have been done better.
How I found this book: Patric got it for cheap, and was curious as our friend Randy pretty much holds one of these low-paying jobs. We wanted to see what the author had to say about it.
Setting: Key West, Florida, Portland, Maine, and Minneapolis, Minnesota, all circa 1999-2000.
Main Characters: It’s a non-fiction book, and follows Barbara Ehrenreich.
Plot: PhD author Barbara Ehrenreich explores through first hand experience how those living on minimum wage make it in different regions and in different areas of work. She spends a month in each region, with specific rules she sets for her experiment, to see if she can make enough to live for a month in each place on the wages she gets. Meanwhile, she also gets to know many of her co-workers, the very people in these situations, and tries to learn how it is they make it on the wages that they earn.
Themes:
Damn the man, he’s screwing you anyway: Ehrenreich’s observations highlight what in her opinion are the abuses of the corporate machine and in particular the thirty-something managers who she sees as ‘the man’ pushing down on the mass of minimum wage labor. She points out many of the gross abuses of people’s time and health, (in particularly one place where a woman was injured on the job), and the unethical practices by many employers, some even breaking the law, (as in the case of a restaurant hiring illegal workers in Key West.)
Just trying to make ends meet: When you are barely holding it together financially, every little thing is a huge obstacle to overcome, and everything from rent to groceries must be calculated to be handled just so, or you sink. Unaccountable things, such as broken down cares, illness, or an accident because major situations that can put someone out of work or on the streets, and there is very little recourse or help for people when life just happens. It’s a very precarious existence on the edge of destitution, and people make do as best as they can to just try to make things happen.
Aren’t we lucky to be edumacated: Ehrenreich has a constant and steady soliloquy on just how lucky she is for her father getting out of the coal mines and putting her through college, so she can be a happy, white, middle-class yuppie unlike all of these poor folk. It’s a mixed message of, ‘gee, aren’t we glad we are smart and better off’, and ‘but we suck so bad for being soft and middle class, and why can’t we do more to effect change for these people?” It’s a schizophrenic tone through much of the book.
Every book sucks somewhere: I had a lot of beefs with this book. First of, Ehrenreich above mentioned ‘schizophrenic’ tone became very grating after a while. While I don’t mind the bleeding-heart liberalism, especially in relation to the working, minimum wage class, it got a bit distracting when I couldn’t decide if she really empathized with the people she was working with for those months, or was she just counting down the days till she could go back to her low-fat, caramel macchiatos. It gave her a very condescending voice, on the one hand almost frowning in disgust at the lives these people have to lead because they can’t afford better, and at the same time upbraiding the rest of us educated folks for not caring about these people. It was very disjointed.
I also resented a bit the fact that Ehrenreich never really ‘lived’ the lives of the people she was attempting to emulate. She had all the buffer and comfort that someone going into any social experiment, such as a reporter, would have, an extra wad of cash to cover things in case her wages didn’t, a car, (which often many on minimum wage don’t have or have to share), and with the knowledge that this was all a temporary sentence, like being condemned to be the char girl for a month by her evil-step mother. This pill is particularly bitter for myself, who grew up in a household with parents who made the kind of money that they make at these jobs, neither of my parents has ever had a well-paying job in my memory. Thanks to their hard work and perseverance, and the talents and intelligence they fostered in my siblings and I, some of us have been able to claw our way up to middle-class respectability, with two of us having attained our college degrees, and two already owning their own homes before age 30. But I don’t forget those rough days, and neither do they, when we worried if our parents could pull together the rent, or how they would pay the electric bill, or get the money together for gas and groceries all in the same week. It’s difficult, and it’s hard, and you make do with it as you can, not because it’s a fun experiment, but because it is the way life is, and either you swim, or you sink. Perhaps someday, as in the case of my parents, you get to see your children succeed, and there, you get to feel that at least something has gone right. Ehrenreich portrays these struggles as ‘injustices’ rather than ‘it’s just how life is’, and you learn to survive and overcome as you can. For some, yes, perhaps it is in changing the system, for others it’s just learning to get by in the hope that something better comes of all of it eventually.
Enrenreich tries hard to add some humor and levity to the work, while keeping her sword of righteous justice still firmly outstretched so we won’t forget it. It doesn’t work, really. Instead, it seems to come off as her making light of a way of life that millions in this country are forced to live everyday, rather than bringing levity to a very serious subject.
What did I like: Ehrenreich tries to be honest in what she sees in terms of the jobs and the problems that go on behind the scenes. This expose of the practices of some employers brings to light a lot of shady things that I hear about from my work in HR, and in doing so perhaps gets a conversation going on how to effect change so those things do not happen again.
How would I rate this wormy book: I would rate it a LITTLE WORM. It has a noble premise, I won’t deny that, but its execution is sloppy, it’s not very entertaining, and in spots it’s a bit insulting. I think that in the hands of another author, it perhaps could have been done better.
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