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Potterhead Report
What are Harry Potter fans called? Are they potheads? Potterheads? Or do they not have a name?
Anyhoo, I finished The Half-Blood Prince the other day and although I was giving the Unreasonable Man a hard time for saying it was the best book of the series, now that I've finished it I think I see what he means. By midway through, I felt like it wasn't moving very quickly and that not much was actually happening; the form was starting to feel a little stale and it almost seemed like it was just the outline of a book. But things did start to pick up from there and I realized that part of why I might have felt that way was that I was just reading it all much faster than I had read the other books so it all seemed more compressed and flattened by the speed. By the final 50 pages or so things really speed to a rousing conclusion and it left me with a very satisfying yet bettersweet feeling. Of course, I can't wait for the final book.
Speaking of the Unreasonable Man, he found a funny (but, um, shall we say, ribald?) comparison between Hogwarts and law school from Law & Alcoholism. My favorite bit:
3. Watch out for professors that have Dark Wizards growing out of the back of their heads. They tend to have tough curves.
I also know what he means about finishing the book quickly and feeling a sort of hangover afterwards—it's like post-Potter depression.
Meanwhile, Andrew Raff is also applying his legal education to the book by analyzing whether a certain bequest violates the rule against perpetuities. (Very slight spoiler there as to the parties involved in the bequest, so don't go if you don't want to know.)
Since I tend to take books perhaps more seriously than I should (esp. when we're talking about “young adult” books), below are some comments that you might not want to read if you haven't read the book—you know, light spoilery stuff. Don't click for “more” if you don't want to read that sort of thing!
To no one's surprise, I'm ambivalent about Harry Potter the character. On the one hand, I like the way Rowling continues to make Harry sort of bumbling and only competent in bursts so that he has to rely on his friends to pull him through and keep their little world moving in the right direction. That's refreshing because it means Harry's not some dominating hero type and is therefore more believable. However, I don't feel Harry has developed or matured very much as a character. Sure, he's possibly less impulsive now than he was in past books, but not much (if at all). Worse, his hair-trigger temper and his weakness for being blinded by anger remain distinguishing characteristics and there is little sign that he's aware of how devastating these weaknesses are. Also, the fact that he continues to sort of blow off school and not take learning magic seriously means that it's not very plausible that he's supposedly a great wizard who is going to be able to defeat moldy Voldy. Even the magic battles in which he engages in this book are a little surprising; he never practices or pays attention to anyone, yet we're supposed to believe he can hold his own against powerful wizard and witches? I just feel like its time he became more serious about developing his powers even as he becomes more serious about fulfilling the role he supposedly must fill.
Parallel to this is the continued frustration that no one seems to listen to Harry, despite the fact that the past books showed time and again that his hunches were more or less right. Of course, perhaps these things go hand in hand—why would they take him seriously when he just doesn't act very serious most of the time?
Other, really minor things I quibbled inwardly about or really liked while reading:
- The use of another “found” book to move the plot forward. It was a little too reminiscent of Book 2 and Tom Riddle's diary.
- Likewise, although it's a brilliant idea, the constant use of the pensieve for backstory seemed a little deus ex machina -esque. I don't know how else she could have done it, and it worked well, so I'm not really complaining, just saying. I guess that's the advantage of writing fantasy like this—if you need some mechanism to talk about the past other than a dream or a plain old flashback, you just invent a pensieve. In that light, it works well b/c it adds the challenge of forcing the characters to actually “acquire” the required memories in the first place.
- I don't know what to make the of idea that Voldemort appears to come basically from a family of dissipated wealth and prestige. Rowling certainly made the Gaunts out to be the most vile, inbred sort of social trash and I'm not sure why that was necessary or what she's trying to say by that.
- I really enjoyed the idea that Fred and George Weasley have a “security line” of magic products. It certainly rings true in light of current events where people are constantly searching for ways to be more “secure” and the “security industry” is making money hand over fist.
Posted July 23, 2005 01:14 PM | ai books
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I just read the whole thing last night. (Caution for comment perusers: spoilers follow.) Started around 8pm, finished around 3am. I know what you mean about the hangover… Part of the problem is that the book is done. Over. And it will be at least 2 years before the next one. But I also find the endings to be the weakest points of the books. Harry always gets beaten up somehow. It stands out in contrast that the final climaxes rely so much on physical altercation whereas the other crises that come up earlier in each book tend to get resolved in more complex ways.
That said, I disagree with you about Harry developing as a character. I was thinking that he seemed much more adult in this one than he had in others. There were times in earlier books when he would be upset by something someone was saying or doing to him, but he was too timid to be as defiant as he probably should have been. In this latest book I liked that he was able to better stand up for himself. Now, maybe he spoke a bit impetuously, but he's also 16. Even if, for instance, his comments to the Minister were imprudent, I still admired him for having the presence of mind to say them. Also, it's easier to be more critical of his behavior because it's written from his perspective and we're clued into the emotions motivating him to act. But because we don't see, say, Hermoine's inner workings, when she acts in a fit of pique – as she often does – it's harder to lob the same criticism at her about not controlling her anger – even though it might be just as deserved.
But it is interesting, your observation about his development as a wizard. When the series began, Harry was quite exceptional. He had all these special talents most other wizard kids didn't have – flying skills, parseltongue, etc. You'd think he'd have leapt above his classmates in leaps and bounds with his head start, but it seems like he's become rather ordinary. (Of course, maybe that's the point – since there is that undercurrent of doubt about whether he really is the Chosen One or not.) Of course, all the kids are becoming kind of ordinary. Or at least the boys are. Ron had fantastic chess skills, which have been absolutely worthless to him since the beginning of the series. Only the girls seem to be developing their strengths: Hermoine being the excellent student she is, and now with Ginny becoming a confident and able young woman.
As for the Gaunts, I thought Rowling was showing how stupid these racial stereotypes were by demonstrating how the "pure" wizard family was so much more awful than the hated Muggle one was.
My biggest issue with the story, something I will be kicking around in my head when I think about the book, is Snape. Because up until the very, very, *very* end, even despite the earlier chapter, I still thought that Harry could have been wrong about him. And I found that prospect interesting. But either way, he's still a huge enigma that hopefully will be better explained in the next book. Particularly with respect to why Dumbledore had shown him the staunch loyalty that he had.
Anyway, thanks for inspiring me to debrief! Maybe I'll go wander over to Heidi's site now and see what the 750 commenters had to say on the subject :-)
Posted by: Cathy at July 23, 2005 05:12 PM
