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.

So, no deep thoughts, just thoughts. It was a terrific read and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Like everyone else, I can't wait for the next and final installment, although I do hope to see a Harry that's a bit more, well, heroic in the end.

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