October 11. 2004 18:38

On Harry Potter, spoilers ahead

Upon reading the fifth book, I very much understand why everybody winced as I told them I liked Percy. He started as such an admirable start of a respectable young man, and look what an asshole he grew up to be. Ugh, I feel revolted by his attitude.

I spent Saturday evening, the whole of yesterday and up until now today lying in my bed, reading Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix, only leaving for the toilet and to eat dinner. I regretted, every now and then, spending most of my rare two-day weekend reading in my bed, but now that I've finished the book, there's a lovely serenity in my mind. I've read them all, and the ending of this book left me so much more satisfied than any of the previous ones.

After each book I kept thinking of all the unaswered questions: why exactly did Harry have to return to the awful Dursleys every summer, why was Snape always so horrible, what happened to Sirius-in-hiding and what was Voldemort going to do now that he had returned, what was it that made Harry so important to Voldemort in the first place... This time Dumbledore finally explained it all. The only thing left quietly nagging in the back of my mind was why does Dumbledore trust Snape so much.

As for the questions that were answered soon as they arouse, I have to say, every now and then I couldn't help but feel angry at the characters for being as stupid as they were. There were plain simple hints to what their problems were about but it always, not missing one opportunity, took them five more minutes to realize them. I guess that's just part of the way the books are written for younger audience, but it made me feel like Hermione every time Harry did something stupid about Cho.

Sometimes, though, the blood and violence and the twisted personalities of some of the characters made me feel a bit reserved to think about giving the book to a eight-year-old. The plots of the books clearly mature in the same speed as Harry. It isn't a problem for the children who grow up a year themselves waiting for the next book, but it makes me think it might not be such a good idea to introduce the series to a youngster in such an early age now that they can continue to the next book as soon as they finish the previous one...

The feeling of helplessness throughout the book, indeed, it was very grasping. First the lack of information, then the clutch of the Ministry was almost unbearable. I felt as anguished as the students themselves under the reign of Umbridge, unable to do anything to stop the Ministry suffocating the school little by little. Fred and George's flight filled me with such enormous triumph that I was close to tears, and it gave me enormous satisfaction to see the teachers and the students pick on Umbridge as hard as they could.

I hated how Sirius died. Not letting a character even bloom and suddenly casting it away like that... They hadn't had a single serene moment with Harry. I would've wanted to see more of Sirius, to hear more of his thoughts and to see him spend time with the children. All in all, he didn't get a change to develope very far and build as strong a relationship to the reader as he had with Harry. Finding a character dead when you hadn't really had the chance to get to know him yet felt disappointing... I couldn't feel sad for Sirius himself, only for Harry, who was thrown into such a depression after the loss of his godfather.

I still keep wondering a bit of why Sirius and Lupin have become such idols to the Harry Potter fandom. They are the nicest, fairest, fatherliest characters in the book, the ones I'd really love to ask for advice myself, but that's it, I see them as reliable father figures more than the coolest heros of the books. Neither of them has had much of "screen time", so I'm not sure I would've paid so much attention to them, or at least Lupin, had they not been talked about everywhere before I started the books. What's more, I certainly can't understand what's the source of the numerous ideas about them having a romantic relationship, as their relationship seemed most of the time to lack even the warmth of being old friends.

But I loved the bit about the young gang of Harry's father. They, unlike Harry and his friends, got to enjoy the lazy and carefree first summer days in school, and it made me very happy to read about them having a happy time. Of course, picking on Snape was a lousy thing to do to prevent boredom... But finally having a glimpse on why Snape loathes Harry so much was very enlightening. That's one of the questions that've been rolling in my mind ever since the first book.

It somewhat bothers me that I know every spring in every book will be shadowed by some dark plan with Voldemort's touch in it. What I love most about the books is the peaceful life at Hogwarts and I'd love to experience a serene end of a year, allowing Harry and the others to enjoy the end of term and the first warm days of the summer without a dark menace looming over them. As the matter of fact, I'd love to read more about their daily lives in school in general, without them worrying about the next threat on their lives. I loved the entanglements the students from the other schools caused in the fourth book and the matter of Harry and Cho. I'm afraid, though, that the following books will concentrate ever more on the war against Voldemort, so my hopes of reading more about the school life are very hollow...

But still, I'm waiting forward to the moment when Ron starts more than frowning at Hermione when she talks about Viktor or love life in general ^_~