This post is a sort of review/discussion of this book. I feel like talking about the books I've been reading lately, seeing as how I'm finally reading some really amazing novels this year. Last year's novels all kind of stunk, for lack of a better phrase.
I admit, a bit embarrassingly, that I didn't start reading the Harry Potter books until 2012, and I was not 12-years-old only four years ago. I could have and probably should have started reading them way back when the first book was published in 1997, when I was 21. The thing is, adults didn't read children's books back in those days. For those who may be a bit younger than myself, the Harry Potter books were the first children's books read on a massive scale by adults as well as children. (Unless I'm overlooking something else.)
So, knowing how my oldest brother, much older than me, was loving even the first book, after buying it for his daughters, really puzzled me. He was in his forties at the time and I just couldn't believe a book meant for 11-year-olds was so good, even parents were obsessing over it. A totally bonkers situation, and I wrote it off. I figured I didn't need to bother because I wouldn't really like them, anyway.
I saw all the movies and really enjoyed them (despite forgetting most of them by now), but they didn't inspire me to read the books. One day at Wal-Mart, I happened to pass by the collection for sale and decided to buy Book 1 in paperback on a whim. It sat on my shelf, collecting dust, until about five years later. I had started keeping a book review blog by then and decided it was time to just read the dang thing. Keeping up with the book Jones's, and all that....
So, I read it and it was really great! I think these books are the best you can find in children's Middle Grade fiction. I love the voice used to narrate the story and all the little ingenius fantasy, magical elements Rowling invents for the world building. It's astonishing and gets more so in later volumes.
But, the problem for me with Book 1, and Books 2 and 3, is that they are really, at heart, just children's books. Middle Grade novels for kids. Me and this reading grade don't get along very well. When I read books written for these younger audiences, I always feel like something is missing and falling flat. While I can see their merit--it's hard not to with the HP books!--I can't help but always feel underwhelmed at the end of the day. I am a lover of Young Adult and Adult fiction because that's what resonates with me best, and Middle Grade cannot be anything other than what it is.
After reading the first three books, I moved on to Book 4 and it started out very similarly to all of the others that came before it--except that it was very, very detailed and verbose. The book is over 700 pages long, nearly twice as long as Book 3! I couldn't begin to comprehend why at the beginning. Everything was going along as usual as I read it--enjoyable and always worthwhile, but a little "meh."
Until I got about two-thirds finished. Suddenly, I felt like I was reading a different novel altogether. As many of you know--just abut everyone else has read ALL the books except me--the book takes a startlingly dark turn towards the end! Harry is going through experiences that would terrify even the most hardened mature adult in the world. I won't write spoilers just in case, but, let's face it--I don't need to worry about spoiling anyone.
I finally started to get really into the story at that point. Harry's world becomes truly grim and he finally goes from being a mostly well-protected protagonist by his author-mummy to being fed to the wolves. Fantastic! While the writing stayed simplistic as it had been from the beginning, the content turned into a Young Adult novel, and now I'm hooked!
I was considering quitting the series as I trudged along in this book before getting to the really juicy stuff, but I change my mind. I'm going to read the heck out of the rest of them, now! I even have Book 5 waiting for me on a shelf and I sneaked a peak at the first two chapters because I couldn't wait to see what was in store. I can already tell it's a YA novel in every way, shape and form. Hurray for teenage Harry!
Anyway, needless to say, I loved this book and found even the most mundane, pointless thing, like Hermione pulling a wayward beetle out of her hair, had been counted for and wrapped up in a neatly tied bow by the end. What a near-masterpiece this book is. I have no doubt I'll love the rest of the series.
What are your thoughts on the Harry Potter books? Read them, love them? Or, not so much?
