In Which Jessica Finally Reads…

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Now, if you didn’t read my previous post on finally reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you can check that out here. 

Much like with the Sorcerer’s Stone, I had read this book previously…kind of.  More like, I started this book after reading the first and it lost me in the first few slow chapters. So after I didn’t dislike the first book when I read it this time, I decided to continue on my journey through J.K. Rowling’s magical world. 

First things first: Again I had trouble staying interested in this book because it was practically identical to what I remember from the movie.  I’m going to continue to blame it on the fact that I’ve seen this movie a few times, and not the fact that the writing isn’t solid and the plotting not good.  But the pacing just didn’t keep me involved the whole time.  In fact, I finished two other books in the middle of reading this one.  But after discussing the trouble I was having with reading it with a few of my friends who are avid fans, it seems that this book suffers the same fate as the first one: it’s just building up to a much bigger story that evidently really takes off in Prisoner of Azkaban. So again, I didn’t fall absolutely in love with it, but I am intrigued enough to keep reading.  Especially the third one since I really don’t remember ever seeing the third movie.

Random thoughts from my reading: Did anyone else get super upset when Mrs.Norris was petrified?  I was so sad.  But I am 100% a cat person, so that might be the reason it really hit me.  It definitely isn’t because she was such a friendly cat.  

The idea of a squib was completely new to me, and I really don’t remember that being discussed in any of the movies.  It kind of made me feel bad for Filch…but not enough to forgive him for being so crotchety. 

I thought the scene with the spiders couldn’t get any worse than in the movie, but the scene was really well executed in the novel and made me completely paranoid about spiders crawling on me. Thanks, J.K. 

Overall, I think I’ll just give this book the same rating as the first: 3.5 Bards

In Which Jessica Finally Reads….

Harry Potter.

Now let me clarify.  I did actually read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone back in 6th grade (you know, almost 15 years ago) when it was required reading for my AG English class.  I remember having to force myself to finish before the test the next day because I was having trouble staying interested in the story.  

So when my friend (who is obsessed with Harry Potter and has a tattoo based on that triangle symbol *which I’m sure will be explained to me in one of the books at some point*) gave me the first three books in paperback this past May for my birthday, I figured “what the hell.”  

So, if you want to join me on the journey to my discovery of the world of Harry Potter (whoops, I’ve seen all the movies) then here we go. 

The book started off eerily similar to how I remembered it: a tad slow and from the third person point of view of an ADULT.  Yeah, no wonder my sixth grade self was a tad put off by it.  But, when I was reading it this time I kept laughing to myself at the little observations that Mr. Dursley kept making about the odd people in cloaks, the unusual surge in owl activity, and that damn cat.  

Quickly thereafter the narration switches to another point of view (I mean jeez, my Master’s creative writing professors would be appalled at the amount of POV shifts that occur in the first 30 pages of this novel) in which we meet Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Professor McGonagall.  Then it goes to third person limited, Harry. 

While reading this as an adult and someone who’s focus was children’s literature in graduate school, I totally understand what all the fuss is about.  Harry is inquisitive, hard-headed, smart, talented, humble and just about everything else that would have made everyone at school hate him. Oh, and the fact that he was the only first year to make a house Quidditch team? Icing on the hate cake.  Although I will say that the inclusion of these things and the outcome of Harry’s actions really helped Rowling keep the extraneous characters to the minimum in this text, which I totally appreciated when being introduced to a (somewhat) new world of fiction. 

Something that I found odd: maybe it is just me, but I would totally not have made the connection between the dragon egg, Hagrid, and information about Fluffy.  I’d probably have been like, “Oh cool, a random dragon egg! That seems legit.” But I guess that is why I am not the star of my own book series. 

I’ve been told that the books get better and better as I go along, and I hope that is the case since I did find this one a bit “chatty” for getting to the main action.  Again, I’ve been told this doesn’t happen as much in the other books.  So I figure it is kind of like watching the first movie in a new superhero series, you have to get through a whole lot of the exposition in order to find the climax and the falling action. (I’m looking at you THOR.)

Overall, can’t say that I was head over heels…but I’m not counting it out yet.  Starting Chamber of Secrets tomorrow. 

3.5 Bards