Harry Potter: Hogwarts Years 1 and 2

Posted on October 28th, 2007 in Book Review by Robb

Title: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Author: JK Rowling

Publisher: Scholastic

Year Published: 1997

 

Harry Potter. A young, know-nothing wizard stumbles from the non-magical world in which he was raised into the magical world of Hogwarts. Trolls, dragons, three-headed dogs, and, of course, magic, all wrapped up and placed in perhaps the most dreaded setting in all of Young Adult Literature… school. What’s not to like?

For me, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone quickly turned into a guilty pleasure. In my gut, I knew that what I was reading wasn’t technically proficient writing. But the story itself was just too good to put down. It isn’t a must read book by any means, but if you are one of the eight or nine people on the planet who haven’t read it, I can heartily recommend it as a guilty pleasure kind of beach-book. I haven’t read as “fun” a book as this in a long, long time.

 

Title: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Author: JK Rowling

Publisher: Scholastic

Year Published: 1999

 

Chamber of Secrets slips a bit, in my view. Quite a bit, actually. The biggest problem is that it takes Rowling almost 150 pages to get to the story. Those first pages are all preamble; cute, somewhat interesting scenes that don’t seem interconnected in any way other than they all have the same characters.

Once the story gets started, however, it isn’t long at all before I am right back to where I was with Sorcerer’s Stone. Muggle-born students are dropping like flies, and everyone thinks Harry is behind it. So, of course, Harry, Ron, and Hermione simply must play detective in an attempt to solve the mystery of who is really behind the attacks.

The only let down (after page 150, at any rate) is the end when Harry goes on a “let me tell you how I figured it all out” bender with Dumbledore and Mr. Malfoy. Reminiscent of those really cheesy detective movies, it is an attempt to explain the almost ambiguousness of those first 150 pages. Going back and looking at those pages again, there is no evidence in the text itself that supports the suppositions Harry makes other than simple location references. It is, in effect, a trick that Rowling uses in order to keep the reader in the dark until those final ten to twenty pages. On the one hand it is justifiable, as the story is told in third-person limited. On the other hand, however, it is a letdown that this unknown information is sprung on the reader by the character the narration is so totally focused on. If I know what Harry knows, and Harry is able to “put the pieces together” as it were, then those pieces should be present for me to put together as well. Otherwise it has the effect of a cheesy “dues-ex-machina” kind of ending. It is still a good book, but I walked away ready to read something decidedly non-Potterish.

Harry Potter, the Series

Posted on October 21st, 2007 in Book Review by Robb

With the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I decided to start from the beginning. Along the way, I miraculously managed to avoid all the spoilers, reviews, message board posts, and conversations about it as I read my way from the scared kid under the stairs all the way through Hogwarts Year 7. I am glad I decided to do it, too. Yeah, it took me longer, and I didn’t finish Deathly Hallows until last weekend or so, but I picked up on alot of little details that I think I probably would have missed otherwise. But don’t worry. As usual, I don’t talk about plot or other spoilers in my reviews. Or if I do I try to veil it in some way. The next several posts will review the individual books in the series, culminating, of course, with the latest, and last, installment. I wrote them all in order, as I finished each book. Below is my take on the series as a whole.

Author: J. K. Rowling

Publisher: Scholastic

Publishing Time Frame: 1999 - 2007

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

It’s an interesting thing, this Harry Potter phenomena. J. K. Rowling has been lauded in some circles as the savior of Young Adult Literature and vilified in others as a hack with no clear concept of story construction. I am not well-read enough in YA Lit to have an opinion on the savior part, but the bit about story construction is, in general, dead on. Her technique, or lack of it, flies in the face of everything that is taught in workshops and universities around the globe. She takes too long to truly begin the story, her grammatical inconsistencies leave much to be desired, and her reliance upon the trope is, much of the time, heavy handed. Harry Potter is a fine example of how not to structure a novel.

It is also, perhaps, the single best lesson a writer needs to learn: Story trumps all. Regardless where you stand on the whole savior versus hack issue, J. K. Rowling sure can spin a good yarn. And honestly, I can’t say that proper editing and structural refinement would make the stories she tells any better. Indeed, everything just seems to fit, even the technical and structural stuff that stand out so garishly. The characters she creates are vivid and wonderful. The story is theirs, and even though there are many instances of what seem to be filler, it is the relationships Rowling develops that propel the story forward. Even the dreaded “bad guy” characters must be viewed with a sense of care. You know they are bad. They have always seemed to be bad. You even expect them to be bad. But all the same, somehow you wind up thinking, “no… he wouldn’t do that. Would he?”

It may not be great literature, but it is most definitely great fun.

 

Dueling Semesters

Posted on October 8th, 2007 in Editorial by Robb

As Grad School (student) and High School (teacher) are now in full swing, I find that I have already made sacrifices that make me sad. Or I suppose that sacrifice isn’t really the correct word. Compromise. I compromise my free time now for what I hope to gain when the grad program is completed. All in all, it still seems more like a sacrifice much of the time.

I no longer have time to play the guitar. I sat down yesterday for the first time in over a month and played for about 30 minutes. It’s all I could spare between grading and finishing up a paper that was due today. With as badly as I actually play the guitar, it kind of surprises me that I miss it as much as I do. It is, however, in some strange way, oddly relaxing knowing just how much I suck.

I haven’t written a single word of fiction since the semester(s) started. Not only that, I dropped off mid story and have been dying to get back to it. I have taken about 5 pages of notes on a new story (ok… not really notes… more like scribbled ideas) but that’s it for my creative output. I am praying that I am able to find some sort of balance where I can devote a few hours a week to at least finish up the short I have in progress.

This blog. I had managed to work out a nice little schedule of posting 3 times a week, and that has been shot all to hell. It took being let out of class early tonight to find time to write this short note. I am trying very hard to make at least 1 post a week. I even have topics saved up to write about, and a huge, multi-post review of the Harry Potter series (which is all but finished, save for the last book which I am almost done with).

I am having a ton of fun teaching, but I wonder how others do it and go to grad school at the same time. And it only gets busier next spring when my schedule at the HS increases. It is going to get very interesting. Basically, I will still update as often as I am able, but if a week or two slips by with no word, don’t panic… I am just grading mid-terms or working on my 25+ page pager for Grad School.

Oh yes… one final note for all of my students that have discovered this site….

GO STUDY YOUR VOCAB!