Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

When we again meet Harry Potter in this latest installation in the popular series, he is a changed individual. He is older, yes -- now fifteen -- but there is something else different about him as well; he is rougher, more full of anger. A young man who is

"consumed with anger and frustration, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists..."

And, dare it be said, a young man who is now a bit obnoxious. We meet Harry again lying behind a hydrangea bush, alone, to escape the screams of his aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. At least they haven't changed. Their son, Dudley, is also older and now, unknown to his parents, little more than a neighborhood hoodlum.
Harry is angry; he feels that he is being ignored by his friends and by his mentor, Dumbledore. He is also fearful, for his famous scar is acting up, paining him, and he fears that the terrible Voldemort is about to make his reappearance. Something is about to occur, something bad. Harry is lying behind the bush, beneath an open window of his uncle's house, listening to the television inside, waiting for news of whatever that "something" is to be talked about on the evening news, when suddenly there is a loud crack. The sound of someone apparating. Harry, suspecting danger, pulls out his wand. Danger comes to him but it is in the form of his uncle, who, also hearing the noise, looks outside and sees Harry, wand in hand. His uncles reaches out and grabs him. They struggle until Harry frees himself. Then they argue until Harry walks away. The argument endis with his uncle declaring, "We're not stupid, you know" and Harry responding with an insult, "Well, that's news to me." Part of the new surly Harry.
Shortly thereafter he meets Dudley, and soon it is Harry who is provoking Dudley rather than the other way around (as I said, not the same Harry). Soon both boys are attacked by Dementors, and saved only by Harry using his wand -- A fact that soon will threaten Harry with expulsion from his school, for it is against the rules to use magic in front of humans.
When he finally returns to Hogwarts, he learns that he has been the victim of an ongoing smear campaign. Newspapers read by wizards have run stories denigrating his achievements in fighting Voldemort, calling them the imagined tales of an attention-seeking and perhaps deranged young man. The campaign is working, for many of the students now look at Harry as though he is an ugly bug who might suddenly leap on their shirt collars, turn and bite them on the neck. This increases Harry's angst and he finds it difficult to get along with even his best friends, Ron and Hermione. There is a lot of sighing and grumbling between them.
Harry is saved from expulsion by Dumbledore, but his troubles aren't over. The school he loves is being taken over by a new political movement which eventually pushes Dumbledore out of power and places the "toad-like" Professor Umbridge, perhaps the worse despotic teacher/headmaster to ever exist, in charge. Harry's life, as with the lives of most of the other students, is made miserable. The school is slowly being corrupted by politics and tyrants, his scar is still acting up terribly, and he is suffering from recurring nightmares, dreams that seem more real than not. Life is not easy.
Who is behind the smear campaign? Who is behind the takeover of Hogwarts? What is the reason for Harry's bad dreams? As with the previous Harry Potter books, there is as much mystery novel as fantasy novel here.
J.K. Rowling's wonderful ability to tell tales is on ample display here, and the book's 870 pages read quicker than one would suspect when first picking the novel up and developing arm strain. But the plot ultimately is weak for all its length. All of the plot's machinations point to a desire by Voldemort to obtain an object of sorts, an object which ultimately struck me as a kind of Alfred Hitchock's "McGuffin" -- an object that exists for no other reason than to justify the movement of the plot, like the suitcase everyone is after in the movie Ronin.
I found myself, too, questioning who J.K. Rowling now sees as the primary audience for her Harry Potter novels. By having Harry grow up, she's abandoned her core audience, children pre- mid-teens. She is suddenly writing for an older audience, else how to explain the use of the word "scumbag" in the novel more than once? I'm not sure all parents would want their young children reading a "children's book" with this word in it.
There is a reason why Dorothy of The Wizard of Oz series remained the same age, just as there was a reason why Huck Finn didn't grow older for the sequel to Tom Sawyer, written years after the first book. The core audience has to be able to identify with the main character. I may be wrong, but I'm not sure Rowling's many young fans will be able to do so with The Order of the Phoenix.


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Harry Potter is growing up! If you were 11 when you first read Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone then, like Harry, you will now be 14. Quite honestly, life is tricky enough when you are 14. Harry is surprised to discover that while Hermione is simply a jolly good friend to him, she is the most important thing in the life of Viktor Krum, the international quidditch star. Harry's mate, Ron, is jealous of Hermione for going off with his favourite quidditch player, but perhaps Ron would actually prefer Hermione's company to Viktor Krum's (even if Ron doesn't quite realize it yet)? Harry has become almost painfully aware of Cho Chang of Ravenclaw House, but dithers for too long before inviting her to the Yule Ball, and so he has to watch her go with Cedric Diggory, who is older than him, better looking, and a prefect. Meanwhile, Ron is quite often jealous of Harry for being richer than him, and more popular than him; famous, that is.
Ah! but on top of all that Harry is, of course, the object of Lord Voldemort's hatred. Lord Voldemort - the Dark Lord himself - is slowly recovering his powers and calling to his side all his helpers of old. All he needs is a new body to occupy and he will become an irresistible force for evil. To build his new body he needs Harry Potter's blood.
Which servant of the Dark Lord succeeds in penetrating Albus Dumbledore's defences at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry? Just how much danger is Harry in when his name is put forward for the Triwizard Tournament? Harry's a decent sort, and that can get you a long way when you are up against the forces of evil, but can he really face up to the Dark Lord in a duel, and come out alive?
This is a very long book. There are over 600 pages. The first 400 are little more than an account of everyday life in a magical landscape. The story wanders gently on. That's fine if you like your Harry Potter books to be a way of life, but if you like a tightly-told story you may feel a little impatient with it. On the other hand, when you finally get to the dramatic climax of the story, it is brilliantly told. Voldemort is revoltingly evil. Harry is pathetically vulnerable. And when their two wands link together in a surge of magical energy during the final duel, I was spellbound myself:
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was too long for me, but I did thoroughly enjoy it, once the story really got going. I enjoyed the girl-meets-boy aspect of the book: I felt it added interest to an otherwise rather one-dimensional story. And I found the final scenes powerful and rather moving.








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Harry Potter
and the Chamber of Secrets

by J. K. Rowling
first British printing: July 1998, Bloomsbury Books
first American printing: June 2, 1999, Scholastic, Arthur A. Levine Books
illustrations by Mary GrandPré, 1999
Dedication:
For Seán P. F. Harris, getaway driver and foul-weather friend.
This is the second book of the series.



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I got this book for Christmas and immediately thought, it’s a children’s book how good can it really be? I loved it. I read the series so far in a week. I’ve not read such a well written, all consuming book in years and that’s saying something as I usually read at least two books a week. As a child I used to read Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl, I was well known for always having my nose stuck in a book. As I got older I started reading more ‘adult’ books but always thought about how great I remembered the stories had seemed. And I know this sounds corny but I always worried that there would never be anything as great or new for the next generation. And then I found Harry Potter - breathtaking stories which combine charm, wit and imagination. It’s one of those amazing stories which has you waiting on the edge of your seat for the next installment.

    Harry Potter spent the first ten years of his life living with his Muggle (non-wizard) Aunt and Uncle and revolting, spoilt pig-like cousin Dudley. They begrudgingly let him live with them when his parents are murdered by the evil Lord Voldemort but they loath the fact that he is not ‘normal’. Consequently he lives in the cupboard under the stairs and is not even recognized when he walks into a room or talks. Then, a letter arrives from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by the giant Hagrid and plunges Harry into the world of wizards where he is famous as the only survivor of Voldemort’s curse, the proof evident as a lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead.

    Each book chronicles a new year at Hogwarts where Harry lives in a world of potion classes, care of magical creatures and learning to fly broomsticks in the wizard game of Quidditch. He is also involved in the death challenges Lord Voldevort constantly throws at him, aided by his best friends Ron, Hermione and Hedwig the owl - all the while trying to dodge the school bully Draco Malfoy and Peeves the mischievous poltergeist. The characters captivate you as well as the plot twists, many people can relate to one of the characters or knew an equivalent at school. The bossy but well-meaning Hermione, pompous Percy, dim-witted Neville and funny Ron. The story recognizes the anxieties and situations all children go through; dealing with the bully, the mean teacher, the torment of keeping secrets and having the courage to act against injustice.

    Many people believe children are only interested in video games and T.V. It’s probably true but only because there hasn’t been anything else to grasp their attention. Now there is, the magical and awe-inspiring Harry Potter. With the plot twists and incredible wit it will captivate child and adult alike. The vocabulary is such that adults will not feel a loss of intelligence reading it - indeed it will not even occur to them. To date, it has won the National Book Award, the Smarties Prize, the Children’s Book Award and is short listed for the Carnegie Medal - it deserves all and more

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