So, unless you've been living under a rock lately (or you're my husband, who greets all my pop culture pronouncements with a blank stare and "Why would I care?"), you know that the final Harry Potter movie started this weekend.
I mentioned, half-jokingly, on Twitter a couple days ago how sick I was of Harry Potter. Then I made a joke about losing all my followers. When I checked responses later, I had two. One, from somebody whose user name was taken straight from the HP world, simply said "Goodbye." I checked. She was no longer following me.
The other, from a girl I've known since she was a baby and has grown into one of the most lovable young women I've ever met, asked anxiously if I'd read the books or anything - the idea being, I think, that only a person unfamiliar with HP could be sick of it.
I've read all seven books. I owned the first five before I needed the shelf space and donated them to my local library. I went to see the first four movies in the theater (something major for me - I'm not big on the movie theater. Unless we're talking LotR, because I saw each of those FIVE times in the theater. I was in college, okay? I did a lot of dumb things. Remind me to tell you sometime about dying my hair green. ON PURPOSE).
It's not like I hate Harry Potter (okay, well, I'm not too crazy about the character himself. Round about Book 5 I started wishing a Hippogriff would take him out). There are parts of the series I really like. I still think Prisoner of Azkaban is an absolutely brilliant book. Fred and George Weasley, all of the Weasleys really, are terrific (yes, even Percy). The humor, especially in the first few books, is delightful. The attention to detail, and connectedness between books, still blows my mind. I admire Rowling's creativity so much in building her magical world and peopling it with all the different species and creatures she did.
And I adore Emma Watson.
So I'm not being a complete curmudgeon here. I just honestly don't think the HP world is worth all the lavish devotion and hype people shower on it. The first three books, yes. The fourth one was still good, but not quite up to the standard of the first three. I hated the fifth book. Aside from Fred and George (and the occasional Ginny moment), I hated everything about it. The sixth book was better, but still disappointing. And the seventh was about on par with the sixth.
As for the movies, every single one was a disappointment. Especially the fourth, which is why I didn't bother going to see any of the ones after it. The first one was neat in a lot of ways, but it didn't come anywhere close to capturing the sheer joyous magic of the first book.
I've given a lot of thought to why the series (to me! I know many people differ from me on this matter) went downhill. It's not just that momentum is hard to maintain throughout seven books. Even though many people don't like them as much, I think everyone can agree that The Magician's Nephew and The Last Battle are two of the strongest-written books in the Chronicles of Narnia. Prydain only has five books, but they got better and better with each one (Taran Wanderer, the second-to-last book in the series, is one of my favorite books of all time).
It could be the length - as each book got longer, it got harder to keep them as zestful. Or it could be the lag time between them, making it more difficult to keep up an entertaining pace. It could have something to do with the fact that they started doing the movies while the books were still being written, forcing JKR to divide her attention.
My personal suspicion, however, has to do with those incredible details I mentioned earlier. The impression I got from reading the last few books was that Rowling got so caught up in bringing all those little details from the previous books into the final ones, so involved in making everything mesh absolutely perfectly, that she lost sight of the story itself.
Maybe I'm talking through my hat here. Maybe that's not the case at all. But one of the reasons Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite of the series is that the connectivity is all (or mostly) within that one story. We see things at the end that make us flip back to the beginning and say "Ohhhh." NOT flip back to book one, two, and hunt around in book five because we think we remember that but we're not sure. That's cool, but it gets exhausting for both reader and writer. Book 3 still fits snugly within the series, but it's a fine book all on its own.
The other thing, of course, is that the characters had grown from the first two, but hadn't had a chance to get locked into the more annoying parts of their personalities yet. And Hermione vs. the boggart in the DADA final was priceless!
Do you think the entire Harry Potter series was brilliant, or do you agree that the final three books didn't live up to the promise of the first four? Do you think it's possible to get too clever, and end up losing sight of your story and characters? Have you ever found your characters getting stuck in irritating mode, and not been able to break them free?
I only read the first two books - by force for of all things, my Early American Literature class in college. As someone who likes continuity I could easily have gotten caught up in Harry Potter mania. I didn't though, and that's mostly because fantasy is just not my personal cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I found people to be just a little too fanatical about it and kids getting a little consumed by it. It still bothers me greatly that it seems these days there can't be a successful series of books (then movies) for kids and teenagers if they don't include some sort of mystical characters. Why can't we be interested in normal people who have normal problems, rather than having to make them all wizards, witches, vampires, ware-wolfs, and whatever else I cannot begin to think of?
That's why I'm not interested in HP, or really even LotR or Narnia.
I've read all the HP books. And I enjoyed them, but some are definitely better than others. And, of course, different aspects of books appeal to different readers. For example, I loved the Magician's Nephew and The Horse and His Boy. The Last Battle was among my least favorite.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up a great point about characters getting stuck in their character flaws--I've seen that happen in my own writing. It's really helped me to have betas that honestly say, "Um, I'm getting irritated by this whining/complaining/etc."
Perhaps coming to them as late as I did (2009) made me more wrapped up in them, since I read them all in one fell swoop and all my previous suspicion was turned into admiration and enjoyment. Yes, Harry gets way too emo in books 5 and 6, but then, he did have a pretty wretched time of it. Ultimately I'm a total sucker for redemption stories, and this series has galleons of them (:>)
ReplyDeleteI'm quite guilty of HP fever, and my FB has been all Harry, all the time this week in particular. I get that it can be annoying; I've rolled by eyes plenty of times over similar behaviour in others over Twilight and other franchises. I'm sorry. Take comfort in the fact that my fervour will die down back to a candle flame shortly. I'm just so excited and emotional about the final chapter!
Yes, we have so much book taste in common-- except that Order of the Phoenix was my FAVORITE Harry Potter book and Taran Wanderer my LEAST favorite of the Prydain books! Can't win them all.
ReplyDeleteI have been enjoying reading all the Harry Potter articles out coinciding with the movie, and I really want to see it, but I don't need to see it so desperately that I'm willing to wrestle the extra babysitting out of my mother-in-law. I was much more Must Read/See Immediately back in the day, whether that was Before kids or Before the Book Series Ended So I Wasn't Desperate to Find Out What Happens Anymore, I don't know.
But in answer to your first question, I wouldn't call the whole series brilliant NOR overly fault the last three books. Actually book 6 was possibly my least favorite, because it didn't have much of a plot arc-- it felt like a Transition between books 5 and 7. But I enjoyed 7, and like I said 5 was my favorite. Oh, I can see the problems-- it could totally have been condensed in places, and yes Harry had serious emotional issues (but come on, he's a) fifteen, and b) just went through a severely traumatic experience involving being used in an occult ritual to bring his parents' murderer back from the dead, AND NO ONE THOUGHT HE MIGHT NEED COUNSELING AFTER THAT), but it's got LUNA LOVEGOOD! And Dumbledore's Army! And Dolores Umbrage, who is horrible, but the GOOD kind of horrible! So I have great affection for that book. Actually on the whole I find the series best and worse in individual spots, rather than whole books or early vs later books. It's kind of how I feel about the Star Wars movies, too-- I love A New Hope, but it HAS got that entirely too long and boring half-hour of droids wandering around in the desert at the beginning. There are droids-wandering-the-desert parts of even the best HP books, and completely brilliant wonderful things about even the worst.
Do you follow Fuse#8? Did you see the series her husband did (which she linked to) where he "fixed" the Harry Potter series? I thought it was brilliant and spot-on as a lover of the books. You might be interested as someone who's sick of them, too. That's what makes it so brilliant. http://cockeyedcaravan.blogspot.com/search/label/Harry%20Potter
I never could get into this series. I don't know why.
ReplyDeleteRockin librarian just said exactly what i meant to and didn't. :D I love Luna. She is so kind to others and seemingly oblivious yet she sees more clearly than anyone into people's hearts and needs. Joe thinks she's a riot.
ReplyDeleteForgot to add that i ADORE the Weasleys. Joe got to the point where he knew when I was reading about them specifically because I would burst out laughing and cry, I love Ron! (or whichever Weasley in question).
Adrienne - well, now I'm going to have to do a post on how sad it is we don't have series like the Anne books or Betsy books, or even stand-alones by the same author like Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell anymore. I've always loved the subtitle of Wives & Daughters, "An Everyday Story," because that's exactly what it is, and why it is so delightful.
ReplyDeleteConnie - The Horse and His Boy is one of my favorite Narnias, too. (Voyage of the Dawn Treader is my other.) And yes, thank goodness for honest betas!
Beautifulmonday - you know, you and I think alike in so many areas it still surprises me we aren't on the same page re. HP. Don't worry, though, I'm not going to unfriend you on FB. I am happy other people are so thrilled by this (see above, FIFTEEN total times in the movie theater for LotR, I really can't throw stones here), I just can't get on board with it myself.
Rockinlibrarian - I will say that one of my favorite scenes in the entire HP series happens in Book 5. I love Fred and George (who doesn't?), so you can guess which scene I mean! And Book 6 is kind of a blur to me, so I'm guessing I'm with you on the transition thing.
Bkswthlks - Sometimes a series works for a person, sometimes not, and you can't always guess why!
Yes, i love that scene in book 5 too! they didn't do it any justice at all in the film.
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean- it's such a rare thing that we opine differently. But you are reading them much more like literature and i think i'm still in the throes of fandom so eventually maybe I shall have a more balanced/ high criticism viewpoint. I love that about you.
There's no doubt that people who love HP really LOVE HP. I appreciate JK's success, though I'm watching more from the sidelines.
ReplyDeleteI've read all of the Harry Potter books and have seen all of the movies (with plans to see the final installment soon).
ReplyDeleteI read the first three with the third graders I was teaching at the time and seeing their wonder at and engagement with the books endeared them to me. I'm sure their enchantment with the books had to do with the HP marketing machine, but I'm all for good books that ignite a passion for reading among kids.
Are they my favorite books of all time? No. Did I pre-order them on Amazon for release-day delivery? Yes. :)
Elle - Yes, HP does tend to evoke strong emotions in most people, doesn't he?
ReplyDeleteKristen - I do share a love for books that inspire a love for reading - as long as that love carries out into other (often better) books. I've seen too many kids who fall in love with one series, and then never read anything again after that series ends! But yes, I do agree in general, the HP books were excellent for building enchantment with reading in children.