Harry Potter
Well I had to make a post about it.
Let me start at the beginning (naturally enough). Those that know me understand that I am someone who studies and analyzes. I don’t partake of society in the way that many others do. One such example is Harry Potter.
I began reading Harry Potter to understand the people around me. It seems that almost everyone is a fan of the series. The first six novels I listened to in audiobook format, unabridged of course and read by Stephen Fry.
The first book puzzled me as I could not understand what the masses saw in it. While I will admit that it was incredibly charming, a gift the author has that carries through the entire series, I was flummoxed at how people could consider it a good book. In fact I had considered giving up listening to the other five audiobooks I had and even took a week long break between the first and second novel. The second book was similar, disappointing at best.
It was the third book that the tale really took off and in fact by the fourth book I was completely taken in. So much so that a day or two after I listened to the 6th I went and bought the 7th.
So it is here that I must describe, or at least attempt to describe what exactly I find so amazing. The depth of characters is probably the first and most notable achievement of J.K.Rowling’s worth mentioning. The characters seem as real people. You know how sometimes when you read a book and the character says something stupid that you know the antagonist will use against them. Or how for instance police detectives in books are always so stupid and never think of the obvious possibilities. Well that stuff doesn’t happen in Harry Potter. Harry is very careful in his thinking, all of the characters are and it makes for a very tense atmosphere because you really cannot guess what will happen next.
The wonderfully internal consistent world that Rowling has created is also airtight. Tolkien, in a complicated (but enjoyable) essay wrote that a world doesn’t need to be just like ours to be real it just has to be internally consistent. Rowling manages this task beautifully. She introduces concepts and ideas subtly so that you feel as though they belong and could perhaps even exist somewhere in our world.
The humour of the books is perhaps the third most crowning achievement Rowling manages. The best way I can describe it is that if one had to paint a picture using oil and canvas of the moods and overall feel of the series it would be done almost exclusively in light colours. The humour interjected into the novels comes at perfect times and in perfect proportions. So the story can still be dark and murky without being a Dostoevsky or an Orwell.
If you haven’t figured yet that I am a fan of the series I’m surprised. What began as a study of what turns people’s cranks has become my own personal guilty pleasure. These books great. I would highly recommend them to almost anyone.