I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and I feel so depressed. I know it’s crazy to be affected like this by a book, but I can’t help it. And the fact that I’ve been feeling shitty lately just makes everything worse. *sigh*
I actually bought the first two Harry Potter books a few weeks back so I could convince my younger sister to start reading so she could be as smart as her Ate. And I also wanted to “review” Harry’s earlier years in Hogwarts before reading the sixth book.
Reading Books 1 and 2 made me remember why I didn’t get hooked on the series at first. Rowling’s writing is too simple and almost devoid of figures of speech. She’s also becoming more partial to writing long and sometimes winding dialogues among her characters, especially between Harry and Dumbledore, when the latter explains to Harry certain things in the past, like why Voldemort (*gasp!*) tried to kill him as a baby. And her books had the feel of a children’s story or even a fairy tale because they had endings which are derivatives of “and they all lived happily ever after” (or at least the first three; Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix are kinda sad). Not that I don’t want happy endings, see. I just can’t help but feel that Harry has too much luck on his side – it’s too good to be true. And it does get boring after a while, when you think that Harry can get away with anything.
To her credit, though, I love the wit and humor in her books, her quirky and lovable characters, and the weird but believable names she makes up. And I’ve started to be engrossed in the story as the missing pieces from the Wizarding world’s past are revealed. She could be descriptive and vivid, too, although as I’ve mentioned earlier, figures of speech are rare.
It’s a pity they’ve already made the movie versions before the series was even finished. Instead of buying the books, people would rather rent the video. And the movies don’t, and can’t, exactly capture the magic and subtlety of books and of reading. I just wish they let the series “mature” like LOTR and Narnia. Of course, maybe Rowling wasn’t too confident that her books would stand the test of time like the two classics. Or maybe the producers (or whoever) were really determined to turn the Harry Potter books into movies whether Rowling likes it or not. So she figured she would be better off as a part of it so she could prevent any unnecessary mutilation of her babies. Oh well.
In any case, I can’t wait for the seventh, and I’m hoping the last, book in the series. And I wish somebody would give us Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet to complete our collection. After all, my birthday is a little more than a month away. To quote Angela, I’m joking, but if you’re serious so am I. *big toothy smile*
2 comments:
I think it's more of because nobody can say no to having their novel made into a movie, no matter how bad it might turn out to be, no matter how many times it does turn out to be bad. Look at Stephen King. :D
But Stephen King is already an established writer. Rowling, on the other paw, is a neophyte.
Oh well. She could always write under a pseudonym, like A. A. Milne who could never escape Pooh and Piglet.
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