posted
I’m a 25-year-old philosophy graduate student and the last thing I thought I would ever do was become interested in Harry Potter. But, there I was July 15th at midnight at my local BN buying the 6th book and reading it before going to bed that night. I wondered, for only an instant, why I loved reading these books but I disregarded these thoughts in order to speculate about book 7!
Then, today, a friend asked me why I loved the books so much. Honestly, I feel like George Costanza because it’s now been 5 hours since they asked me, and only now am I ready with an answer! I love the characters, story, and everything about a world of magic, mayhem, despair, and ultimately triumph. The Harry Potter books are about love, sacrifice, and friendship; themes all to relevant on our world stage. Once I read book 4, I became instantly hooked by the deep and loving friendships of the stories heroes and heroines, and yet what intrigued me most of all, was the characters themselves. For the first time since LOTR, I found myself wanting Harry to triumph over those who seek to harm him or his friends, and I wanted to see Hermione and Ron come to together in the darkest of times. In essence, I realized that I wanted my happy ending for Harry, Ron, and Hermione; whose flaws make them muggle and whose determination and depth of spirit make them magical.
Posts: 457 | Registered: Jun 2005
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My brother actually asked me this two days ago. I thought about it and ended up telling him that I really don't know. I was busy right after that so I couldn't think about it more.
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I think Harry Potter is unique because although it's a fantasy world, it's set in a time and place that we, as readers, can understand. Unlike LotR, which is incredibly complicated, and Middle Earth which has a very extensive history and background, Harry Potter takes place in London, in the here and now. Yeah, so Hogwarts doesn't exist, of course... but it's all the problems and questions that the kids there have that we can all identify with. Harry is not the perfect student, he's mediocre, and has problems with his studies just like the rest of us. The characters are very believable, as are friendship situations, developments at school (I liked, for example, the secrecy sensors in book 6, I thought they really added to the scene), and teacher behavior.
The characters also use everyday speech, enjoy everyday things (i.e. wizard's chess, joke shops), and behave fully as you expect them to. I think that's what sets Harry Potter apart from the rest of the fantasy stories, not that I don't love those too. But J. K. Rowling manages to create intricate fantasy plots and wizarding dilemmas in an incredible believable world, which makes reading them extra fun. Plus, she never lets the excitement of the plot carry her away, and still has her wonderful descriptions in every scene. Many authors tend to forget about describing the room when there are heated wand battles and people dying.
Posts: 7877 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I don't know if I would like them nearly as much if they had all already been published before I started reading them. I like trying to figure out what will happen next, and discussing the possibilities with so many other people and getting so many other points of views. If I had waited until the seventh book came out to start reading them, I wouldn't spend nearly as much time speculating because I could simply move on to the next book. There's something to be said about reading a book for the first time, and knowing that millions of other people are reading it for the first time as well. Though I have to admit, I do kind of wish we didn't have to wait two years in between books. A month or so would be more than enough for me. Posts: 1547 | Registered: Jan 2004
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I think JK put some sort of spell on the books. That's why many people can't answer why they like them. Posts: 1417 | Registered: Aug 1999
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Of course she put a spell on the books – after all, if a powerful witch wrote the history of some very turbulent years in the world of wizards do you really think the ministry of magic would let the muggles think it was true?
Posts: 169 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:I think JK put some sort of spell on the books. That's why many people can't answer why they like them. [Big Grin]
Hrmph. Now I feel like I have to articulate my reasons.
I think one of the things I like about Rowling is that she balances the fun and lighthearted with the weighty and serious. This is one of the things I enjoyed so much about the series Buffy. You'd have some somber, sobering episode, and then you'd have a complete fluff episode to balance it out. But the fluff episodes were never "throw away". They always furthered the story.
Rowling also takes great care to either place details in her books that seem insignificant at the time and become crucial later, or else goes back into her previous books and selects things that could be used thusly and does. It is hard to tell which, and perhaps it is both. After all, I'm pretty sure when Tolkien wrote "The Hobbit" he wasn't intending the ring to be "The One Ring" of Sauron. I don't think that idea existed yet. But he went back and took the previously planted idea and made an epic story around it.
I also like that her heroes aren't "all that". Sure, Harry is good at being a Seeker and talking to snakes, but he has few other amazing natural talents. It takes him time to learn stuff. He relies on his friends gifts and talents. Sometimes Harry is lazy, careless, and unkind. He makes mistakes. It keeps him humble. Well, some of the time, anyway. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I think you've about nailed it. JKR takes our everyday world and makes it magical, and she takes old legends and makes reinvents and incorporates them into her new world. School is boring, but Wizard school is interesting. Goblins were monsters now they are bankers.
I also can identify with the characters. I almost always pull for the underdog. So an orphan kid with no special wizarding abilities who must destroy the most powerful dark wizard ever is right up my alley.
I read for escapism. When I am reading HP I am not thinking about my job or anything else.
I will have to wait and speculate for a year or two to find out what happens, but I am sure there will be a happy ending.
I wish one day someone would show up at my house and tell me I'm a wizard. (wish fulfillment)
Painting are alive (sort of)
Quditch is cool.
Chocolate is a medical remedy
Posts: 555 | Registered: Jun 2005
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I love learning about the magical world as well. I love the idea of a parallel universe that none of us muggles are even aware of. It's just fun. As a teacher, I also love any book that makes non-readers excited about reading. Nothing is better than the sight of a dylexic 13 year old kid reading on a second grade level who finishes GoF!
Posts: 1319 | Registered: Jul 2005
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First of all, I love the theme. Friendship, looking out for friends, love. I can't resist those themes in stories. They are important. Plus, she gets it. She totally understands this little fact that not even politicians get and to find out what that is, read book six and what Dumbledore says to Harry. I also love the casual way she says something magical like, Harry lost the bones in his arm last year or something like that.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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The entertainment value. I know I'm not going to get bored and that the story will be fairly good. It's also a franchise where the movie can be just about as good as the book.
I still haven't read Book 6 yet. No big rush. I'm glad a book is so popular and all, but I haven't been dying to read it.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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I love it not only for the story and the characters but for the fact that so many people, of all ages enjoy it as much as I do. When I went to buy the book at BN I saw children, college students, and adults of all ages. Its amazing that people who have totally different lifestyles all came to BN at midnight for the same book.
Posts: 218 | Registered: Jul 2005
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A few favorite bits: Dumbledore is the most powerful good-guy and he's considered nutter, likes candy, and really seems to get what it means to be a child. He's a rather taoist role model in a lot of ways. Fred and George are consistantly hilarious. Ron makes all us boys feel better about our own "clueless about girls" phases.
I wasn't going to say anything negative, but I noticed someone mentioned quidditch... And I really hate quidditch. The hole thing with the snitch being worth 150 points invalidates so much else of the match that every time it comes up I grumble at the stupidity of it. This would be the least interesting sport to follow ever. Sorry.
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Well, if whizzing around on broomsticks is so common that even fairly poor families have brooms for their children, that in and of itself holds no real appeal. When you have a sport where only 1 player on each team is likely to have any real outcome on who wins, making the other players' actions meaningless unless they get a fifteen-goal lead... I'd call that dull.
Of course, the bludgers seem a bit more fun, but that's a lot like watching hockey just for the fights.
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I don't. I also don't think the only reason to watch a game should be the violence factor. If you want to see people beat each other up, watch boxing. Or kung-fu movies.
I should also clarify that when I said it wouldn't be interesting to follow, I mean following the sport in terms of having a favorite team, tracking players' statistics, and all the other things sports fans do. Not just watching a game.
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"I don't. I also don't think the only reason to watch a game should be the violence factor. If you want to see people beat each other up, watch boxing. Or kung-fu movies."
Uh joke. Apparently not a funny one, but still, kidding Enigmatic!
Posts: 457 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
Enigmatic, I think quidditch is poking gentle fun of people who are so fanatical about their silly games. It's supposed to be a silly game, to highlight the insanity that people feel about silly games.
Of course, then people started feeling that same sort of insanity about quidditch and the outcome of quidditch matches, as well, so I think that kind of spoiled the point maybe, a bit, I guess, I dunno.
It's like what Hagrid is to us pet owners (I <3<3<3 Hagrid and all his wonderful beloved disgusting filthy and vicious cute little gargantuan revolting adorable pets!!!) quidditch is to sports fans. I think quidditch is wonderful!
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Harry Potter is really funny, clever, and inventive. I think that's probably the thing I like most about it. It's brilliantly satirical, usually in a fairly affectionate way, about people's many foibles, very like Jane Austen, whom I heard was Rowling's favorite author. I suppose for people who like mysteries it's quite clever as a puzzler as well. That's not a factor I appreciate much in books, but I think a lot of other people do. I like the characters a lot, the ones she likes, at least. The ones she doesn't like are a bit of a painful read at times for me.
(Do other people find it very unpleasant and jarring to read much about characters that the author dislikes? I find that is more and more painful for me to do, the more I read. Perhaps it's just an idiosyncracy of mine. But God loves everyone, even evil people, so shouldn't characters in books have the same chance that we have to be loved by our Author? And isn't it really ugly and unfair for them if they aren't? What chance did they have?)
Also the fact that everyone else loves the books, too, and wants to talk about them with you, is a big plus. It's so fun to be able to talk to people about the books one likes. Even if HP were less interesting and good, it would still be great fun because of that, I think.
The story, too, is getting very interesting for the interactions of the characters, the moral complexities, the way that good guys and bad guys are so hard to tell apart sometimes, and for the growing and learning that the main 3 characters are going through. But I think that's so far not as much a part of the appeal as just the sheer cleverness and fun. The magical inventions, how funny and clever is the wizarding world with its contrivances, and the spot-on satire, along with all the hilarious stuff like Fred and George, are the main draws for me.
posted
I think some of the scenes with Ron show how important the other teammates are, especially the chaser. If the Keeper can't keep the quaffle out of the goal, what's the point? There are also Chasers to consider too.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I see where you are coming from Enigmatic...One player can determine the whole outcome of the game and disregard the other players efforts...but on the other hand I think the other players add the entertainment factor. No one would want to watch two people searching for a little gold ball. In essence it seems like a really silly game for people to enjoy, but arent all sports. We all seem facinated by people playing a game with a ball...I guess its just in our nature. It provides us with entertainment and that is what quidditch does for the people in the wizarding world!
Posts: 218 | Registered: Jul 2005
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When I graduated Highschool one of my older sisters introduced me to the Harry Potter books.
I was never a happy child/adult myself and I could relate to his Depression very well.
I Kept reading them becouse they are cleverly written and keep getting more grown up with each volume. I missed out on most of my norms and development and have fealt emotionally dead for many years (especially after my poor math grades forced me out of higher education).
Reading these books have been like haveing a secound childhood (Same for Card's books).
Also my ambition, which had also died out long ago, came back to life and I find myself clawing anew at old dreems Id given up on.
Why do I love Harry Potter? Becouse he gave me back my life!
Posts: 63 | Registered: Aug 2005
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I was first introduced to Harry Potter by Stephen King somewhere around the release of Goblet of Fire. King had been in a horrid car accident in the summer of 1999 and one of the things he did while in the hospital was read. After he'd been released, he did an interview with someone and expressed his appreciation of the Harry Potter series. Well, heck, if KING liked it, I'd better check it out. Right about the same time, my daughter said that some of the kids in her class were reading the books and asked if it would be okay for her to try them as well. So off to the library we went and checked out the first couple books.
I love Harry because he's someone that both my daughter and I enjoy - and with a budding teenager, that's rare in itself.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I love Rowling's wordplay: Malfoy, Umbridge, Avada Kedavra, etc.
I like the Dursley's state of denial. It's so dead on. In fact I'd bet that the Dursley's are the real reason that fundamentalist Christians try to ban the Potter books.
I love the fact that the characters are all so wonderfully flawed.
And I like the way Rowling sets up analogs to social issues: Goblins are Jews (sort of), werewolves are gay (sort of), Slytherins are (take your pick) white supremacists - Nazis - old money elitists... without really being any of them exactly, house elves are slaves, but without being a stereotype of any given type of slave.
You can't just dismiss any of these as being an obvious stereotype because they aren't simply substitutes for existing ethnic groups. She sets up a social system that has fantastic elements, so it can't be real, and then builds in parallels to real social issues, but without making any connections to those real issues. The result is that you have to think about the issues on their own merit, without tying them to pre-existing prejudices.
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