Let's Talk Harry Potter

I've pretty much spent all the spare time I've had the past week with my head shoved into a Harry Potter book. It was like I'd turned back to my 8 year old self, where I had my face shoved into a book pretty much any moment I was not in class and I read Harry Potter so much I head nearly memorized the first 3 books word for word.



I always tell people I love Harry Potter, and it's one of my most favourite books ever but I actually have no basis for this. After I read the 7th book when it came out I never touched Harry Potter again. This is odd because other books I've called my "favourite" I've read multiple times, at least once a year. I'm mostly talking about Tamora Pierce's two quartets from her Tortall universe, The Lioness Quartet and The Immortals, and The Queen's Thief by Meghan Whalen Turner Also Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials is up there. If anything, I'd come to realise that what I loved wasn't the books (or even the movies) - but I loved the idea. The world that Harry lived in was something I'd grown up fantasizing about but the story of Harry Potter himself and long lost it's charm.

As I was sitting in my room one day staring absently at my Harry Potter books though, I began to wonder - what were the books like now? Would I still be as charmed by the story as I had been as a child? Would I still feel for the characters, would I still be enthralled to the point where I wouldn't be able to put the book down? It was an interesting experience. But I have concluded - that despite the obsessive rate in which I read the books - Harry Potter is not something I would call a "favourite". I also don't think I'll be re-reading them for a very, very long time. Unless it's to my own kid or something. It's true that I couldn't put the book down but that was mostly due to the fact that I just wanted to "get over" the books as fast as possible to sort out my thoughts on it - and not so much because of how "amazing" the books were to me.

So what has changed since my last reading of the series - at the age of 12 - to now? Some things, but ultimately nothing very big.What was really different was how much more I noticed the subtle things, like the growth of the characters and the small hints that Rowling left behind that led to answers in later books. I appreciated these things a lot more - much more than my childhood self had done.

As I had concluded a long time ago, I loved the world that Harry lived in but not the story and this is the truth. The main reason would be because Harry is not a character that I admire very much, and neither is Ron nor Hermione (whom, admittingly, I only like because of Emma Watson). I don't dislike him as much as I used to (yes - as a child I actually disliked Harry quite a bit, I thought he was incredibly stupid and later on I rolled my eyes at him being the "hero"). In other books that I treasure so much it is because I love the main character, I love Alanna, Daine, Eugenides, and Lyra - but I do not love Harry.

I felt for him though. I appreciated his growth, and the growth of Ron and Hermione. Also - surprisingly - during the seventh book I was a lot more affected at the fact that he was parentless than I thought I'd be. When he read his mothers letter to Sirius and saw the photo of himself as a baby I began to desperately wish that there was a version of Harry Potter that would be written where his parents survived. In fact all the deaths affected me much more than I thought they would.

When I first read the seventh book the deaths affected me a lot because they all happened to be characters I loved. In fact, Dobby's death had shocked me so much as a child I had put the book down and couldn't stand touching it until the next day. But that was it - it was simply because I was not accustomed to characters dying, especially ones I liked. This time around though their deaths affected me for other reasons - the unfairness of it. Dobby's bravery, Remus and Tonks and their unborn child, and George losing a twin.

Another thing that changed was how I viewed the relationships in the book. Ron and Hermione were hilariously obvious, and during the fifth book I was almost rolling around at Harry's stupidity with girls. Ginny and Harry was always an odd pairing to me, it always seemed quite random and sudden but during this reading I realise that they fit and Ginny has actually become my favourite character. She grew from barely existing on the pages to a strong character with an amazing life and character of her own. She is admirable and brave and what Harry needs. The part that I thought stressed this was her acceptance of what he needs to do and the fact that she's not weepy. Yes - I know that sounds a bit lame but that's it really. She's amazingly steadfast and tough, and it was interesting having this revelation. I know some people say they wish she had appeared more but I think the amount that she appeared in was already enough.

Another character that my mind changed for was Malfoy. He's a jerk - I always knew that but I began to feel a bit more sympathy for him. As a child I merely skipped over him and was enraged when he cornered Harry in the room of requirement but this time around I felt nothing but pity for him. I'm not saying he's a good person - but he's not as hateful as Severus Snape. In this case, Malfoy was a boy an he has room to grow into an alright adult - albeit with some scars to his name but an OK human being nonetheless. And before you say anything  - I think Snape was an amazing character (as all the teachers of Hogwarts were) but you cannot say that he was not a jerk. Regardless of his love for Lily he was a terrible man and this love does not redeem him in any way.

I could go on speaking of this book but ultimately it's hard to talk about an entire series in only one post. I may occasionally make more random posts about the story and my thoughts - more in depth analysis (I know - it's not my favourite book but like I said - I love the world within the books, just not Harry's part of the book). We shall see though. I don't know if I'm going to enter Harry Potter fandom just yet but I'm attempting to dabble into it more than I've ever bothered trying in the past.