Review of Harry Potter And The Sorcerors Stone

As you're probably aware, the current literary trend among the single and low-double digit age set these days are the "Harry Potter" novels by J.K. Rowling. A trusted friend of mine recently gave me one. It sat by my bedside for about a week, then I began to read it. When I was halfway through, I stopped by my local bookstore to buy the second. I shall probably buy the third tomorrow, and read both back-to-back over the upcoming weekend.

Warning! This review contains some 'spoilers'. If you haven't read the books, please, do not read on unless you're the type that likes knowing Darth Vader was Luke's father. It's also based solely on the first book, but I doubt muchly my opinions will change on reading the second and third.

The best books are places. That is, a truly good book is not black spots on white paper, but someplace you visit, someplace you feel at home. When people talk about being 'drawn into' a book, it is often in a very real sense. I know that when I have been deeply involved in a story, I am physically shocked when I come back to the 'real world', often taking minutes to adjust. The Harry Potter books (at least the first one) is such a place.

Perhaps the most cliched term of all, when describing childrens literature, is 'timeless'. About ten million 'timeless classics' are published and forgotten each year. But the adjective fits Harry Potter. Reading it, I found it hard to imagine the book was written in the late 1990s. Despite occasional mentions of computers and video games, it feels like a book written decades ago. It has the feeling of a book that should have been a childrens classic for generations, despite it being only a few years old.

Another overused cliche (isn't that redundant?) is 'sense of wonder' - but again, nothing else fits. There is wonder dripping from every page, from Diagon Alley to Platform 9 3/4 to the Choosing Hat to the Mirror of Desire. Rowling has created a world that is magical in both senses of the word...in the literal sense of spells and wizards and flying broomsticks, and in the more abstract sense of joy and wonder.

She has a Dickensian or Vancian gift for names. A few misfires (Herbology Professor Sprout, for example) aside, her characters names are evocative, moody, and fit their owners precisely. The hideously mundane Durseleys, the evil Voldemort, or the larger-than-life Hagrim, for example, all feel 'right'. The naming of names is one of the most important parts of literature, especially childrens literature. Who could forget Augustus Gloop or the Vermicious Knids from Roald Dahl? Would they be as memorable named Fred Jones?

Characterization is likewise sharp and memorable. You know these people within minutes of 'meeting' them, and yet, they continue to shade and develop throughout the book. A few are never as developed as I'd like, but the author plans a seven book set, so I hope to learn more about some of the 'lesser' characters later.

Flaws? Some. The events of the story are supposed to cover a year, but I never got the feeling of time passing...while there is no need to go into mundane detail of each day, many months seem to vanish into a paragraph. This would be excusable in a book chronicling the dull life of the muggles (the non-magical humans on Potters world) but life at a wizards academy should not blur into sameness!

There is a surprise twist at the end, in which the villain we suspected isn't the villain at all, but it is weakened by a Scooby-Doo-esque "villain explains entire plot to helpless hero" bit. And, lastly, there was an attempt to tack on an 'extra' happy ending on top of the main one, which felt very forced to me. A running sub-plot in the book involved the competition between the various houses of Hogwarts Academy, with each house gaining or losing points based on the triumphs or failures of its members. At the very end of the book, Harry's 'house' is dead last, and the villainous House Slytherin is poised to triumph. One reason for this is that Harry and his friends have been doing more Battling The Forces of Darkness than trying to earn points. However, for a variety of somewhat specious reasons, a few hundred points are dumped onto Harry's house so that it wins. A much better ending, at least for the first book, would have been to let the situation stand, teaching the lesson that sometimes you have to make hard choices in life -- that you can't win every battle, so you have to decide which battles are truly worth fighting. But in a rare moment of falling back on childrens lit traditions, Rowling hands Harry two victories, when one really would have been enough. Ah well, can't have everything.

Lizard says:Buy this book! And the sequels! And if you have kids, read it to them. If you don't have kids, borrow some and read it to them.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)