A review of sorts. This is actually the 1st of Potter books which I found really interesting. Probably because HP and his friends are getting older so there is some teenage/family drama added and also, because the story is more fast-paced and has more action and intrigue than the previous three.
It starts with someone plotting an attempt on Harry's life and ends with the Dark Lord's return to power which sets up the stage for the upcoming war in the wizard world. Severus Snape is a somewhat more ambiguous character in this book as Harry learns that Professor Dumbledore has his own reasons for trusting him.
Harry comes across as a real hero, he is noble, generous and courageous and he wins the magic championship even though he is the youngest contender. He fights a duel with Voldemort and not only escapes but also recovers the body of his friend with a great risk for his own life. The only girl contender comes up last, btw.
Of course, there is some liberalism in it, too, like discussing discrimination and, believe it or not, slavery. Because some of us still don't know it's wrong, I guess. Half of the book is devoted to Hermione's social justice crusade of freeing the house-elves yet there is some ambivalence about it, too, as others don't share her enthusiasm.
Plus, she is kinda prejudiced herself, in the case of Mr. Crouch. Anyway, I kept thinking that were the book written today, the main character would be probably a girl, and half of the schoolchildren wouldn't even be ethnically British. J.K. Rowling has fallen from grace with the modern progressives lately, Twitter wouldn't even take action when she received death threats.
The main drawback of the book? It's still a story about witchcraft. Read it at your own discretion.
Harry Potter is not anything I've had any interest in, but this is the same mentality with Dungeons and Dragons which I never played either. I do think people should exercise discretion with what their children are involved with, but what about adults? I'm on Gab, so what I want to know from the anti-porn crusaders (and I understand their points, but anything to excess is bad and that can include religion), will they banish and burn all the women's romance novels?
ReplyDeleteThere is no equivalence between p8rn and romance novels unless the said novels are p8rnographic/erotic too, which is probably generally the case now, but wasn't always so in the past. P8rn isn't wrong because it creates "the unreal expectations about women" or some other nonsense, but because s8x is a private activity and it's perverted to watch it. it's actually a form of cuckoldry if you think about it.
ReplyDeleteI've flipped through a few romance novels in my time and they can be pretty graphic without using profanity. I have to hand it to these writes some of which were known to even be men over the years. And why do so many of them have a big muscled dude about to ravish the damsel in distress?
ReplyDeleteWell sure, anything graphic is wrong. I remember ones out of my youth weren't so bad though. I read one recent one some time ago and it was mildly erotic. The main problem is the fact they are so badly written. It's like your IQ goes down several points while you are reading them:)
ReplyDeleteAbout male authors, there was a rumour that Jane Austen's books were actually written or at least heavily edited by a man. Which could be true, for all I know.