Adult readers who are dismissive about Harry Potter

[Steve]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "holmesclan2002"
<holmesclan2002 at y...> wrote:
> 
> Hello! 
> I am Melanie from Texas. My question is: Do any of you get
> Attitude from literary types who "don't do Potter"?  I've been in a 
> ladies book group for 5 years... we're all friends. We read all 
> kinds of stuff. There is, however, a real bias against Harry Potter 
> books. ...edited... We get to choose the discussion  book on our
birthday month. My birthday is in January and I chose Azkaban.  The 
> whining is deafening. ...edited...
> 
> Melanie

bboy_mn:

Tell me, did you read the boring and predictable 'intellectual' books
that your friends chose when it was their turn? Of course, you did. 

Isn't the whole purpose of a group like this to expose yourself to new
things, new books, new ideas that you might not discover if left to
your own devices? Is the purpose to prepetuate the 'same old, same
old', or is it to expand your horizons? Expand horizons, I think.

If your friends are going to engage in a club like this, then they
need to abide by the rules. If they seriously expect you to read their
books, then it's only fair they read yours.

Some else in a response to your post said that there is always a bias
against that with is commercially sucessfull. I know many music snobs
who will tell you that anything that appears in the top 40 play list
is commerial mass produced crap. What I'm leading up to in saying that
is that Harry Potter is not a commercial book, it was not written to
the standard mass production formula of many many of the successful
books that are out there. 

True Harry Potter is very very successful and popular, but it's by no
means a commerical 'hit' formula book. It is very important in
conjunction with this to note that JKR did not expect this book to
sell, all she wanted was to be able to say that she was a published
author, and maybe make enough money to get off welfare (the dole). She
wrote this book for herself, with no commercial considerations
whatsoever. ALSO, this is not a series of books written FOR childred,
it just happens to be about a child. There was no planning in the
design of this book that followed a 'what will people like', 'what
will sell', 'what will appeal to the publishers'. 

Quite the opposite, JKR has specifically said she will not compromise
her original artistic vision to please either her readers or her
publishers. This is the series she is writing, take it or leave it,
she doesn't care. As long as she writes the story she wants to tell,
then she will be happy; the rest of the world is welcome along on her
journey, but they are by no means required.

In fact, it is entirely possible that the reason the Harry Potter
books are so successful is that JKR gave NO commercial consideration
in there writing. In many ways she breaks all the rules, and adheres
to no formulas, she doesn't talk down to the readers, she hasn't
simplified the books to make them easier for kids to read, she has
chosen to deal head-on with touchy subjects like racism, bigotry, and
death. These are not books with clean sugar coated easy to resolve
themes. These are books of great pain and misery, of moral and social
uncertainty, these are books that make you think rather than handing
you sugar coated answers at the end. 

If your friends are too stuck-up to take a chance and see for
themselves, then that is their great loss. They are missing out on a
chance to read some thoroughly captivating books full of complex
mysteries with very intricate plots, and with very interesting and
endearing characters. 

If they choose to live their lives diminished, then all you can do is
shrug your shoulders and be thankful that your life has been enriched.

Just a thought.

bboy_mn