[HPforGrownups] HP audio book review

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 5658

Joywitch wrote:

>  The Dursleys are as self-righteous and devoid of charity as so many bowls
>
> of cold porridge;
>
> Personally, I think this is a stupid review.  What kind of analogy is
> *self-righteous and devoid of charity as so many bowls of cold
> porridge*.

That bit about cold charity and porridge reminded me immediately of that
famous bit in Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own where she contrasts in a
fictionalized incident the dinner she was served at a woman's college with
the meal she had earlier received at a men's college--she was complaining
about the difference in the amount of financial support that women's
colleges receive compared to men's colleges:

"Prunes and custard followed.  And if any one complains that prunes, even
when mitigated by custard, are an uncharitable vegetable (fruit they are
not), stringy as a miser's heart and exuding a fluid such as runs in misers'
veins who have denied themselves wine and warmth for eighty years and yet
have not given to the poor, he should reflect that there are people whose
charity embraces even the prune."

I'll bet that the Dursleys fed Harry a lot of prunes over the years.

I believe I've mentioned before my disagreement with you before about how
Jim Dale does Hermione. I love the Jim Dale CDs, and his characterization of
Hermione is one of my absolute favorites.  Different tastes, I guess.

Cheers,
Peg