A Wobbly, Half-Hearted Defense of GoF (WAS CoS,

[Penny & Bryce]

No: HPFGUIDX 27550

Hi --

cynthiaanncoe at home.com wrote:

> Tabouli wrote: 
> 
> I have to wonder whether JKR's editors were getting too awestruck to
> wield the machete.  If she'd given *me* the manuscript (O well, one
> can dream), I would have have been much more brutal with the axe and
> the pruning shears (and then fled before a team of HP4GU members took
> up their own axes and pruning shears to hunt me down).  I'm sure at
> least 100 pages could have bitten the cutting room floor without
> crucial loss to the plot.
>  >
> 
Cindy: > I can't decide whether to lead the charge to defend GoF or just pile
> on.  I really did like the book when I finished it, and it did what I
> like a book to do by the end -- make me say "Wow!"  I wasn't bored,
> and I never considered abandoning the book.  I bought the graveyard
> scene hook, line and sinker, I was totally blindsided about
> Crouch/Moody, and I like the unhappy ending.  I thought the writing
> was more substantial (I didn't get the feeling that parts of
> paragraphs were missing as in CoS), and the one-liners were some of
> JKR's best.

I had the same reactions to GoF -- "Wow" when I finished it.  I was 
ensnared from the first word to the last -- read it non-stop for 12+ 
hours IIRC.  At one point my husband tiptoed in & whispered, "Are you 
going to take a shower today?"  :--)

> 
> On the other hand, Tabouli makes great points.  I too feel confident
> that I could trim 100+ pages out of GOF without breaking a sweat,
> although I am not sure I could flee HP4GU members quickly enough to
> avoid being hacked to bits.   Most of the cuts would come out of "The
> Portkey", "Bagman and Crouch," "The Quiddich World Cup," "Dark Mark"
> and "Mayhem at the Ministry", which total almost 100 pages right
> there.  That's an awful lot of background before the story really
> gets moving.  "The Portkey" is about 10 pages of waking up, having
> breakfast, walking up a hill, and touching a boot.  Those chapters
> would get collapsed into perhaps two chapters.  (I wonder if the
> meandering nature of these 5 chapters has something to do with the
> plot glitch JKR discovered as she was writing GoF.)  Nary a page
> of "The House Elf Liberation Front" sub-plot would survive -- 22
> pages.  That would leave enough room to keep "The Unexpected Task"
> and the "Yule Ball", because those chapters are priceless, even
> though they don't advance the plot much.   But the "Yule Ball" is 30
> pages, which is a bit windy considering it is mostly a diversion.

Here's the real reason I responded to this message.  I can't believe I'm 
going to lead any sort of defense of the editors since I do think they 
deserve some criticism for the Priori Incantatum goof-up and for not 
trying to clean up some of the inconsistencies.  I mean ... we know JKR 
can't do maths, but are all her editors similarly afflicted?  There are 
also numerous instances of just plain inconsistencies detailed in the 
Mysteries & Inconsistencies FAQ 
(http:///www.i2k.com/~svderark/lexicon/faq/mysteries.html).  The student 
numbers is but one large example of an area where her editors could 
(should!) have been helpful.

BUT ... we the readers don't have any idea what will be important 
background for later books; I imagine her editors, however, *are* privy 
to enough information to know what should be kept in & what could be cut 
or trimmed.  I think it's very possible that if nothing else, her 
editors defer to her final judgment when considering taking things *out* 
(they may not know *why* those particulars should be left in but are 
probably told that it will be important later on).

I *liked* the House Elf Liberation Front, so I wouldn't want it cut in 
any case.  But, I rather suspect that the House Elf subplot & others 
that are routinely criticized as unnecessary may, in fact, be very 
necessary for plots or subplots of the later books.  The Yule Ball was 
also (*I* think) more than a diversion ... then again, you probably have 
to at least partially subscribe to the FITD theories & such to believe 
it could be more than just a diversion with no bearing on any later 
thoughts.  :--)

I do agree that some of the chapters beginning with the Portkey until 
the Goblet of Fire spits out Harry's name do seem a bit bloated.  But, I 
don't think I'd cut 100 pages.  And, I'm willing to bet that there *is* 
a good reason for all that information.  We'll have to wait & see I guess!

Penny
(who isn't the least bit alarmed that OoP might be longer than GoF -- if 
true, HURRAH!!!)