Boring Harry Potter

[lucky_kari]

No: HPFGUIDX 34315

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "serenadust" <jmmears at p...> wrote:
> Zoe. I've been wondering lately if 
> many of the posters even enjoy the books as written, or if they feel 
> that they could personally improve them by changing the characters' 
> behavior, or plotlines.

The great debate that will still be going on when the world comes to 
an end. As a compulsive "pick-it-aparter", I can say that I do enjoy 
the books as written, and doubt I would have the talent to personally 
improve them, though sometimes it's tempting. I've been trying to 
think of a more reasonable ending for "Huckleberry Finn" for years... 
Harry Potter's flaws, though, are not as grating as many of my 
favourite works of literature, believe it or not. 

On the other hand, there's a different sort of criticism where one is 
showing appreciation for the character's flaws. For example, I love 
Hagrid but I think some of his flaws are overdone. Yet, I love Lupin, 
and think his flaws were a masterstroke. 

> I think that the reason we're seeing this kind of nitpicking is that 
> it's been a year and a half since Goblet of Fire came out, and most 
> of the really juicy questions and puzzles have been analyzed to 
death 
> multiple times. 

I wouldn't call it nitpicking. Nitpicking, imho, is more evident in 
fun discussions like how timeturners work, Dumbledore's gleam of 
triumph, and the number of children at Hogwarts. To write a critique 
of a character is about as far away from nitpicking as you can get. 
It's also not something people do after they've gone through the 
puzzles, it's the first thing many people do. "Was so-and-so a good 
character? Was he believable? Was he flawed?" etc.

Zoe wrote
>JKR tells us who the good guys are, and I'm 
> prepared 
> > to take her word on that. 

I could never do that. I mean, to some extent. You don't want to end 
up like my brother who hates Aragorn and Arwen, and gives long 
lectures about how Faramir should have been King, had a better claim 
to being king, is a better person, knows more about running Gondor, 
is more civilized etc. On the other hand, if the author portrays a 
repugnant person as good (JKR hasn't done that yet, imho), I'm not 
going along. 

> I'm more than willing to follow her wherever she takes the story and 
> characters, even if it's in a direction that I *think* I'd hate if 
> you suggested it today.  You either trust her vision, or you don't.

You must have a happier reading experience than me then. I have seen 
many authors who write something very good and then end it off 
completely unsatisfactorily (to me.) The end of Huckleberry Finn was 
and is a terrible experience for me. I still cannot appreciate how 
Chesterton destroys his fun novels in the last few pages (in my eyes, 
except for Napoleon of Notting Hill.) I am offended that C.S. Lewis 
finished his space trilogy with that failure (imho), "That Hideous 
Strength." I hope that Rowling will finish this off well, I have a 
good feeling about her finishing it off well, but I don't trust her. 
Trust no author until they're finished.

Eileen