What does Harry do for YOU?

[nuriaobradors]

No: HPFGUIDX 40520

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., sabrinarae77 at y... wrote:
> I am a college student writing a paper on why Harry Potter is great 
> for adults and kids.  I would like some feedback/personal opinions 
> about why you like Harry Potter.  Thanks.
> 
> Sabrina

Though I knew of the madness of zillions of kids and not-so-kids from 
all around the globe about Harry Potter, I hadn't read any of the 
books until the movie was out. Sort of scepticism, I believe. The 
whole Harry Potter thing here in Argentina was aimed exclusively at 
children, too. Then I thought well, I'll watch the movie (I had loved 
the trailer) and if it's that good I'll read the book. 
And then Harry Potter did magic.
My mom is a woman who's been deceited in life and over the last years 
she's become sort of bitter and doesn't get out of the house except 
to the grocer's, know what I mean? She always says she loves cinema 
but we've had a multi-cinema 6 blocks from home for about 5 years now 
and never went, until... 
Ma, there's Harry Potter, subtitled, at 1 pm, wanna come? Yes, she 
said. My friends couldn't believe it when I told them my mom had gone 
to the cinema. We loved the movie, so the moment I got out I entered 
the bookstore next to the cinema, owned by my cousin, and said "Harry 
Potter-in English-Right now" (ther had been several letters from the 
readers in the newspaper from translators who complained about the 
poor translation of the HP series). 
Now why I became such a hopeless 27 y.o. HP fan? Regardless the fact 
I love stories about magic and magic worlds, and that I usually enjoy 
children literature, HP books are, IMO, anything but childish. JKR 
writes about children, and the kids do things according their age, 
but the books are written in an adult language. There's no political 
correctness: Harry's parents weren't killed by a big bad wizard; they 
were killed by Voldemort, and harry relieves the moment in a way 
which has made me cry more than once. There's no "it's a children 
story, let's keep the children from those horrid things." 
JKR also writes in a complex way, making the different subplots 
intertwine in a brilliant way, creating suspense and planting red 
herrings here and there. This complexity reaches its highest point 
when combined with the complexity of the characters. HP characters, 
even minor characters, are rich and complex. Even if the author tell 
us barely nothing about them, you can feel there is a fully developed 
character behind that glimpse we see in the books. The good ones 
aren't that good and the bad ones have their good moments too (except 
Voldie, so far)... basically, as someone else said on this list, 
they're human. You can relate to them, they're not bad just because. 
And the goodies are no saints. There is no such thing as perfection 
in the Harry Potter series, and that's what I think makes it so 
perfect. 

Nuri