What If . . . What If It's A *Dud?*

[Devika <devika@sas.upenn.edu>]

No: HPFGUIDX 52019

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "David <dfrankiswork at n...>" 
<dfrankiswork at n...> wrote:
> Maria Kirilenko asked:
> 
> > What worries me is this, and I anxiously await reassurance: did 
> participation in this group spoil GoF for anyone? I love this list, 
> but I can't help thinking about this.
> 
> I joined the group in spring 2001, so I can't answer that.  
However, 
> I'm pretty sure that membership of HPFGU will not spoil my 
enjoyment 
> of OOP.
> 
> What it will have done is *change* my enjoyment of OOP.


I agree.  I joined this list in Spring 2001 as well, so I had already 
read GoF multiple times and formulated my own theories and questions 
about it.  This group was great because it allowed me to have 
intelligent discussions about all of the books, and it made me think 
about things that I never would have considered on my own.  I'm not 
sure if my membership in this group will spoil OoP for me, but I 
don't think it will.  

My membership in this group might make me read OoP a little more 
analytically the first time, however, which is something that I never 
did with the first four.  When I read all of the books for the first 
time, I basically just did a "surface" reading, only paying attention 
to the excitement of the story.  If I came across something that 
seemed to be some kind of red flag or that raised a question in my 
mind, I tried to forget about it and just continued reading.  I love 
being surprised by JKR's plot twists, and even if I could see them 
coming, I wouldn't want to on the first reading.
For example, I've always been an astronomy buff, and I know perfectly 
well that Sirius is called the Dog Star.  When I was reading PoA, and 
I came across Sirius's name for the first time, I thought, "Oh, 
Sirius.  Like the star.  That's interesting."  And then I promptly 
forgot about it.  The same kind of thing happened with Lupin's name.  
It wouldn't have been difficult for me to associate Lupin with 
something having to do with a wolf.  However, I didn't pick up on 
these things because I didn't want to.  I wanted to be surprised.  
Even in GoF, when I came across something as jarring as the wand 
order mistake, I just glossed over it for the time being and kept on 
reading until the end.  On the second reading, I could go back and 
ask questions and look for foreshadowing.  

Sometimes I try to remember how I felt when I first found out that 
Sirius was an animagus and that Scabbers was actually Peter 
Pettigrew.  Or when Moody turned out to be working for Voldemort all 
along--and then turned out not to be Moody at all.  I find that I 
can't really bring back that feeling of surprise.  It's something 
that you can only feel on the first reading, and it's something that 
I don't want to miss with OoP.

That's why, when I read OoP for the first time, I will try to forget 
my theories about who Mrs. Figg really is, or about what we'll learn 
about Lily in this book.  I will try very hard to read OoP with the 
same credulity and openness as I read the other four.  I think that 
may be more difficult this time because of my experience with HP4GU.  
However, when I read OoP for the second time (and third, and so on), 
then I will be very happy that I have this group so that I can 
analyze it to my heart's content.


--Devika, who doesn't plan to read any of the messages posted after 
June 21st until after finishing OoP, but who can't wait to have some 
completely new discussion topics.