Patterns between the books as a series. OoP not as out of place?

[pegruppel]

No: HPFGUIDX 68218

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Kirstini" <kirst_inn at y...> 
wrote:
> 
> I'd really be interested in hearing the views of a post-OotP 
convert 
> reading their way through the series as a set of five books for the 
> first time. Anyone made any recently? I wonder if we need this sort 
> of alternative perception when assessing whether or not OotP was as 
> successful as the others, or even if it fits properly within the 
> series.
> 
> Kirstini


Me:

I'm not a recent convert, but I can comment on the 
apparent "dissonance" that other readers have expressed.  

My first read-through was rather jarring.  I felt some of the same  
disappointment and disillusionment that others on the list have 
expressed.  When I finished my first reading (after about 10 hours), 
I stopped and thought about it, and came to a couple of conclusions.

First, although it has been three years in "our" time, for Harry, 
it's only been a month since Cedric died when OOP opens.  He's still 
inside the timeline of the story, and we're not.

We've had plenty of time to invent subplots that JKR never intended 
and make up all sorts of theories about the why and how of the WW. 
We've populated JKR's universe with our own characters.  I've done 
just as much of this as anyone else, even without launching so much 
as a life preserver into TBAY.

Second, most of us are past being teenagers (apologies to the many 
list members who are still in their teens--it's not a bad thing, it's 
just that those of us past a certain age forget what that part of our 
lives was like).  JKR, on the other hand, hasn't forgotten what it's 
like to be a teen, and she's drawn a strong portrait of a young man 
in a monstrous situation.  I think he's fully entitled to be as angry 
and loud as he needs to be.  He feels alienated and abandoned, for 
good reason, and is subjected to the worst abandonment of all--
death.  Harry seems to lose the people that he values most.  This 
time, he's left with a lot of what-ifs and if-onlies:  If only he had 
checked that package and found the mirror!  What if he had taken the 
occlumency lessons more seriously?  

Now he knows that time goes on, and all the second guessing in the 
world won't change a thing.  He can only take responsibility for his 
own part in the way things are, and learn to live with it.

Maybe the most telling line is in Chapter 37, during the scene in 
Dumbledore's office:

Dumbledore: "Harry, suffering like this proves you are still a 
man! . . ."

He called Harry a man.  I think that's the first time I've seen Harry 
referred to that way.  He's a very young man, yes, but he's a man.  
And no, I don't think she *should* have called him "human" or "a 
human being" or some other politically correct euphemism.  He's 
growing into a man.  And we're there for the trip, whether the 
journey ends with Harry's death or his triumph. We're really just 
along for the ride.

Peg--Who is wondering how in heck she wandered out this far into the 
psychology of the characters when she was only asked if OOP fit in 
with the previous books . ..