Why to Like and Not Like OoP

[asandhp]

No: HPFGUIDX 70787

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "newdevilry9" 
<newdevilry9 at y...> wrote:
> Del, thank you for your support of this theory.  It supported the 
> points m.steinberger made in a way that was much less insulting to 
> readers who did like the book.   I didn't feel that my intellect 
was 
> being scrutinized as it was in m.steinberger's post.

Sorry for overdoing it. I have been trying to challenge people to use 
their intellect further, not to accuse people of having none. Very 
intelligent people have called the book a study in adolescence, for 
example, and there is a *reason* it gives that impression - a reason 
that is actually one of the virtues of the book. I can't afford to 
spend any more hours analyzing OoP on my own, so I threw down the 
gauntlet for fans (rather than "anti-fans") to think a bit harder and 
come up with the answers on their own.
 
> I think it's important to keep in mind that it is still initially 
> intended to be a children's book.  While I feel that OoP is 
touching 
> on themes that are not entirely at a child's level, I think JKR 
keeps 
> the complexity and range of emotions somewhat simplistic for that 
> reason.

Quite true, IMO, and irksome to me for the simple reason that HP1-4 
managed the incredible feat of being appropriately written for kids 
of Harry's increasing age. PS is perfect for 11 yr olds, CoS for 12 
yr olds, and so on. There is no reason to write a book about a 
fifteen-year-old on an eleven-year-old level. JKR has enough clout, 
by now, to insist that the book be marketed to teens, not middle 
school kids. The result of writing about teens for little kids is 
just the disappointment we have here, and I hate to think why she did 
it.

>And to counter, while yes, 
> GoF was traumatic, so was his interaction with Quirrel and 
Riddle.   
> Ok, so no one happened to die in those instances, but it was not 
for 
> a lack of trying and no one was wondering why Post-Traumatic Stress 
> Disorder wasn't being addressed following those books.

Yes, people were wondering, but the speculations didn't go too far. 
We figured that JKR would explain his incredible resiliance in a 
later book. Remember the theories that his mother magically implanted 
her love in the back of his mind? The other possibility was that he 
was repressing it all, which fit with his somewhat passive and 
reserved personality.

Part of what irks so much about Harry in OoP is that it retroactively 
makes him less realistic in HP1-4. His behavior seems to prove that 
he had no magic immunity to stress, so why didn't he crack up sooner? 
And if he was repressing before, and now stopped, the de-repression 
would look very different.
 
> Selfishly, I just wish JKR would write books for adults, or maybe 
> just write an adults version, something that really delves into the 
> complexities, and all of the emotions that are there.   I think 
they 
> are great characters and to delve into what's really going on with 
> each of them would be too complicated for the kids whose parents 
are 
> reading this to them at bedtime (an insane practice if you ask me.) 

Yes, that would be nice.

> > I just don't understand why he never simply wrote a letter to 
> Harry ! 
> > He was afraid that an eye-to-eye conversation would awaken V's 
> > conscience inside Harry, but a letter wouldn't have done that, 
> while 
> > still explaining to Harry while they couldn't talk anymore.
> > Another question : once they've fought V, suddenly it's okay to 
> talk 
> > together ? How come ??? I mean, V is still alive, he's still in 
> > Harry's head as far as we know (he can't possess Harry, all 
right, 
> > but why should the link between them suddenly be severed ?), and 
he 
> > hates DD more than ever. So ?
> 
> To this end, why couldn't someone else in the Order tell him all 
this 
> stuff?  They all obviously know why Harry needs to practice 
> Occlumency.  If Sirius told him, "look kid, V's going to mess with 
> your head and that could be dangerous for a lot of people,"  Harry 
> certainly would have taken it to heart. He didn't have to hear it 
> from DD.  This was my main problem with this book, it always struck 
> me as such an obvious weakness.  Yea, DD admits he dropped the ball 
> on this one, but it just seemed kind of obvious.  

All excellent points, and pathetic plot weaknesses, IMO.

> Which is why, when readers say that they want JKR to write Harry 
Post-
> Hogwarts books, I say: no way, not interested.  Give me the history 
> of Lily and James!  The story of the first war, the original 
Order!  
> That is my desperate wish for what JKR should do next.  I want an 
> adult history of the adults.  A girl can dream, right? 
> 

I'd like a writer's journal of why she wrote what she wrote.

> NewDev

The Admiring (the responses) Skeptic