Why to Like and Not Like OoP

[Doriane]

No: HPFGUIDX 70803

"ellejir" wrote:

> I'll admit *upfront* that I hate any criticism of the HP series, 

And I'll reassure you that I am a HUGE FAN of the series. My English 
teacher (adult class, in France) introduced us to it a few years ago, 
and I was hooked right from the first sentence ! She meant for us to 
study one chapter each week, but after a month or so, we BEGGED her 
to tell us where to get the book, and then we got the second one, and 
right after that the third one came out and we bought it too. And we 
raced to see who would get GoF first, and finish it first. I mean, 
I'm a REAL fan, and that's why I just HAVE to voice those critics ! 
See ?

> I do think that JKR's "highly annoying habit of not telling things 
> straight and clear" is due to the fact that she is writing a 7  
> book series and trying to keep things interesting for the readers.  
> It is unreasonable to expect her to spell out every future plot 
> twist.  I imagine that she either has her reasons for not revealing 
> things like which house each of the Marauders belong to, etc.

Yes, but you see, that goes against one of the very first rules of 
honesty between writer and reader. I'm an amateur writer (would be 
professional if I didn't have to feed, clothe, house my family :-), 
and one of the very first things I learned is this : when a reader 
opens a fantasy book, he allows himself to enter into a state 
of "willing suspension of disbelief". That means that he puts aside 
all his preconceived ideas of what life and the world are like, and 
opens his mind to whatever concepts the writer wants to put in. 
BUT !! That means the writer has to be honest and write about an 
acceptable, COHERENT world. JKR does that beautifully most of the 
time : the way she's explained how the WW works, why we Muggle 
readers can't see it, how it still interferes with our world 
sometimes but we don't notice it for what it is, all of this is truly 
remarkable ! I more than willingly suspend my disbelief when reading 
a HP book, because I know everything holds together fine. Most of the 
time anyway. And that's precisely why I get so angry when I catch her 
twisting things right into my face and forcing me to buy something 
that absolutely illogical. It's the same kind of reaction a little 
kid has when the doctor tells him "it won't hurt", and then it does, 
and the kid gets angry, rightly so !! So when JKR asks me to swallow 
with a smile things like : "Harry doesn't care about finding more 
about his parents" when she's taken so much pain previously to make 
me understand that he's desperate to know more about them, "it 
doesn't matter which House the Marauders were in" when she's taken so 
much time describing a school dominated by the House system, and so 
on, I feel betrayed and I get angry.

> or possibly does not consider such things important to the books.  
> It is *possible* that such issues are of more interest to obsessed 
> fans/fanfic fans like those of us on the list than to JKR herself. 

Nah. Who his parents were and what House they belonged to, just those 
2 things among myriads of others, are BOUND to be of BIG importance 
to HARRY, and even if only for that reason, they MUST be of 
importance to JKR and to us. If the POV character cares about 
something, then that something MUST be mentioned. Otherwise, what's 
the whole point of having a POV character ??

> I don't get the feeling that she is "writing down" to me.  I 
> thought that OoP was a tremendously enjoyable adventure story.  It 
> was not as tightly written as some of the earlier books, but it was 
> witty and exciting and imaginative.

Don't get me wrong : I think OoP is a wonderful book ! If I ever 
manage to write something even half as good, I'll be so proud I'll 
probably blow up like Aunt Marge and burst :-)

> JKR's use of descriptive verbs and adverbs is frequently 
> repetitive, but I don't care.

A bit of purple prose, yep :-)

> I have read many books that have far more scintillating sentence 
> structure and not enjoyed them half as much.    

I agree, I agree ! And that's precisely why I get so angry when JKR 
tells us obvious lies only for the plot's sake. Pretending that there 
was no way DD could tell Harry why they couldn't talk anymore or why 
he had to have Occlumency lessons, only so that Harry could : a) get 
into Snape's Pensieve, and b) still remain under V's control, that 
makes me angry. Asking me to close my eyes to such BIG plot holes 
just because the rest of the book is so fine, is like asking me to 
not notice that there's a cockroach (sp ?) crawling on my delicious 
piece of cake : "oh but it's such a good cake, just swallow it all 
together down, you won't notice the bug". Excuse me ????
Oh, and don't get wrong : a writer has all the rights in the world to 
manipulate her readers. The thing is, she must do so in such a way 
that the readers won't notice it. You CAN put a cockroach in my cake, 
but make sure you put it somewhere I won't notice it. JKR did that 
beautifully in the previous books, pulling the rug from under us at 
the last minute and crying "fooled you" ! And I just LOVED it ! 
Because I never noticed the bugs.

> Del:
> "Moreover, I hate to see characters' personalities being modified 
> or trampled just so the hero can look better. I disliked that hero-
> worship JKR's displaying towards Harry right from the first book, 
> but now I feel it has taken dangerous proportions : she's 
> sacrificing the plausibility of the other characters, of the plot, 
> of the whole story, just to make us pity and love Harry. Urgh."
> 
> Me:
> Errrr....People *do* change and Harry *is* the hero of the books.  
> Perhaps JKR is not being manipulative at all.  Perhaps she just 
> loves Harry herself.  I certainly do.

I'm sure she does, and I perfectly understand that you do. But just 
because the Dursleys love Dudley doesn't mean they should have 
spoiled him that way.

> I don't understand how you can love the HP books and not like 
> Harry. (I don't mean that in a nasty way.)  

No offence taken. I love the books because they tell a whole story. 
It so happens that the POV character and hero is not my favourite 
character in the story. So what ? That doesn't mean I can't love the 
story. I'm a Star Trek fan, and I positively hate Jim Kirk. I don't 
hate Harry anywhere as much, I just don't have a particular liking of 
him. But I love the stories.

> In reference to the changing personalities: 

> Neville was not going to stay a hopeless loser forever

So Neville changes drastically (bear with me, you'll see what I'm 
getting to)

> Ginny was dying for some character development and I think that 4 
> years is really a long enough crush

So Ginny changes drastically

> Sirius's personality change was not so striking to me as to some 
> others on this list.  He was really not in the other books a great 
> deal, but always did seem to be described as an impulsive risk-
> taker who really cared for Harry. Pretty much like he was in OoP.

So Sirius remains the same but acts completely un-Sirius-like 
throughout most of the book

> Ron and Hermione were pretty much their same old selves, except 
> Hermione was even a bit more of a nag than usual (but always right, 
> of course!) 

So Ron and Hermione stay *exactly* the same, even though a lot 
happens to them (at least to Ron)

See what my problem is ? Some characters undergo drastic changes for 
no obvious reasons, others remain stubbornly the same even though 
they go through life-changing events (Ron being made a Prefect), 
while still others are said not to change but act totally unlike 
themselves for most of the books (Sirius, and even DD). And all of 
that with only one goal that I can see : to make life more 
complicated and difficult for Harry, so he can come out even more as 
a poor tragic courageous little hero. Sucks.

> I wonder if by obsessing too much about the books, some people are 
> ruining their own enjoyment of the rest of the series.

No risk :-) I doubt JKR could do ANYTHING that would make me stop 
enjoying the books. I'm just pissed off by her manipulations, and so, 
just like Harry, I'm angry and lashing out at people (you guys ;-)

> Elle  (Disclaimer:  No offence intended to those who hate OoP/Harry 
> Potter/JKR etc.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion--however 
> misguided.  Just kidding about that last part.)

LOL.

Del