OOP: I was disappointed, too

[joywitch_m_curmudgeon]

No: HPFGUIDX 64024

I have been thinking a lot about this, and although I hate to say it, 
I didn't really enjoy reading OoP very much.

Like ronwizardchess, deb mccain and greg, I just didn't find it to be 
as good as the other books.  Some of it, I think, was that my 
favorite things about the HP books just weren't there.  For one 
thing, it was no where near as funny at the other 4 books (big 
exception: every scene with Fred and George in it).  For another 
thing, Harry was so unhappy that it made *me* unhappy. (talk about 
over-identifying!)  As Madame Rosmerta said a few days ago, it was 
exhausting to read because of Harry's guilt and anger and fear.

The other thing that made me not like OoP that much is that it was so 
dark that it made Hogwarts unappealing.  The reason I fell in love 
with Harry Potter was because it made me want so much to go to 
Hogwarts, to be a witch, to find the magic in the world.  OoP's 
Hogwarts is not a place I would choose to be.  But, I guess that's 
JKR's point – that humans are pretty good at screwing things up.

And, there wasn't much character development -- with some major 
exceptions, of course, such as Hermione, Ginny, Neville, McGonagall, 
and (poor) Sirius.

And, I found a lot of the plot elements to be cliché-ed.  The ending, 
where the cavalry comes over the hill just in the nick of time; the 
finding of the object (the mirror) which could have saved the hero a 
lot of trouble if he had only realized he had it in his possession 
all along (can you say "ruby slippers?"), and the fact that unhappy, 
cooped-up Sirius was IMO obviously marked for death from the 
beginning of the book.

I don't know, I hate to criticize JKR, who I (still) worship, and I'm 
hoping that I like OOP better upon rereading, but this book just 
didn't do it for me.

But it could just be me.

--Joywitch, sadly