OOP: Re: I Didn't Care For OoP -- So Sue Me! :-D

[findmeabargain]

No: HPFGUIDX 65474

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jlastra" <jlastra at y...> wrote:

> I, too, did not care much for OOtP.  I read it through rather 
quickly, 
> but I had to force myself.  Unlike the other books, I found myself 
> closing it and literally leaving the room.  

Curious! Love reading these, bcz my first reaction was, "uck. so 
what?" On a few moments' reflection, though, the strengths of the 
book became pretty clear to me and I found myself going back to GOF, 
which I had not liked initially, and reading its latter chapters and 
enjoying.

> I also understood the purpose behind the evil Umbridge.  And that 
is > one of my biggest complaints.  Someone on this list (I think) 
> described Umbridge and her decrees as descending into farce.  

Farce? Not at all -- and I speak as one who has witnessed to the 
unethical machinations in governmental entities, for-profit 
corporations and, sigh, even school districts.

It is a version of The Big Lie: A person with evil intent appears 
upon the scene, is so blatantly corrupt and self-serving that 
everyone sees it, and everyone thinks they must be over-reacting, 
must be wrong about the person-with-evil-intent.

Look at 20th century history: Hitler into Poland, Hitler into the 
rest of Eastern Europe, Hitler into France, his cronies overtaking 
Spain and Italy.  Not for nothing did JFKennedy entitle his book "Why 
England Slept" - no one could say they really thought someone being 
*that obvious* could really be *that bad.*

 
> I wonder if 
> I will have that feeling about OOtP when I read books 6 and 7.  

I would be willing to make book that we will - and i"m not a betting 
woman. 8-)

> All in all, I think my objections to OOtP lie less in its plot than
> in its craft.  I loved the first four books because they were so 
very  well written.  JKR had managed to weave the stories so tightly 
that > there were few if any loose ends to tie up.  I don't think 
that the  quality of the writing in this book is nearly as good.  And 
I'm> afraid that if I tug too hard on one of OOtP's many loose ends, 
the> whole book will unravel.

It was not, I agree, as spare as the previous books -- including the 
multi-hundred-page GOF. But - save the Quidditch scene and the 
detailed battle in the MoM - I found the extra details and 
embroideries enjoyable. That's something I can't enjoy in every 
author's work, but JKR's bits and extras about life in the Wizarding 
World just make the stories more absorbing (to me).

DA  
> 
> ... returning to lurker status now ...