OOP: Give OoP a chance! (Was: I Didn't Care For OoP -- So Sue Me!)

[Dicentra spectabilis]

No: HPFGUIDX 65807

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Cindy C." <cindysphynx at c...> wrote:

> In my case, I'm actually feeling a bit intimidated about saying what 
> I *really* think about OoP lest those who liked the book take 
> offense.  

You're talking about me, aren't you?  Admit it.  You're talking about
me.  Because I've been posting pro-OoP stuff all over the place. 
Well, I'm not necessarily taking offense at your criticism, but I am a
bit frustrated.  

Because the criticisms seem unfair to me.  I loved OoP: I finished on
Saturday evening, spent all day Sunday musing over it, and concluded
that it was wonderful.  I thought its development of thematic material
was brilliant, and there were many memorable scenes.

But it seems like OoP is being judged against the wrong measuring
stick.  Nobody likes it because it wasn't enough like the first four.
 It's an orange that is being criticized for not being an apple.  

This is why I believe dislike of OoP is more than a matter of mere
taste or of faulty writing.  Here is an excerpt from JKR's Albert Hall
appearance:

**************

Stephen Fry:  Now, Order of the Phoneix it's 766 pages long -- that's
a big book by any standards.

JKR: It is big.

SF: And I've got to sit in front of a microphone and read it.

JKR: I'm really sorry.

SF: Read out every word. I'm just a little bit cross with you!

JKR: I know; I'm so sorry.

SF: On the other hand, it's extraordinarily good value. You've not
finished - you've planned 7 books in series. You could have written 8
with the words that you've done on the first five. Did you know it was
going to be this long?

JKR: No I didn't. I will say this: I had to put in some things because
of what's coming in 6 and 7, and I didn't want anyone to say to me
"what a cheat -- you never gave us clues". Because if I didn't mention
certain things that happen in Order of the Phoenix I think you could
have said to me "well you sprang that on us", whereas I want you to be
able to get them if you've got your wits about you. There are a few
surprises coming.

*************

To me, this means that OoP functions differently than the first four.
 Books 1-4 were self-contained stories, though they played off some
elements in previous books.  We saw Scabbers long before he became
Pettigrew, and we understood the properities of Polyjuice Potion
before Fake!Moody.  But by and large, each book ties things together
rather neatly by the end, the untied threads being compelling but not
a part of the main story arc.  It's satisfying, and it's a mark of
excellent craftsmanship.

OoP is not self-contained.  By itself, it doesn't bear all the same
markings of excellence that the first four did.  Not because JKR blew
it.  Not because she's lost her touch.  Not because it sux.  OoP is
the way it is because books 5, 6, and 7 are three parts of one whole
story arc.  Taken together, they will function as one huge book with
all the cool stuff that was present in the first four books; you'll
just have to read all three of them to get it.

I imagine there will be some internal beginnings and endings in each
book, but unlike in the first four, those will be subordinate to the
larger story.  In other words, the war against Voldemort (and
preparing for it) is the main plot, so the business about the MoM not
believing Harry and Dumbledore is a subplot.  Dolores Umbridge is a
subplot.  In the other books, those things would have been the main
plot.  

As Part I of a larger unit, OoP isn't going to satisfy people the way
the other four did.  It's going to leave a lot of strings untied. 
It's going to seem to not go anywhere sometimes.  It's like reading
GoF up to the end of the First Task and stopping there.  Of course
it's going to frustrate: It's not finished.  It's a beginning -- the
middle and end are still in the works.

So IMO, if you say you didn't like OoP, you're saying that you didn't
want to read just the first part of a trilogy.  OK.  I can handle
that.  You wanted something more like the first four.  But the fact
that she's decided to change tactics doesn't mean OoP sux: it just
means you didn't like what it is.  

I really wish y'all could see what I see so that you could enjoy it
the way I do, because it would make discussing OoP a bit easier, but I
guess we don't.  C'est la vie.

> OoP contained several new characters, and it developed some of them 
> quite nicely.  But other characters -- even beloved characters from 
> the first four books -- had mere cameo appearances.  The book would 
> have been tighter without Lupin and Moody, who had nothing to do, 
> really.  

To me, this lack of tightness is a symptom of being Part I, not of
having thrown people in for the heck of it.

> I feel misled a bit, to be honest.  I think JKR said Real!Moody was 
> cool and Harry would get to know him.  That didn't happen, 
> so why did we need Moody?  

That didn't happen *yet*.  Would it help if I said "patience,
grasshopper?"  No?  Well, ok.  Withdrawn.

> So if I'm reading the book 
> only because it is canon -- only because I feel invested in the 
> series because I read the first four books and plan to read the next 
> one -- then the book fell far short of being excellent.

Again, I'm sorry you weren't able to see it the way I see it.  I'm
delighted with it, and I'm reading it again and still finding it a
great deal of fun. 
 
> Cindy -- who will try to force herself to read OoP again and will try 
> to take notes about exactly what went so very wrong

Well, if you do that, you'll only reinforce your negative view of it.
 Why not try to read it with different eyes?  Try to see the thematic
impact of OoP in the context of the whole series.  No?  Thematic
impact not your thing?  Well, therein lies the problem.  OoP excels at
thematic impact.  If you don't dig thematic impact, you won't dig OoP.

But that's not a shortcoming of OoP: it's a reader/text mismatch.  And
they're not the same thing.  I'm not a big fan of the Beatles, for
example, but I don't think they're overrated.  I don't point out their
"flaws" (ways in which they don't please me).  It's just a
music/listener mismatch.

Having said all that, if people want to say they didn't like OoP -- by
all means, say it.  There's no reason for anyone to pretend they liked
it just because it's HP.  If what OoP has to offer isn't your goblet
of pumpkin juice, then it isn't.  No dishonor there.  

Just don't blame OoP.

--Dicentra