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

[sm_keenan]

No: HPFGUIDX 65848

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Dicentra spectabilis" 
<dicentra at x> wrote:
> 
> ...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...  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.  

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.  
> 

I have to agree with this post.  I'll admit that on my first reading 
I thought I was dissatisfied with the plot, until I realized that the 
feeling was the same feeling I got from reading The Two Towers by 
itself (or for those of us who are children of the eighties-watching 
The Empire Strikes Back).

The war against Voldemort is clearly too much to fit into one book, 
but I think that an equally important facet of the coming story arc 
is going to be the fact that Harry is growing up.  Really growing up--
 not finding his place in at Hogwarts, not carrying out fantastic 
quests with Dumbledore looking out for him in the background, but 
learning to deal with the truth and the consequences of his own 
actions. His anger with Dumbledore and distrust of Snape have already 
led him into one fatal mistake.  This is going to be a *very* hard 
lesson and I hope that the next books don't just gloss over it.

The sign of a great serial is that one can't wait for the next 
installment, so I guess this book gets my vote.  (I just hope that 
some that horrible waiting time was spent in roughing out the whole 
story arc so that book 6 will come out a little faster.)