Why do you like Harry Potter?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 85527

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "gmail11220" <grossl at k...> wrote:

> ....edited...  Why do you like the Harry Potter Books? 
> 
> I have read all the books myself but I am interested in what other 
> people think. This would greatly help my project. Thank you.
> 
> gmail11220


Well, first and formost, she tells a very captivating story. As well
as captivating, it is enchanting, enthralling, enticing, exciting,
endearing, charming, inspiring, ... I could go on and on.

JKR, as a writer, has a sense of irony to her. Not in her writing
style but in her ...existance. (For lack of any better way to say it.)

On one hand, she writes in an extremely compact style. You will find
many two, three, and four word sentences in the books. She just says
things without wasting any words.

The irony is that with hardly any words at all, she is magically able
to create an incredibly vivid and believable world. 

Let's take Ron as an example. How well do you know Ron, to what extent
is he a vivid image in your mind? I know exactly what Ron looks like;
how he combs his hair, quirky little facial expressions he makes,
quirky little mannerisms, the sound of his voice, I know him far
beyond and much more intimately than is contained in the exact text of
the book.

Let's look at our first description of Ron; the only description in
book one. 

- Quote - SS/PS Am Pb pg 116 -
He was tall, thin, and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet,
and a long nose.

- end quote - 

And of course, we are told he has red hair.

How can it be that I feel I know Ron in such intimate detail when what
is quoted above is all I have to go on?

This is JKR's magic. Her style is extremely compact but at the same
time she gives you just enough to ignite your imagination. And in th
process, she has implant much much more of the wizard world in my
imagination than she has actually written in the pages of the book.

If you go back and look at a favorite scene in any of the books, and
actually look at how much story is contained in so very very few pages
you will be surprised. Great leaps of story are told with such amazing
efficiency, yet ironically, in the most unbelievably vivid and
detailed way. 

Because of this efficient and vivid style, even the slowest unexciting
parts of the book don't last very long before you are swept off on
some adventure or caught up in some hi-jinx.

So, I guess, in the fewest words, I like these books because they
ignite my imagination.

Just a thought.
bboy_mn