Why do you like Harry Potter?

[shanti_50130]

No: HPFGUIDX 85569

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "gmail11220" <grossl at k...> wrote:
> I am a senior at Kenyon College and I am doing a research paper for my
> senior project on the role of fantasy and magic in our society. I am
> sure this question has come up many, many times. I am new to this
> group so I do not know what has been said. 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.

Well, I can resoundingly second all the responses you have gotten so
far, and add a few of my own.

Harry Potter (HP), recently, is being often compared to Lord of the
Rings. (LOTR)  Writing style, characters, etc.  Honestly I see very
little similarity.  Okay, there is one main bad guy, and one main
somewhat reluctant hero, good vs evil, etc.  But I have read hundreds
of magical/fantasly type books.  David Eddings.  Terry Brooks.  Anne
McCaffery.  I could go on and on.  I am an avid reader, and this is my
favorite genre.

To me, to compare Harry Potter to LOTR does no justice to either work,
and allows me to illustrate why I like HP better.

Tolkein has vivid descriptions in his works.  But for my own taste,
they are TOO vivid.  He describes the moss on the trees with a
minuteness that removes all possiblilty of imagination.  I know what
Treebeard looks like because Tolkein told me, down to every last twig
and leaf.  And in the process of telling me, he uses big, ponderous,
old-fashioned descriptive adjectives, phrases, and clauses that are
sometimes difficult to read.  Of course, it adds somewhat to the
flavor of the book--one feels as though one is reading an historical
account of events.  But to me it makes it more dry and less enjoyable
to read than HP.  

Please note, I am a college grad myself, and have no difficulty
reading or comprehending such things, I just don't like to have to
reread a sentence five or six times before I can make sense of it. 
Tolkien has so many twists and turns in his sentence structure, that
often the main point of the sentence comes at the end, and once you
get there, you have to go back and reread the beginning so you
understand the reference.

JKR has just as much detail, imagery, depth in her story.  But she
presents it in a more straight-forward fashion.  My imagination soars
with vivid pictures and ideas as I read her words, because my rational
brain does not have to work to sort out the actual text.  I love that
she presents her messages and lessons to her characters gently to the
reader, though they may be harsh to the characters.  I am amazed at
how fully she has fleshed out even the more minor characters.  How a
woman briefly mentioned in the earlier books as that "batty Mrs. Figg
who loves cats" can become such an important character in book 5.  A
name dropped seemingly without importance in book 1 resurfaces in book
3 as a significant character. (Sirius Black)  

Her books are complex, without being confusing; detailed without being
dull and lifeless; realistic in the character emotions and responses
without being morbid, depressing, mundane.  I feel as though I know
Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, McGonnagal, Hagrid, Lupin, Sirius,
all the Weasleys, as though they are alive and real in my mind.  As
though I could pop in for tea with Molly and possibly expect to see
Ron and Harry walk in the door after practicing quidditch on the back
hill.  To me they are more well 'fleshed out' and realisticly written,
three dimensional, even the more minor characters, than any other
fantasy book I have ever read.

I love the hints and clues that she drops along the way.  I never
catch them the first time through myself, but I love getting to the
end and going "OH, YEA, that makes sense now!  She told us that
before!"  I have read the first four dozens, litterally dozens of
times, and I catch something new each time.  They are not boring or
dull, even after many times through.  I am just visiting an old friend.

And my favorite thing about the HP books is the gift of a love of
reading that JKR has given to so very many children in this age of
multimedia brain-drain!