Second Reading -- Still Disappointed with HBP

[Richard Jones]

No: HPFGUIDX 135032

So I finished my second reading of HBP and I'm still a little let 
down and disappointed with it.

There are certainly things I like about it.  There is humor in the 
first half — "you don't have to call me sir" "we must try not sink 
beneath our anguish, Harry" and I wish ESPN could hire Luna as a 
sports commentator.  I liked that the discussion of how the 
Prophecy "foreordained" things without a determinism of future 
events.  I appreciated chapters 1 and 2 more in the second reading.  
(Incidentally, why do the witches and wizards not say LV's name?  
Nothing happens when DD and Harry say it, and Fudge looked even 
sillier than usual when he couldn't say LV's name to the PM.) And the 
flashbacks were more interesting.  However, the writing seems more 
flat and uninspired than usual — I know she wanted to make the book 
shorter after OOTP but I think it is a little less magical and quirky 
for it.  Here are two specifics.

(1) Her stream-lined approach with no fun subplots or diversions or 
red herrings.  Minor characters — and here I include Hagrid, Neville, 
Luna, and Remus — were all but dropped out of the book entirely.  
Harry figured out each clue as it arose and the only question was 
whether Ron and Hermione and DD would believe him.  That wasn't a 
very interesting way to develop the story and certainly wasn't like 
books 1 to 5.

There weren't any subplots at all unless you count shipping.  (The 
whole "half blood prince" started out as an apparent subplot but at 
the end we found out why the book is rightly called "HP and the 
HBP.")  And even the shipping seemed uninspired: going with the most 
obvious pairings.  (I grant that if you parcel every syllable on 
relationships you can come up with virtually any pairing, but to 
those of us who focused many on the main story line and didn't pay 
that much attention to shipping would have guessed that Ron and 
Hermione would end up together and that Ginny was apparently being 
groomed for Harry in OOTP.  Even JKR agreed in her recent interview 
with the mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldon editors that H/G and Hr/R 
were "painfully obvious" and that she had dropped "anvil sized hints" 
in the first five books.)  Also the way Harry finally ended up 
kissing Ginny and Harry's noble split both seemed corny.

(2) Characters.  Hermione seemed even more tiresome this time than in 
the first reading.  By page 200, every time she spoke I wanted to 
give her what JKR would call a "very rude hand gesture."  Granted, a 
sixteen year old is going to act jealously, but there was nothing 
likeable about her here to offset that — none of the caring and 
kindliness (except for repairing the little girl's scales) as in the 
previous books.  She showed zero sympathy for their friend Hagrid 
after his friend died.  I even missed SPEW — as annoying as that 
could be it did show that Hermione had a good heart.  Granted, after 
Ron dumped Lavender Hermione lightened up, but even at the end she 
was tactless: after DD died and she was explaining why Snape used the 
name "HBP" to a grieving Harry she didn't say "I found out why Snape 
used the name `HBP'," but had to claim that she was partially right 
about Eileen Prince.  She is "maturing" from a witch into something 
that rhymes with "witch."  I am going to have to reread books 1-4 and 
try to figure out why in the world she was my favorite character in 
them.

Neville and Luna became almost non-existent characters.  Was OOTP 
their highpoint in the series?  I expected to see them develop for 
Book 7.  I, like lots of others, thought after their last encounter 
in OOTP that Harry would start confiding more in Luna.  But nothing 
happened.  They were almost not even minor characters they were so 
out of the story.   Same with Hagrid.  Same with Remus and Tonks 
(unless you want to include the shipping that seemed to me a rather 
strange add-on at the end.)  JKR seems to be simplifying the story 
line for Book 7.

On the positive side, I was surprised how mature Harry seemed.  I had 
expected him to be an emotional wreck after the death of Sirius and 
the revelations of OOTP.  Apparently he is very resilient.  As for 
Ron — well, Ron is still Ron.  If Ron is going to become a hero in 
Book 7, he is going to have to change dramatically all of a sudden.  
(Incidentally, for the shippers: why is Hermione attracted to him 
anyway?  They don't seem exactly compatible.)

Some people have tried to explain HBP away as simply part one of a 
two part book or that it is a "transition book", but that doesn't 
really help.  I can't get over the fact that I actually thought "when 
will this be over?" during my first reading.  I had always enjoyed 
the books and wanted them to be longer.

There is enough of an intriguing plot line to make me still want Book 
7, but I must admit I'm not as excited as I was for the previous 
books.  (That all the elaborate theories we fans were speculating for 
the HBP proved unfulfilled is both a good sign and a bad sign: it 
suggests JKR will throw in some new things in Book 7 like the 
Horcruxes in HBP that we will not be able to predict but that the 
solution will be relatively straightforward — no big elaborate 
twists.)  I hope it doesn't turn into some LOTR quest adventure with 
lots of scenes similar to the one in the cave.

I bet when the series is over that fans will become divided into two 
camps — those who prefer books 1 to 4 and those who prefer books 5 to 
7.

Richard Jones