Why Do You Read the HP Books?

[iris_ft]

No: HPFGUIDX 142946

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "ibchawz" <ibchawz at y...> wrote:
>
> I joined this list shortly after HPB was released.  

Hi Ibchawz, you are welcome!


Ibchawz
"My question is: If you feel these
books are so poorly written from a character, plot, and storyline
development perspective, why do you read them?"


Now me:
I remember we had quite a similar discussion on this list when OotP 
was released. I won't repeat here what I said at the time (message 
72884).
I'll simply add that IMVHO, a book so many people read all around 
the world isn't poorly written at all. It is able to captivate 
academics as well as children; it goes beyond all our cultural 
differences. Oh no, it's not poorly written at all. It is simply 
written, and that's not the same thing. Writing simply, especially 
that kind of book, is very difficult indeed. There were many 
opportunities to write complicated sentences, but JK Rowling 
preferred to choose carefully her vocabulary and to write something 
everyone could understand easily. Her books are like Harry: they 
look humble, but they have a power nobody can explain. And this 
power is able to touch our hearts, wherever we come from. Simple, 
but universal. Simple, but incredibly rich because of what lies 
behind the limpid sentences. That's why I enjoy the Harry Potter 
books so much.
And you know, I'm glad to be there with you and the other people, 
waiting for the next opus. I think we are lucky: it's great to 
witness what is happening now, it's great to be contemporary with 
Harry Potter.

Ibchawz again:
"I have seen criticism of Harry Potter's character and moral fiber.
Comments I have seen include him being arrogant, lazy, rebellious,
amoral, immoral, plagiaristic, disrespectful, incompetent, etc. If
Harry, as the main character, is really this bad a person, why do you
read the books?"

Re-me:
Good question! It's probably because with all his defects, Harry is 
terribly human. Actually, he's holding a mirror and he shows us our 
own reflections. We feel upset because he's not perfect, which isn't 
very comforting. On the other hand, we are secretly happy to see 
he's like us. His defects are there to remind us how fragile and 
fallible we are. His qualities give us hope. We face him exactly the 
way we face the human kind.

Of course this is only my point of view,

Amicalement,

Iris