Straightforward readings? (was Re: Truth vs. what meets Harry's eye )

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 140715

> Hickengruendler:
> 
> Like Mad-Eye Moody turning out to be Barty Crouch junior under 
> Polyjuice Potion, who was supposed to be dead, but instead his 
mother 
> was buried in his place and Crouch junior was being kept prisoner 
in 
> his father's house? ;-) 
>  

Yeah, I have to admit I never had much admiration for that one - 
particularly the part about how DD managed not to notice one of his 
oldest friends was not, in fact, one of his oldest friends.  Think of 
all the little in-jokes and brief references of which Crouch must 
have been totally ignorant, and yet DD managed to completely miss it 
all.

Of course there is also the fact that, having managed to fool Albus, 
Barty proceeded forward with a standard comic-book 
villain's "ridiculously complex, needlessly dramatic, self-
destructively intricate" plot.  He could have created a port-key out 
of a book, slipped it into Harry's hand some quiet evening, and then 
said "No Albus, I've not seen the boy.  Are you sure you've checked 
everywhere?  Everybody's been watching the tournament, you know."  
Instead, he launches a bizarre and inexplicable plot that manages to 
put the boy he wants to kidnap constantly in the public eye -- and 
constantly in danger of being killed or injured, to boot.


> > 
<SNIP>
 I also have to 
> admit, that although I read a lot of different views regarding 
OotP, 
> I can't remember any critic that mentioned, that they disliked the 
> broadening of Harry's cosmos. In fact, at least from the reviews I 
> read, it was nearly universally seen as the best point of OotP, 
> therefore I really don't know why JKR should take it back.
>   

Well, I'll have to disagree there.  I saw a lot of complaint about 
it -- although I don't remember if much of it was on HPfGU, it may 
have been mainly a Leakey Cauldron and FictionAlley phenomenon.  
Mostly it centered on JKR dropping in new characters late in the game 
for questionable reasons, rather than developing the interesting 
characters she already had.  For instance, Luna got a lot of comments 
like "Cute, but WHERE has she been the last four years and WHY
 is she showing up just now?" and regarding Tonks there was a lot of 
"That's nice, but what, exactly, is the point?"

I agree that JKR has always had the habit of letting plot dominate 
over character -- not a good habit.  But as long as the plots were 
very well done and the characters fairly unproblematic, it didn't 
amount to a major problem.  Unfortunately, starting with OOTP, it 
became just that.  As someone recently said in a friend's chat 
room "Good writing should never let plot over ride character, and 
unfortunately lately in the Potterverse plot has not only ruled 
character, it has skewered it through the stomach with a long sword."

Lupinlore