OOTP made me angry - WAS Re: I'm new here so sorry if thi...

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 157371

Sandy wrote:
<snip> I have always taken the stance that OOP is the worst writing
she had done prior to HBP, but I am always willing to rethink things
and I believe you are right. To make you physically and emotionally
react to a book like that the writing has to be pretty brilliant. 

Carol responds:
Good for you, Sandy. I think this is the right view of the matter--she
wants the reader to hate Umbridge and she succeeded. (I don't actually
hat Umbridge herself, though I dislike her intensely, but those scense
where she's making Harry write lines in her own blood make me
angry--at Umbridge, not at JKR, who has brilliantly created a
Dickens-style character who beautifully illustrates Sirius Black's
statement that the world isn't divided into good people and Death
Eaters. And Umbridge, of course, is not the whole book. I wonder if it
would help to read the rest of the book but skip "Detention with
Delores" and other scenes with Umbridge. And if you find yourself
getting angry or otherwise find the scenes disturbing, you might ask
yourself if that's how JKR wants you to feel. (Molly's Boggart
disturbs and worries me because I'm afraid that it's foreshadowing a
loss for the Weasley family, but that doesn't make me hate the book or
consider it bad writing. OTOH, I had a similar reaction to the end of
HBP because I felt tricked and betrayed. How dare JKR create a
character like Snape that I believed was loyal to Dumbledore and
destined to be redeemed and have him end up as a murderer, a mere plot
device whose sole purpose was to kill Dumbledore so Harry would have
to face Voldemort alone? It took me about three days to cool down,
rethink the situation, and reread those last few chapters, as well as
"Spinner's End," to see that there's more to the situation than Harry
understands. So, not bad writing, just JKR creating an emotional
reaction in her readers, even though in my case, it wasn't the
reaction she probably intended to create since I seldom see things
from Harry's pov.)
> 
Sandy:
> Back to the number of times reading the books. I have only read HBP
once. I have to admit that I was very disappointed with it. I was
expecting to learn so much and have many questions answered but it
fell well short of what I expected. She wasted so much page space on
the entire first chapter and all of the shipping that could have been
so much better used. <snip>
>I am having a very difficult time getting into HBP again. I will
finish it though, and hopefully I will appreciate it better when I do.
Despite thinking the first chapter was wasted page space I did enjoy
reading it more this time.

Carol:
I tend to think that the shipping is for the kids who identify with
the stage Harry is going through and are waiting for Harry to figure
out that he likes Ginny and Ron to realize that he's always been
attracted to Hermione. Considering how long ago I went through that
phase, I agree with you that it's tiresome, but at least that
particular plot thread has been dealt with.

But the unanswered questions are another matter. JKR has said that HBP
is really the first half of the final book, so we're only about
halfway through. The tension between Harry and Snape has been
ratcheted up to the highest possible point and must be resolved before
Harry can move on to dealing with Voldemort. And Dumbledore had to
teach Harry everything he could about LV before he died (as I think he
knew he was going to do). JKR certainly can't answer our questions
about Snape, the same questions that Harry has been asking since at
least GoF, when he found out that Snape had been a Death Eater, until
the last book.

About the first chapter--although you didn't like it, probably because
it wasn't what you were expecting, JKR seems to think that it's
important and she's been planning to include a version of it since
PoA, IIRC. I like it, actually. Of course, I'm interested in things
like the pov and where it fits into the chronological sequence (IMO,
the first four chapters occur almost simultaneously), but I also like
getting the Muggles' perspective from someone other than the Dursleys
and the humorous, affectionate portrait of Fudge, who IMO redeems
himself by reverting to the bumbling but well-intentioned bureaucrat
he was before Umbridge temporarily turned him against Harry by using
his fear of Dumbledore's power against him. I liked the humorous
little touches like turning the Prime Minister's teacup nto a gerbil,
and it was also a means of conveying information (e.g., the murders of
Madam Bones and Emmeline Vance) without having Harry and Hermione read
about them in the Daily Prophet. Maybe it still won't be your favorite
chapter, but IMO it's worth reading on its own terms without imposing
your expectations on it.

I understand perfectly the how-dare-she-do-this reaction, but I thinks
that if we dismiss everything that disappoints us or doesn't meet our
expectations as bad writing, we'd all be throwing our books into
Lupinlore's compost thingy (I can't remember what it's called).

Carol, who's really glad that she read and reread HBP because she
loves the irony of Harry identifying with Teen!Severus and the
conflicting roles of Snape the Dark Arts expert and Snape the Healer