JKR and the boys (and girls)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 161580

Betsy Hp:
> Which is what Miles was missing I think (I'm quite possibly
> putting words in Miles's mouth here): the economics over simple
> and warming human interaction.  By putting story-telling economics
> over character development there's a human element missing from
> the Potter books.  

phoenixgod2000:
> I don't know about Miles but it is what I am missing in the story.
> It is one thing to say that that stuff happens offscreen but Harry
> demonstrates again and again that is isn't happening at all.  He is
> too ignorant of others in the school for Harry to be goofing 
> around with them offscreen. and regardless of how insular harry
> is, that just isn't plausible.  When I was in school, I was hardly
> a big man on campus in a much bigger school than Hogwarts and I
> could have named every student in my class and said something
> about them. 

Jen:  Since OOTP the problem seems like one of so *many* characters, 
the room feels crowded with party guests and you get the sense 
everyone is stuck in place waiting for Harry to make the rounds and 
mingle.  Maybe the sheer volume of characters more than the 
economical storytelling pushes out some of the heartwarming 
interactions. Or both things contribute because Harry only has time 
to mingle with characters who will advance the plot or the 
occasional quick 'hi, how are you?' to the character passing by who 
either completed his/her big plot moment or is waiting for it.

OOTP started to feel chaotic, with more and more whirlwind 
interactions.  That's when it hit me, anyway. I expected to meet new 
main characters in the first half of the series, but it struck me as 
an odd choice to spend pages and pages on Luna and Grawp in OOTP, 
and Scrimgeour in HBP, when we'd never met them before that moment.  
(Was there any way to have already known characters fill these 
roles? I guess that Q. will be answered in Book 7.)  Like with 
Aberforth, there have been hints all along about him so he won't be 
such a surprise if he comes to the forefront. Or Scabbers, we didn't 
know he was Peter but still he was in the story before his debut.  
The new DADA was set up early on so that's become an expectation for 
a new character each book.

Anyway, I'm off the subject a little but do think the sheer volume 
of characters has undermined the relationships.  I'd rather have 
seen a few of Grawp's pages in OOTP devoted to relationship 
development myself. 

Jen R.