BOOK REVIEW - THE HARRY POTTER SERIES
ABOUT THE BOOK
Harry potter is a series of fantacy novels written by Joanne Kathleen Rowling (better known as J K Rowling), published by Bloomsbury Publishing. Genres include - fantasy,drama,young adult fiction,mystery,thirller,coming off age, bildungsroman etc. First published on 26 June 1997. Books in chronological order of release:
1. Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone (1997)
2. Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets (1998)
3. Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban (1999)
4. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (2000)
5.Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (2003)
6. Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince (2005)
7. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows (2007)
The series, totalling 4,195 pages, has been translated, in whole or in part, into 65 languages.These 7 books were later made into a movies series of 8 parts by Warner Bros Pictures. It became the third highest grossing movies of all time as of February 2018. The first movie was released in 2001.Director Steven Spielberg was approached to direct the first film, but dropped out.
INTRODUCTION
Rowling has also published many small books like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Tales of Beedle The Bard, Quidditch Through The Ages et cetera.In 2016, she released three new e-books: Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide, Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists and Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies.
Harry Potter cannot be reviewed as single book being a series. The name Harry Potter and and something kind of points vaguely as if the story is revolving around a single person called Harry Potter. It is true to a great extent, but it has many other different dimensions as well. The reason being that the story is set in a third person perspective and does not have first hand narration of experiences of the leading character, that is Harry Potter. The story revolves around the central character Harry Potter whose parents were killed by a dark Wizard called Voldemort. The whole magical world believes that only Harry can kill Voldemort, based on a prophesy. This book is one of the books that was widely read after the Holy Bible. The series as such opens up a new magical world for its readers.
The success of JK Rowling is that Harry Potter is not just another fiction,but rather a fiction that has impacted many aspects of human life, especially teenage lives. It does have many things to share including depression, death, break up, love, family, enmity, fear, care, struggle, prophecy, beliefs, politics, friendship, relationship, misunderstandings, threats, and obviously yes, magic. And I can with some extent of absolute certainty say that the above mentioned aspects of story are the core ingredients that led to the popular acceptance of this fiction.
The story discusses numerous schemes and themes.
1. DEPRESSION
The way in which the author has represented depression is something so much realistic. Demontors have been described as creatures that suck out all your happiness and makes you cold. They drive your focus and your consciousness to your most dreaded memories. And that is exactly what happens for a person under acute or chronic depression. JKR also says that eating chocolate after a dementor attack helps you recover soon, which is also said to be true in case of real life depression medications. And moreover, dementors are the creatures who are keepers or wardens the worst place in the magical world, that is the Azkaban prison. So in a way Rowling says that depression is the worst feeling in the world. To say further, Rowling is said to have been under depression when she was penning down this story. Her bad times, a seven-year period, saw the death of her mother, birth of her first child, divorce from her first husband and relative poverty until the first novel in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997.
2. FRIENDSHIP
Friendship is something that JKR has concentrated on the storyline. This can be understood as a very conscious, deliberate effort. Harry in the course of the story says that it is worth dying if it is for your friends. Also Albus Dumbmedore says that it takes so much courage to stand against your friends. Also, Harry wouldnt be alive by the end of the story, if he had no friends. They always stick together. When you think about the friendship of Harry, Ron and Hermione, the first thing that probably comes to your mind will be the scene in which Minerva McGonagall asks them 'why is it that it is always the three of you when something happens'. Harry is also portrayed as a man who is a good friend. He encourages and motivates everybody ,even including Mr Neville longbottom who always had a tendency to back off, during training the Dumbledore's Army, in Harry Potter and The Order of Phoenix.
3. ROMANCE
Sequences of romance are in no way scarce in the story. The romance between Harry and Cho Chang is set in a background where Cho hasn't yet recovered from the pain the death of Cedric Diggoryhas infllicted on her. She is madly in need for love, but then at the same time, she has a feeling of cheating Cedric, though he is no more. The romance between Harry and Ginny Weasley is bit more complex. The ambience in The Deathly Hallows is so much complex and uncertain. They are deeply in love with each other, but the dark wizard standing against them questions not just their survival, but their relationship as well. They are very much uncertain about who all will be left alive after all of this ends, if it does someday. That scenes of uncertain and painful love is sure to inflict very much pain in the hearts of the readers. The love scenes between Hagrid and Madame Maxime is really cute and innocent. Last but not the least, though there are no love scenes as such, Ron and Hermione shows that best friends can sometimes turn into your better half, is that what JKR meant, I am not sure. But I am sure enough that there is no mistake in interpreting it that way.
4. TEACHER STUDENT RELATIONSHIP
Hogwarts has many teachers. Some of them like Lupin are very much keen on protecting Harry while others like Quirinus Quirrell have Voldemort behind their turbans. You cant help but hate people like Dolores Umbridge. There are people like Gilderoy Lockhart who are just a shiw off. We have characters like Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Severus Snape etc. Are very much important in Harry's life that he names his son Albus Severus Potter. A very good teacher like Lupin can teach you to fight even your worsest fears, while people like Umbridge can make you bleed, mentally and physically. This is nothing but cent percent true and painful absolute reality.
5. FAMILY
The story calls out calls out some absolute truths througj its' concepts on family. A family is not just the group of people you have been born into. A family is not a group of related people. A family is a group of people, around whom you feel like you belong there. The Weasleys and The Potters are in no way related. But then when with the Weasleys Harry feels like home. But then the Dursleys whom Harry is related to have always torured and alienated Harry. He was given the small space under the stairs until he could no longer fot into it. Even Hogwarts feels like family to Harry. Slowly Harry's pains becomes Hogwarts' pains and vice versa.
6. THE CHILD INSIDE EVERYBODY
Rowling didn't initially have an intention to make her story for the teen public, but to make it a children's series. Somewhere in the story it shows Albus Dumbledore eating Jelly bellies which are chocolates very similar to present day collectibles. Also when Minerva mcgonagall charms whole Hogwarts and deploys Giants she says that she has always dreamt of using that spell. Though JKR's intention of using these elements is not clear it won't be very wrong to assume that it is to show that there is a child inside everybody however old they are.
7. MORALS
Like already mentioned, intending to make children story series Rowling haven't forgotten to add moral elements to her story. Many dialogues in the story have a moral side to it. Many human values like love and friendship is held up right in the story. Also when there is a misconception in the magical world that all the slytherins become dark magicians or dark wizards is completely shattered at the end when Harry says to his son Albus severus Potter that it's not which house your are in but what you do that matters. He also adds that Dumbledore who was a gryffindor was a brave man and also severus Snape who was slytherin was also a good man. Through these dialogues Jo kind of points out the fact that you can do good things even if you are surrounded by bad company.
8. NARRATION STYLE
The narrative style of JK Rowling is so much informal that it makes the whole story a lot more interesting to read. It uses many colloquial and regional styles of speech (Hagrid's way of talking). The story has hundreds of characters which if one looks closely can be found even in the real world. And it is true to a great extent that you may have someone in your life like the Weasleys, Hermione, the Malfoys, Minerva McGonagall, Albus Du mbledore, Ginny Weasley, Cho Chang, Neville longbottom and even Severus Snape.Many dialogues of the story are still famous quotes. One of the best examples would be, "Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." (— Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban). Also very emotional dialogues like "somewhere deep inside you know you got to be furnished don't you Potter" and the most famous dialogue by severus Snape "Always", are used even in casual talks by people.
9. LIMITATIONS
Though Harry Potter series remind like a Bible to many ,it still has got some limitations. Plot involving the time turner and the portkey are the biggest examples. The movie also has many mistakes both in the plot and also in the screening . But then,a work of fiction doesnt have to be perfect in order to be brilliant. The talent and the ability of Rowling deserves to be highlighted here. Many people, even including me, who are not even a bit of a reader, have read those Bible sized books multiple times, and each reading takes you to a whole new level of understanding and interpretation. And indeed is something that should be praised. But the at initial stages of publishing her books Rowling had to jump over many hurdles. As many as some 12 publishers rejected her story, saying that it had no scope to be published. Somewhere around 1997 her story was given a green sign by Bloomsburry Publications, and the rest is history.
CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, all that you can say is that the Harry Potter sequel will surely be one book that we all will show our kids one day, saying that this was once the world we all dreamed to be in.
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