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The Harry Potter Books (#1-3)
Nov. 11th, 2002 11:36 pmI just finished reading the third Harry Potter book. I'd been planning to read only #2, in advance of the newest movie, but then I got all sickly and decided I needed something easy to read ... thus a short, dizzy, somewhat hallucinatory trip to the bookstore to pick up #3 as well.
I was somewhat unimpressed by the first Harry Potter book, which I read in the British edition on a plane back from Ireland two years ago. I felt like it was badly paced, particularly over the first 80 or so pages before Harry arrived at Hogwart's. Also, I really didn't see what everyone was raving about regarding the originality. It was fairly standard fantasy, with a slightly original idea of a wizard's school. But, I'd seen similar in Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic and in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, just to spout the first two names that come to mind.
To be honest after having read three Harry Potter books, I still don't see why they became a _phenomenon_ ... other than for the reason that phenomenons, whether they be tulips or a peculiar dance step, rarely have a basis in reality.
J.K. Rowling took the most basic axiom of Young Adult fiction and applied it. Introduce a Young Adult, just like your readers, who is thoroughly enmeshed in the Mundane realm, and then introduce him to Worlds of Wonder. If she somehow managed to apply that axiom better than the many less known YA authors who came in the couple of decades before her, I can't really say how.
However, I can say that the latter two books, much more so than the first, are actually good books. And going from their basis, I can understand better what keeps readers reading. In particular:
As I've already said, after having read 3 Harry Potter books, I still don't understand why they're best sellers. But I do understand why people I respect like to read them. They are fun.
I was somewhat unimpressed by the first Harry Potter book, which I read in the British edition on a plane back from Ireland two years ago. I felt like it was badly paced, particularly over the first 80 or so pages before Harry arrived at Hogwart's. Also, I really didn't see what everyone was raving about regarding the originality. It was fairly standard fantasy, with a slightly original idea of a wizard's school. But, I'd seen similar in Neil Gaiman's Books of Magic and in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books, just to spout the first two names that come to mind.
To be honest after having read three Harry Potter books, I still don't see why they became a _phenomenon_ ... other than for the reason that phenomenons, whether they be tulips or a peculiar dance step, rarely have a basis in reality.
J.K. Rowling took the most basic axiom of Young Adult fiction and applied it. Introduce a Young Adult, just like your readers, who is thoroughly enmeshed in the Mundane realm, and then introduce him to Worlds of Wonder. If she somehow managed to apply that axiom better than the many less known YA authors who came in the couple of decades before her, I can't really say how.
However, I can say that the latter two books, much more so than the first, are actually good books. And going from their basis, I can understand better what keeps readers reading. In particular:
- Mystery. Although very formulaic, Rowling builds the Potter stories not around adventure, but rather mystery. Some new and strange professor has arrived at the school. What's his secret? Someone is sneaking around the school, doing terrible things. Who are they are why are they doing these things? The mystery keeps the pages turning even as thrills ebb and wane.
- History. Particularly in book #3, but to a lesser extent in book #2 and book #1, Rowling begins to form a history about Hogwart's and Harry and his parents and their friends. We begin to see the books not just as the stories of a young wizard, but as part of a continuum that extends back a generation. In some ways, this is a mystery too, as we slowly accumulate the puzzle pieces which tell us the story of Harry's life.
As I've already said, after having read 3 Harry Potter books, I still don't understand why they're best sellers. But I do understand why people I respect like to read them. They are fun.
