harry potter and the half-assed job

it was amid many warnings and my own reservations that i borrowed chudor's copy of the sixth installment in the harry potter series. just as the books' plots has steadily showcased j.k. rowling's ready wit and mastery of plot twist, they have just as successfully demonstrated her weakness in maintaining character in the face of drastic environmental changes.

this book proves to be no exception, with a number of clever turns that would have probably kept me riveted, if only i hadn't scanned ahead via wikipedia prior to actually reading the novel. her favorite plot device is to resurrect characters and objects previously mentioned only in passing, but with added importance as the timeline progresses [take for example, tom riddle's diary, first mentioned in book two, and now revealed to be a horcrux]. strangely enough, this trick doesn't seem as old hat as it actually is, considering that we've already gone through six-sevenths of the tale. methinks it's because reality works in a similar fashion.

and yet this same degree of realism is one of my biggest frustrations when it comes to how this particular installment played itself out. while it is true that love is a central theme in the entire series, and that love is as well both milestone and common ground for the characters vis-à-vis the readers, i personally think that it was delivered in a distasteful and overbearing manner, such that the image of eros rather than the idea of it is carried across. not good, considering that fans may be as young as eight or nine.

and let's not forget the aforementioned loss of consistent characterization, notoriously harry's sudden anger management issues. i find it harder and harder to sympathize with a lead character prone to irrational outbursts, orphan or otherwise. true, it is an attempt to humanize his character, but as this is children's fiction, it only serves to rip a hole through the illusion the rest of the book weaves. think of it as the same reason why disney heroes never take a crap on-screen.

thus, i am left only one-third satisfied with the book. perhaps if a substatial number of kissing scenes were removed, or if characters were tailored to appeal to the original preteen reader bracket [since kids do assume that personality is more or less a permanent thing], rowling could have delivered a much less forgettable experience.

as for myself, i'm still convinced that she was at the top of her game circa book three. will book seven change my opinion? even with this latest disappointment, i'm not giving up on that possibility just yet.

sige ingat.ü 
posted by stani at 2:02 AM