Harry Potter

These books are ubiquitous. They inspired a new generation of children to read and most notably, influenced lots of boys to begin reading for pleasure and that is no easy feat. People look to these books as the most iconic of magical world series and they are even considered a “classic” in many people’s minds. But I don’t think that they quite live up to the lofty position to which people revere them. Please read on for more detailed analysis….

First off, the quality of language:
This is an interesting one because Harry Potter is as well known as a lot of the “classics” like Hamlet, and Crime and Punishment; but oddly, Rowling doesn’t write with same subtle yet powerful nuance that those “classics” do. I would not give this book to a child to increase his lexicon, because I believe that it is simply not that type of book. Be that as it may, the quality with which it is written if far – but not that far – from poor so I give it a 4/10.

Now we go onto how exciting it is for the reader:
I think that the reason these books are so popular is because of how thrilling they are: there are moments of calm which contrasts the distinct suspense which colours the book in. More than that, the excitement is consistently held to quite a high standard which is why this is more impressive than a lot of books. But the main reason this book gets a 9/10 in this category, is because it is so uniquely powerful in its way of pulling in the reader with consistent intrigue.

Poignancy:
I would argue that this book is not particularly poignant because, as much as it is a very enthralling book to read, I don’t think it is because of how emotionally affecting it is. Obviously there are some vague indications of love but nothing significant like in a lot of romance novels, and I would say there weren’t many big sacrifices or particularly difficult decisions faced by any of the main characters, where as a lot of the other “classics” have a mixture of physical adventure but then also emotional drama. Be that as it may, there is some emotional connection between Ron and Hermione and also the fact that Harry is an orphan is interesting but that’s not the same sort of power I would expect from a supposèd classic. It gets a 5/10 again for poignancy.

Characterisation:
Personally I don’t find the characterisation particularly strong: it is a trio of students, who heroically save the school and the magical world. Harry is the head of the trio and is the “chosen one”, as per normal, but what is interesting is that in most books like these the hero gets the girl, i.e. Hermione, however in this book he doesn’t, Ron does. This is interesting but nothing extraordinary so it gets 6/10 for characters. (HOWEVER there is one character through whom Rowling has outdone herself: Severus Snape. there’s an incredibly well written character and I would give his character 8-9/10 (and both Sirius and Dumbledore are more subtle still but very good) but the others have an average of 5-6/10 so the rating is staying as that.)

Plot decomposition time:
as with characterisation, the plot is nothing amazing, but it’s not bad. The hero finds out he has a talent and then proceeds to foil the villains plan, along with his friends. another lass people would stop reading the book if the plot wasn’t good so it must be quite a strong plot. It gets a 7/10 because I didn’t put it down very often while I read the books and I think that it must have had quite an enticing plot for that to happen.

Onto ideas and origionality:
The ideas and the world that is created in these books are truly unique. Obviously like I said in the introduction, these are the books that are looked to for an iconic magical world, and I do think that is down to Rowling’s creativeness and innovation. There are many books about magical worlds, but none of them are quite like the wizarding world. Whereas most fantasy books have the wands or the staffs or the governing body, Rowling has the magical schools, the dementors, the brewing classes. it is for these reasons that I would give Harry Potter 9/10 for originality. However, it is important to note also that this was not the first proper magical world fantasy book: there was Lord of the rings and The Wizard of earthsea which are both written better and were the first ones to do do that at the time, but Rowling takes the ball and runs with it.

J.K. Rowling’s style:
Obviously, I can’t give her a mark on stylistic touch, but I’d say that her style adds a bit, but not a lot to the readability and overall enjoyment of the book. The dialogue is not brilliant but it’s not bad enough to notice too much, and I think this is down to her specific touch. Unfortunately, I can’t say much about her style, however, because there isn’t much unique style to speak about.

Despite my negative comments about some parts of this series, overall is has a very enthralling and magical feel and draws a beautiful world in the readers mind. Importantly, like I said in the introduction, it brought a whole generation of boys to the realisation that reading could be fun and engaging, which is a truly impressive feat. It is a culturally important book, but isn’t written quite as well as I would have liked. In total this book would get a 61/100.