Book Log #98: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling

[annathepiper]

With this post, I'm finally caught up through what I'd already known from the movies--and whoof, it was a long slog through Order of the Phoenix, 800+ pages in the hardback edition. Overall I quite enjoyed this read, and it was a lot of fun to get details that were skimmed over or in some cases left out entirely in the movie filled out a lot more here.

The biggest fault I found with it was the Harry Rage. Wow. From a whole page of all-caps screaming at Ron and Hermione to his wanting to tear the hell out of Dumbledore's office, it got awfully wearisome after a while. I can't say it was entirely unjustified--after all, Harry has gotten a lot of crap slung at him throughout the course of this series--but the boy spends way more time in this book sulking than he does anything else. As a result, he was frequently actively annoying, and I was quite glad that Hermione and Ron regularly told him to stop being a prat.

On the other hand, there's a lot in this story to like as well. Tonks and Luna were quite a bit more fleshed out and therefore more interesting. Dolores Umbridge, while not quite as teeth-gratingly repulsive here as I found her in the movie (just because the actress who played her on screen did such a beautiful job), was still a highly effective antagonist for the school--and plus, we got a lot more detail here about how the teachers were giving her constant shit while adhering to the letter of the laws she was laying down. Harry's Aunt Petunia gets a surprising little bit of character development, which makes her suddenly almost sympathetic. The sub-plot with Percy Weasley caught me completely by surprise and was therefore quite gripping. And, while the scenes between Harry and Snape weren't a surprise, they were nevertheless good strong reading. I'm still not jumping on the Snapefen Bandwagon, but I definitely found his character development some of the strongest stuff in the book.

All in all I think I'll give this one three and a half stars.

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Snape was never sypmathetic for me. There are some die-hard Slytherin out there, seattlesparks among them... but as for me, GRYFFINDOOOOOOOOOOOR!!!!!!!!

[annathepiper]

Oh, I don't find Snape particularly sympathetic; I still don't like him very much as a person. However, I also find him interesting, and I appreciate the effort Rowling's clearly put into setting his character up.

And hee, yeah, well, all the cool kids are in Gryffindor. ;)

[kieri.livejournal.com]

Sparks isn't a die-hard Slytherin - she just talks a good game due to MUSH indoctrination (she played Draco, briefly). I think she's also kind of a soft touch and tries her best to find the good in anyone, Draco et al included. :)

[annathepiper]

Oh, for MUSH purposes, I totally buy why one would shoot for a more-sympathetic portrayal of any Slytherin character. After all, if your character is a complete and utter twatwaffle at all times, that does make it hard to get RP. :)

[starfallz.livejournal.com]

I thought the movie fleshed out the Harry Rage better than the book. When reading the book, I just kept on wanting to smack him silly and didn't find it very plausible.

I did a little drawing of Umbridge looking rather toad like. :D

[annathepiper]

Yeah, I was thinking that I liked the movie's treatment of that better than the book's. In the movie, you at least get the sense that Harry comes to an emotional turning point and actually realizes that he's been a complete jerkoff throughout the first half of the story, and then stops it. Not so much, in the book.

And hee, about the drawing! The actress who played her in the movie wasn't so much toadlike, but she did definitely seem to fit Rowling's description of the character as "everyone's maiden aunt".

[kissare.livejournal.com]

Harry Rage annoyed the heck out of me in that book.

[annathepiper]

Given how many warnings I'd had about it, I can actually say that it was not as bad as I was expecting. Still definitely annoying, just not nearly to the level I was braced for. ;)

[bloody-keri.livejournal.com]

This one was pretty decent, I thought. I too rolled my eyes a little at the very obvious 'Harry is a teenager' tantrums, but luckily they passed.

Are you on to the Half-Blood Prince next?

[annathepiper]

I am! I started it last night, and expect to finish it up tonight after dinner. :) I'm liking it quite a bit so far.