Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
A good conclusion to the series, but still not a patch on Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' trilogy.
I’ve rather ground my way through the Harry Potter books. I enjoyed the early ones, but as the series wore on and the books got longer, I felt that there was rather too much filler material, and not enough meat (or vegetarian meat substitute) to the plot. The characters also have a tendency to be a bit one-dimensional, rather than subtle and nuanced. Despite that, Potter books are still quite fun to get your teeth into, particularly when you have no other entertainment, as was the case for me with the last two books in Brazil. In fact, we all ran out of reading material, so there was a lot of book-swapping going on, and Harry Potter was quite sought after.
I obviously don’t want to give anything away about the plot, but some of the characters (notably Dumbledore and Snape) acquired more depth, and the tone was much darker than in the first few books. I quite enjoyed it (and was fairly gripped by the end), but on the whole I think I’m glad that I won’t have to read any more Potter stories.
1
Comparing Harry Potter with Philip Pullman’s magnum opus is not fair! I am half way through reading the Dark Materials Trilogy for the second time, this time as my 10 year old youngest son’s bedtime story, and I am if anything enjoying it even more than the first time. It is a truly great book, and one of the few contemporary works that I am certain will last, and look as great in a hundred years time as it does now.
I am not looking forward to the upcoming film, because the books have already painted themselves on my imagination so vividly. I am sure that this big budget film will look marvellous, but am doubtful that it could ever feel as real as the books. I am also dubious about the casting of Nicole Kidman as Mrs Coulter, partly because she just does not have enough mystery about her, partly because I am not a great fan of her screen acting (to me you can always see the wheels turning in her performances), and lastly because my imagination has always painted Mrs Coulter as dark haired! Most of the other casting looks OK, but I wonder whether a CGI armoured bear can convey that otherness, the constant undercurrent of danger and atavistic savagery that is there in the book’s portrait. Even with as open a mind as possible, films of books you truly love nearly always disappoint, because you have already got your own stored in your head before you see it.
by ThoughtBadger @ 26/10/2007 1:40 am • Permalink
2
ThoughtBadger: Unfair perhaps, but difficult to avoid in some ways! I agree totally about the film. Part of me is looking forward to it, and part of me never wants to see it. Mind you, I thought that about Lord of the Rings, and ended up really enjoying the films. There are such great, complex characters in HDM, so it’s hard to see how they’ll get that depth in a film. I do, however, heartily approve of Sam Elliott playing Lee Scoresby - just the image I had in my mind.
by bsag @ 29/10/2007 7:52 pm • Permalink
Page 1 of 1 pages