Harry Potter.

I'm going to write about Harry Potter, because I just recently had a discussion with another Yale kid about the relative strengths and weaknesses of J.K. Rowling's writing. I should give some kind of disclaimer, though - as I wrote previously, I am incredibly and passionately in love with the entirety of the children's fantasy genre, and Harry Potter is the defining work in that particular genre, for better or worse. For the most part, I believe it's for the better - it has thrust fantasy into the mainstream and given the genre much more credibility and respect (not that it didn't have it before, but, as I discussed previously, I feel it is taken less seriously than so-called "normal" fiction).

But I do have some reservations about the books' overwhelming, unprecedented success. I feel like the Potter craze has inspired editors everywhere to search frantically for the next fantasy bestseller, publishing subpar children's literature simply because it involves boy wizards or magic or evil guys with funny names. This is bad, because it means people like Holly Black get published (Lord save us), who give the genre a shitty reputation because they are shitty subpar writers. Also, I am inherently prone to dislike and/or be skeptical of things that cause such an intense bandwagon effect, ESPECIALLY in the world of fiction. Take for example The Da Vinci Code (just the mere mention of it makes any "serious" writer or reader shudder in horror), which sold at an insane rate and practically created a new genre of books that touted themselves as either discrediting or giving credence to the book's more controversial claims. This is may very well be because I have a superiority complex (hey, I LOVE reading and appreciating books that the general public has never heard of). But I think it's also because I just don't trust the general public's taste in books. They are usually horribly wrong. Harry Potter's popularity is one of the rare instances in which they actually got it right.

Okay. What I really want to talk about, though, is the Harry Potter books themselves. I just finished rereading the first six in preparation for the seventh's release, and I read them pretty much back to back so I've been completely immersed in Rowling-world for the past week. Though it's clear that Rowling's skills have improved dramatically over the course of the six books, I think that she was pretty much a phenomenal writer from the start. I gave her a hard time when I first read them - I remember thinking, "Oh, well, she tells a good story, but she's not a very high quality writer." Now I can acknowledge that I probably felt that because I was incredibly jealous of her talent (and her piles and piles of money). She's unbelievably witty and quirky (Fred and George have some truly hilarious lines, and they're not the only ones). And she writes the best plots I've ever read, period. What the fuck. Who could possibly dream up these things?

But more importantly, she also understands kids in a way that many older authors don't. Philip Pullman's Lyra, for example, is a great character, but I can always tell that she was written by an older male author - she's a bit too serious, a bit too confident, and a bit too responsible. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are not. Most of the time they have no idea what they're doing and often they seriously fuck things up - see book five, for instance, in which Harry gets Sirius killed and nearly ends up dying himself just because he's an idiot and charges off without thinking things through. They don't know everything. They often ask the wrong questions and suspect the wrong people. They break the rules and they get in trouble for it. They have stupid fights and take stupid risks. That's why they're such wonderful characters - because they are so obviously children who have been given a great deal of responsibility and are struggling to come to terms with what that means. They react the same way that probably any of us would have done if we had found ourselves in their situation. They're completely flawed, and I love them and believe in them more because of it.

Mmm. I won't clutter this blog with my predictions about what happens in book seven, because I literally have NO idea - she never fails to completely surprise me. Although I'll be honest, I don't think Snape is evil.