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OotP rant, finally.
Jul. 4th, 2007 11:24 amWe're more than halfway through Book 6 by now, but I kept forgetting to post this...
This book frustrated me, though not for the reasons I expected. ALLCAPS!Harry didn't bother me as much as he did first time through because I knew it was coming (and rather skimmed those sections, actually). And actually it makes a lot of sense for his character-- he's a teenager, and teenagers are famously resentful and stupid. At least, I was :) But (like I keep telling J when Veronica Mars does something stupid) I read books and watch TV so that I can see people who are better than me, not people who keep making the same mistakes I do!
What's frustrating is that so many parts of this book are actually really quite good (which I'd forgotten). Locally-- on the word choice and day-to-day experiences of the Trio-- I think Rowling has become a much much better writer than she was in book 1. Little set pieces, like Fred and George's flight to freedom (no matter what you may think of their characters) are gems! The mid-level stuff is quite good too-- she's always been good at weaving in mention of seemingly innocuous details that turn out to be plot-essential later, and she's still good here. And the pacing of the Trio figuring out stuff is quite good.
And then on the global level everything just falls down, grr. Not because the plot isn't good-- the whole Occlumency thing and the tragedy of Sirius is actually really good, much better than I remember, all of Harry's weaknesses and many of his strengths turned to Voldemort's purpose, wow-- but because the plot goal is so very meaningless that it's impossible to suspend one's disbelief. I mean, in GoF, yeah, it was kind of nonsensical that "Moody" didn't just lure Harry away with sweets or something instead of this whole Rube Goldberg Triwizard scheme, but the momentum of the plot and the importance of Voldemort's resurrection to the entire arc let me (briefly) forget that. Here, when I find out the whole big deal was about a prophecy-- one that is, anyway, in Dumbledore's head, and one which, moreover, does not actually give anyone any information that was not known already... I mean, how many people honestly didn't think that at least one of them had to die at the end? -- it just jerks me out of my happy suspension of disbelief and makes me upset. And at least one of the "mysteries"-- who sent the dementors after Harry?-- the biggest problem with it is not the silliness of Umbridge, who even as Pure Evil ought to be able to find better things to do with her time; nor is it the unbelievability of it (Umbridge, who can't even get rid of a flippin' swamp that McGonagall could demolish instantly, can control Dementors without anyone at the Ministry knowing? Yeah right); but rather the plot pacing: much like this sentence, the book goes on and on and gets so far from the point that by the time the point actually shows up, the reader doesn't actually care at all!
And, um? Dumbledore? Is an authorial manipulation from beginning to end ("Petunia, remember my last!" Who talks like that?! Note to Dumbledore: most people use the noun their adjectives modify, like, "Remember my last plot device!"). And I hate that. Also, hypocrite! if I had the choice between being manhandled and shaken by a teacher, or having my memory totally modified by a teacher (or by someone authorized by a teacher), um, to me one of these is MUCH WORSE than the other. Dumbledore has suddenly flipped from one of my favorite characters to one of my least favorite.
Also, I adore McGonagall with a passion, and always have; she's probably the only person, in fact, that I'm not seriously annoyed with right now. Well, I guess I still like Hermione, as her weird passion for freckles doesn't really show up until the next book.
Speaking of which, I'm going to assume that Pomfrey, out of some misguided sense of loyalty towards Harry or something, could totally fix Marietta's face and doesn't, because I'd much rather dislike Pomfrey than Hermione.
I barely skimmed the last five chapters or so, which saves you from a rant on centaurs and Sirius and Dumbledore and so on. Um. It does not seem to have saved you from a rant on Dumbledore, actually. Never mind.
This book frustrated me, though not for the reasons I expected. ALLCAPS!Harry didn't bother me as much as he did first time through because I knew it was coming (and rather skimmed those sections, actually). And actually it makes a lot of sense for his character-- he's a teenager, and teenagers are famously resentful and stupid. At least, I was :) But (like I keep telling J when Veronica Mars does something stupid) I read books and watch TV so that I can see people who are better than me, not people who keep making the same mistakes I do!
What's frustrating is that so many parts of this book are actually really quite good (which I'd forgotten). Locally-- on the word choice and day-to-day experiences of the Trio-- I think Rowling has become a much much better writer than she was in book 1. Little set pieces, like Fred and George's flight to freedom (no matter what you may think of their characters) are gems! The mid-level stuff is quite good too-- she's always been good at weaving in mention of seemingly innocuous details that turn out to be plot-essential later, and she's still good here. And the pacing of the Trio figuring out stuff is quite good.
And then on the global level everything just falls down, grr. Not because the plot isn't good-- the whole Occlumency thing and the tragedy of Sirius is actually really good, much better than I remember, all of Harry's weaknesses and many of his strengths turned to Voldemort's purpose, wow-- but because the plot goal is so very meaningless that it's impossible to suspend one's disbelief. I mean, in GoF, yeah, it was kind of nonsensical that "Moody" didn't just lure Harry away with sweets or something instead of this whole Rube Goldberg Triwizard scheme, but the momentum of the plot and the importance of Voldemort's resurrection to the entire arc let me (briefly) forget that. Here, when I find out the whole big deal was about a prophecy-- one that is, anyway, in Dumbledore's head, and one which, moreover, does not actually give anyone any information that was not known already... I mean, how many people honestly didn't think that at least one of them had to die at the end? -- it just jerks me out of my happy suspension of disbelief and makes me upset. And at least one of the "mysteries"-- who sent the dementors after Harry?-- the biggest problem with it is not the silliness of Umbridge, who even as Pure Evil ought to be able to find better things to do with her time; nor is it the unbelievability of it (Umbridge, who can't even get rid of a flippin' swamp that McGonagall could demolish instantly, can control Dementors without anyone at the Ministry knowing? Yeah right); but rather the plot pacing: much like this sentence, the book goes on and on and gets so far from the point that by the time the point actually shows up, the reader doesn't actually care at all!
And, um? Dumbledore? Is an authorial manipulation from beginning to end ("Petunia, remember my last!" Who talks like that?! Note to Dumbledore: most people use the noun their adjectives modify, like, "Remember my last plot device!"). And I hate that. Also, hypocrite! if I had the choice between being manhandled and shaken by a teacher, or having my memory totally modified by a teacher (or by someone authorized by a teacher), um, to me one of these is MUCH WORSE than the other. Dumbledore has suddenly flipped from one of my favorite characters to one of my least favorite.
Also, I adore McGonagall with a passion, and always have; she's probably the only person, in fact, that I'm not seriously annoyed with right now. Well, I guess I still like Hermione, as her weird passion for freckles doesn't really show up until the next book.
Speaking of which, I'm going to assume that Pomfrey, out of some misguided sense of loyalty towards Harry or something, could totally fix Marietta's face and doesn't, because I'd much rather dislike Pomfrey than Hermione.
I barely skimmed the last five chapters or so, which saves you from a rant on centaurs and Sirius and Dumbledore and so on. Um. It does not seem to have saved you from a rant on Dumbledore, actually. Never mind.
