Books – J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”
by chris ~ May 17th, 2009. Filed under: Books.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
rating: 3 of 5 stars
One has to remind one’s self, while reading the Harry Potter series, that they’re meant for children in the 10 – 14 range, give or take, and not for a married guy in his early thirties who’s simultaneously reading Hubert Selby’s “Requiem for a Dream” …
In other words, while I enjoyed the third Harry Potter book, it was hard not to notice that it’s a little bit shallow in comparison to some other works out there. Yes, the series is beginning to get a little darker, and the character development a little more complex (although certain characters like Malfoy and even Hermione are still pretty thin — Rowling seems to enjoy fleshing out her professors more than her students), but it’s still a light read, and it’s still mostly about Harry being great almost despite himself.
I enjoyed the new Professor Lupin character and I liked Rowling’s use of the rat, Scabbers, as a more central character than anyone might have suspected. She’s also very good at giving hints early and having them pay off late, which is tougher to do consistently in writing than one might think — you have to tread the fine line between giving away too much and not making the hint memorable enough so that at the end of the book you have the reader going “oh yeah!”
Couple minor quibbles: I had a hard time getting in to the book initially because it felt like a carbon copy of the beginning of the first two. Harry’s miserable, the Dursleys are jackasses, and then something crazy goes down which ends with him making his way to Hogwart’s for the year. Then there’s some quidditch. Then Gryffindor wins the house cup again. As I said to my wife last night: if they win for a fourth time in the next book, I’m going to be annoyed. When is Ravenclaw going to get their due? Hell, when is Hufflepuffle (who I constantly want to call Jigglypuff … god help me) even going to get MENTIONED? The latter are like the retarded cousins of the Harry Potter world – bumbling and well-meaning but largely ignored. It’s all Gryffindor and Slytherin, with an occasional Ravenclaw love interest who doesn’t even get any dialog.
I was very excited when it seemed briefly like Harry might spend the summer with someone else – I won’t mention who for fear of ‘spoiling’ a book that’s been out for five years – but that possibility is rapidly yanked away. Alas, it means we’ll get another opening with the Dursleys.
When Rowling puts her mind to it, she spins a nifty mystery tale, and at the core that’s basically what each of the Potter books has been so far. They just take a while to get rolling. I’m interested in the series enough to continue with it, but am hoping that in book four she finds a way to do something a little more interesting at the beginning, so I can get wrapped up in the story right away.
