The Order Of The Phoenix

[poliphilo]

When has there ever been a best-selling children's fantasy quite so long or quite so grim?

Harry Potter's schooldays are turning into a via crucis. 

Rowling's universe expands. The Ministry of Magic and Grimmauld House are wonderful. The Ministry makes me think of the Circumlocution Office in little Dorrit. Grimmauld House (inspired name) makes me think of Arthur Clennam's house- also in little Dorrit.

 In fact all the way through I was thinking of Little Dorrit. (Little Dorrit is my favourite novel). Mature Rowling is a lot like mature Dickens- lots of jokes but an unremittingly sombre vision of life.

Dolores Umbridge is so New Labour.

This is a very ambitious book. As inventive as ever, but with a deepening moral complexity.  

Will the movie be able to deal with the moral complexity? I doubt it.

Invention+moral complexity=literary greatness: discuss.

Oh, it's not perfect. Nothing so big could possibly be perfect. I didn't care as much about Sirius as I think I was supposed to. But I do care about Harry's anger. Harry's anger is wonderful. Rowling remembers what it  feels like to be 15.

And Luna Lovegood. Now there's a truly Dickensian creation. 

Comments

[manfalling.livejournal.com]

i love it that you're reading these, and even more that you're getting so much out of them. i wouldn't have read them and drawn parallels to abu ghraib or even the new labour term the way you do- but to hear your ideas about that- opens a whole new door on what a genius rowling is.

harry's anger constantly rocks. i suppose it's the peg the whole series is hung on. or one of several pegs that all come from the same kind of place- righteous anger, love, loss, all that makes him who he is and that will bring the 7 books full circle in the end.

order of phoenix is long and so complex. her plotting- especially in the absence of any big simple bad guy, like there were in at least books 1 and 2, just blows me away. i try to think back and remember what it's about, and even now when i read it recently what i come back with is not big plot strokes but characters- umbridge, the DA, ron and hermione, harry's anger and having to constantly chow it down. it's a mish-mash flow from one thing to the next, but she pulls it off.

maybe i'll check out this little dorritt of which you speak.

very keen to hear what you think of half-blood prince.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think OotP is the most accomplished of the novels.

I've nearly finished HBP. I'll reserve judgement until I finish, but right now I think she's marking time.