"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (1998)


Another fantasy series that I’m rereading for the first time in years.  When I was young, I first started reading the books as a precursor to the movies, catching up on each one shortly before its film came out; it wasn’t until about halfway through that I started reading them upon release.  It’s fun to revisit and remember how charmingly this world comes together (a few spoilery references, if anyone still needs a spoiler alert for Harry Potter.)

11-year-old Harry Potter, a long-suffering orphan being “raised” by his horrific aunt and uncle who verbally abuse him, treat him like a slave, and frequently keep him in a closet (just your standard British kids’ book, right?) learns of his extraordinary inheritance.  His late parents were in fact a witch and a wizard killed in a wizarding war, and he himself is famous for surviving the last magical murder attempt by series Big Bad Lord Voldemort, who has since been optimistically presumed dead by the wizarding community at large.  Harry is spirited away to Hogwarts, a renowned school of magic, where he starts honing his craft, making friends, making enemies, becoming a wizard sports star, and, oh yeah, foiling an evil plot.

I recall not being overly impressed by The Sorcerer’s Stone back when I first read it.  To be fair, a lot of that was down to me wanting to resist the hype train that had been building for several years by then, and I’m sure I wanted to think myself “so above” a populist book like that (I was a literary hipster before I knew what that meant!)  However, reading it again, I am reminded of some of the points that made me side-eye the book as a kid.  Our intro to the wizarding world also gives us our intro into 1) Harry being the hero seemingly by fiat at times, just sort of falling into saving the day, and 2) Harry’s penchant for zeroing in on a particular suspect (usually a Slytherin) and very likely being wrong.  These things still bug me, but now that I have so many years of affection built up for this universe, they don’t really get in the way of my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

Because it really is an engaging read.  While the plot has its dubious beats, it’s put together well on the whole, and little tidbits of info that wind up being important later are mostly slipped in unobtrusively.  There’s also lot of fun comedy in the details, including among the monstrously-horrible Dursleys, and a host of eye-catching, memorable characters.  Kooky Dumbledore is terrific (there’s a great line where Ron comments that Dumbledore is crazy, and the narration points out how admiringly he says it,) and the trio is well-defined early on.  Even though Harry is obviously the big hero, I like that all three of them make important contributions to the story, both in terms of finding clues/figuring things out and being brave. 

What I like most, though, is probably the overall world-building.  I love the little things, like the asides about Ron (the pureblood) being just as confused about soccer as Dean (the Muggle-born) is about Quidditch.  From the textbook titles to the descriptions of Diagon Alley shops to the general flourishes around life at Hogwarts, there’s a lot to enjoy.  Returning to it now, I better understand why so many kids fell in love with these books, because they were really able to immerse themselves in the world it offers them.

Warnings

Violence, a little drinking/smoking, scary moments for kids, and thematic elements.

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