The Age Of Harry Potter Draws To A Close

guardian.co.uk:

When life and art get mixed up, the plot can be enthralling. Am I alone in finding something rather satisfying, from a crude narrative point of view, about JK Rowling firing her agent, Christopher Little, just days before the triumphant culmination of the Harry Potter saga, the world premiere of HP7?

Read the whole story: guardian.co.uk

Comments

[Max Shaw]

01:17 PM on 07/07/2011

Can only hope.

[thebigbike]

04:07 PM on 07/06/2011

From a slighlty different point of view about the HP books. I read the first two out loud - chapter by chapter over two school years to a group of 5th and 6th graders. The language IS more or less flat, but it IS read out loudable, especially the conversational sections. There is a lot of conversation with rarely more than 3 voices speaking and usually only two, which makes the situation easier to "act" and easier to follow when listened to, when you're a kid. Adults still might find the "wordsmithery" less than enthralling., even though the pace and adhesion of the story line is what's made it such a phenomenon. Personally I liked Pullman's "Dark Materials" trilogy better, but it in this bible belt it was not considered a wise political choice for a public school.

[murphthesurf3]

02:17 PM on 07/06/2011

'When the good fairy of fiction lays her magic wand on a newcomer she must bestow three blessings: in character, in story and in language. In Rowling's case, the good fairy was lavish in the first two benefactions, meagre in the third. Her prose is as flat and English as old beer. None of that has made a scrap of difference to the readers' responses which went from the obsessive to the delirious to the merely unhinged.'

Robert McCrum, Guardian UK

With nearly half a billion books sold, with record for theater ticket and vhs/dvd sales and a 1.5 billion dollar merchandising franchise, it is safe to say that the Age of Potter is not likely to draw to a close.

The books will be read and the films will be watched again and again from one generation to the next. After a brief lull, sales of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone are once again in the top 10 in book sales.

Harry's courage, Ron's loyalty, Hermione's wisdom will inspire again and again.

So let's give thanks for spell "lumos" which has emanated from the wands of our good friends at Hogwart's.

[Skyhawk]

01:36 PM on 07/06/2011

I think it's ending on a good note. The young fans have grown along with the actors and now it time to move on to other interests.