*** Warning: This review contains spoilers! ***
Ugh. This book really could have been a lot better. The writing was just as good as in previous books, but the story development was unsatisfying. I guess I was supposed to believe that Harry was just a typical teenager who didn't always think clearly or act rationally, but it was just so frustrating reading about his exploits while Hermione or Ron provided the voice of reason that he didn't heed. I didn't understand why Harry wouldn't tell Professor McGonagall about the corporal punishment that Umbridge was inflicting on him in detention. And why didn't Harry speak up earlier about what happened in the graveyard? He could have saved himself a lot of angst. Probably lots of people didn't believe him because he never spoke in detail about it, which could reasonably be interpreted as suspiciously defensive behavior. When Hermione led Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, I understand that something had to be done about Umbridge, but I can't help but feel that the centaurs and Grawp were all very ill-used! I can't believe that Harry, Hermione, AND Ron all forgot that Snape was in the Order, and why did J.K. Rowling introduce the two-way mirror in this book in this way!? UGH! That was worst part - if Harry had opened the mirror earlier, he would have had a simple and easy way to communicate with Sirius, and the whole Department of Mysteries fiasco could have been avoided, not to mention Sirius's death. If J.K. Rowling wanted to kill off Sirius, couldn't she have come up with a way to do it without making it all Harry's fault? Or was there some reason that she wanted readers to blame Harry?! Anyway, it also seemed to be a real shame that all those prophecies in the Department of Mysteries got destroyed. And lastly, I can understand why Dumbledore didn't want to tell Harry about the prophecy, but how hard would it have been for him to EXPLAIN why Harry needed Occlumency lessons?! Sigh.
On the bright side, this book did do a good job developing Ginny's character. Finally we see evidence that she was smart, funny, a good Quidditch player, and a powerful witch.
I have to agree that all those points are annoying in the book, but upon re-reading it this 2nd time, I found I really liked it! I think I was much more aware of stuff that I must've skimmed over last time...like even Dumbledore's ignoring of Harry, or Harry's angry-teen angst, which I think is his way to dealing with his grief, feeling alone, and I liked all the mention of the older generation a lot more this time around. Last time, I just glossed over those people and vaguely recognized names like Tonks and Kingsley. I think also I liked all the ways the staff vs Umbridge played out (McGonagall esp.).
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, it IS interesting how upon a second reading, I was able to better follow and enjoy the secondary characters like Tonks and Kingsley. I remember glossing over them the first time, too, and I totally could never even remember who Tonks was! But I ended up really liking her the second time I read the book.
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