Harry Potter reaction thread

[monolith94]

"Ah, you should. It's beautiful down there. Nice B&Bs too."

I'm more interested in T&A, and from what I know of the area, they only got a bunch of bird-watchers and ingrateful John-dumpers.

[Drake Tungsten]

Everyone from Beaubaxtons and the other one knew of him. They do seem to have an international community, a European one (and hence Viktors "global popularity"). I think one can assume that they wizard communities of Europe know well of each other (like Charlie studying dragons in transylvania).

It's a weird set-up Rowling has going. As you said, the wizarding community seems almost solely European, yet Rowling draws from cultures and mythology all over the globe for other aspects of the series. In HP 3, Prof. Lupin uses a kappa as one of the creatures in his defense against the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The kappa is a distinctly Japanese mythological creature. In HP 4, one of the dragons in the Triwizard Tournament is a Chinese Fireball. The creatures in HP are clearly international, so why not the wizards themselves?

[GePap]

Originally posted by monolith94


I'm more interested in T&A, and from what I know of the area, they only got a bunch of bird-watchers and ingrateful John-dumpers.

then come to NYC..we have a higher than usual percentage of the "beautiful people", and the women all decide to wear very skimpy, tight outfights when its hot... man, it can be frustratating even.

Do wizards wear skimpy clothes normally, when not in school? Robes are just so, so, loose and baggy.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Drake Tungsten
It's a weird set-up Rowling has going. As you said, the wizarding community seems almost solely European, yet Rowling draws from cultures and mythology all over the globe for other aspects of the series. In HP 3, Prof. Lupin uses a kappa as one of the creatures in his defense against the Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The kappa is a distinctly Japanese mythological creature. In HP 4, one of the dragons in the Triwizard Tournament is a Chinese Fireball. The creatures in HP are clearly international, so why not the wizards themselves?

Maybe Rowling pines for the Empire days...

probably a reaosn of scope. The story is more about a certain set of characters set withint a very well defined world, than say LoTR, which is about the world as much as the characters. You can't throw everythng in, or you get overload.

[Drake Tungsten]

Well, the question of national borders is not very well establised. Does each state have it's own ministry?

I believe so. It's clear that Muggle national boundaries are known and used by the magic community, as the Quidditch World Cup shows. There also seems to be a Ministry of Magic for each country, as Minister of Magic Fudge is accompanied by his Bulgarian counterpart to the World Cup.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Drake, it would probably make the story very, very convoluted if other countries were thrown in .

[GePap]

Seems highly inefficient, given the relative ease of travel (how do you run wizards immigration?), but I guess it is easier to make it so that try to set up some sort of Wizard political boundaries.

Hmm, wizard politics? The whole thing is run by technocrats and beaurocrats. I mean, who selects the high commisioners. An election seems unlikely, and given the relavite separation of wizards from Muggles, could a single ministry handle all thier issues?

It also brings up the question of how Muggle hisotry affects Wizards. we know Dumbbledorf defeated a "German" wizard in 1945, but I doiubt that will ever be more than just a passing reference for establish the character.

[Drake Tungsten]

probably a reaosn of scope. The story is more about a certain set of characters set withint a very well defined world, than say LoTR, which is about the world as much as the characters. You can't throw everythng in, or you get overload.

This is the most likely reason and I can't detract from Rowling's work because of it. I can certainly see how restricting the characters to a region and dialect that she knows well would make her task easier.

It's still a bit disappointing, however. Susan Cooper had a similar problem in her excellent "Dark Is Rising" series and managed to deal with it quite well. Every book in the series took place in Great Britain and all of the characters were British as well. Even so, Cooper managed to provide hints and glimpses of a wider international community that was aiding the heroes and focusing intently on the outcome of their struggle. It might not seem like a big addition, but it made the magical community in the "Dark Is Rising" seem that much more impressive. A global community of magic users combining their forces to fight evil makes for a great story.

[Imran Siddiqui]

It also brings up the question of how Muggle hisotry affects Wizards. we know Dumbbledorf defeated a "German" wizard in 1945, but I doiubt that will ever be more than just a passing reference for establish the character.

Yeah, I thought it wierd that Dumbledore beat Grindelwald (German sounding name) in 1945, but I don't think he brought the Nazis or anything . I wonder how that played into the events of the time though.

[Hot Mustard]

I imagined that the other schools involved in the Triwizard Cup were in France and Germany.

While there have been brief references to other locales (China, Bulgaria), I suspect Rowlings simply keeps herself confined to Britian because it is familiar and comfortable.

There's no need to start inventing an international scene, as it would undoubtably draw criticism for one reason or another.

[Jaguar]

I got the sense that Durmstrang is in Russia, dejon.

[Zkribbler]

It's now Thursday. My copy of Harry Potter finally arrived from Amazon.com today.

My reaction: It's about flippin' time!!!

[GePap]

Originally posted by Jaguar Warrior
I got the sense that Durmstrang is in Russia, dejon.

Sounds more like the Nordic north than Russia.

[SpencerH]

Obviously, Durmstrang is in Prussia

Funniest bits

Spoiler:

luna's hats for the quidditch matchs

Most serious bit

Spoiler:

The conflict between totalitarianism and freedom is OK but I liked the simplicity of the earlier books better. Umbridge is the quintessential Eichmannesc-Nazi-bureaucrat-nerd making sure that the trains to the death camps run on-time. She'll turn up again later

[monolith94]

I always thought that Durmstrang was in Scotland.

[FrustratedPoet]

/me has finally finished the book, thinks it is brilliant and runs back through this thread to read what people have been saying in the spoiler tags.

[FrustratedPoet]

And Durmstrang is clearly not in Scotland.

I had assumed it was in the Easten Europe/Russia area ... seeing as how all the students have Russian-sounding names and all.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yeah, Eastern Europeish. The kids have slavic sounding names, but the school's name is German. Also they all wear furs in their robes indicating that it is usually cold all the time where they are. So I'm guessing North Western Russia

[FrustratedPoet]

OK, this is gonna be a pretty long post. Spoiler tags in full operation of course.

Spoiler:

FWIW: I'm on Imran's side on the romance debate. There's no way that Harry and Luna will get together - I'm betting on Harry making a better job of his relationship with Cho next time around.

Funniest line in book (paraphrased): Hermione - "Hagrid's brother is 18-feet tall, likes to uproot trees and knows me ..... as Hermy". LOL

It's interesting that Hagrid was pretty much written out of this book: he barely had anything to do and his sub-plot was totally divorced from the main action. It's obvious, however, that JKR was setting things up for the next book, where presumably Grawp will feature more heavily. Otherwise, what was the point?

Likewise Luna in a way. She is a good character, interesting and great comic relief, although clearly with hidden depths. However, when they were on their way to the Ministry at the end I was kind of expecting her to get killed. It simply had too much of a "Star Trek Away Team" vibe, with her playing "The guy in a red jumper who you've never seen before" role. Thankfully that's not the way it happened, and it's also obvious that Luna will have a bigger role in the next 2 books.

Yes, TWO books Imran. I don't know if your remark earlier about there being three more books was a typo or not, but I'm afraid that since this is book 5 of 7 we'll only be getting two more. *tear*

I concur with everyone who says that the departure of the twins, and particularly Peeves' reaction to it, was great stuff and very touching.

Also, it was very interesting to know that, if things had worked out differently, Neville could have been the Chosen One and that it was only Voldemort's attempt to kill Harry that made him special. There had been plenty of hints in this area before, but it was great to get all the facts.

Dumbledore crying at the end almost brought a tear to me eye too. He's such a great character.

No doubt there's a ton more to talk about, but I'll leave it at that for the moment. I only finished it a couple of hours ago and my head is still buzzing.

I want more!!!

[monolith94]

Spoiler:

I'm happy that frustrated poet has finally finished the fifth book!

[FrustratedPoet]

Spoiler:

Thanks. :-) I almost quit my job and dumped my girlfriend this week because they were taking up too much valuable reading time! Thankfully, my normal life can now resume.

[monolith94]

Hahaha you're one person who has to learn restraint!

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by GePap

Quote:

Try driving a little.... no more than 30 miles from the trashheap called the city you should see massive farms and horses running in fields. Maybe you'll see the great cranberry, blueberry, and tomato yields New Jersey is famous for. Maybe you'll even see a farmer's market on the side of road. You'll definetly see plenty of stables and farms before you hit the Delaware River.

Wow, stables and farms...yup, that's what i want to see, farms...NOT! Ican get porduce from anywhere in the world here in NYC, the pick of the best of the entire wolrd. I don;lt have to wait for the mutated donkey hauling that cart to get to my house to deliver some local produce.
.

eeh gads, you like airplane tomatos? you can get produce from all over the world in most (all?) american metropolitan areas - for most types though, you'll find its still better buying local, in season. I think a rather large number of gourmet chefs would agree.

But really thinking of all of New Jersey as equivalent to the 'chemical coast" when you live less than an hour away reveals a certain, shall we say, provincialism??? I suppose you also think Manhattan is typical of New York State?

[Imran Siddiqui]

FP: Congrats on finishing! It's a great read isn't it? It's my favorite book. Part of it is because how different it is from the rest. It isn't constant action, but more of a building suspense.

Oh, and it was a typo

[FrustratedPoet]

Yeah, the people who describe this as being akin to Empire Strikes Back are right. There's a definite sense that a lot of groundwork is being laid for the future.

It's been my favourite book so far too, but I also think that it would be the worst one to read as standalone novel. I felt that all of the first 4 would work well if you read them in isolation - this one doesn't really have that IMHO. Of course, it was never meant to be read in isolation so that isn't a criticism - just an observation.

[monolith94]

I think it might be my favorite book too... Although I really need to reread it at a less furious pace, this next time around.

[Imran Siddiqui]

FP: I can imagine someone trying to read this book first and wondering what all these references were too .

[GePap]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
eeh gads, you like airplane tomatos? you can get produce from all over the world in most (all?) american metropolitan areas - for most types though, you'll find its still better buying local, in season. I think a rather large number of gourmet chefs would agree.

And for that I would go to Union Square Market, where many of the chefs of top restaurants in this city go to get fresh produce (perhaps een shipped in from the "chemical coast'.

But really thinking of all of New Jersey as equivalent to the 'chemical coast" when you live less than an hour away reveals a certain, shall we say, provincialism??? I suppose you also think Manhattan is typical of New York State?

Sorry, but:

I love Manhattan specifically becuase it is nothing like the rest of the very provincial state. NY upstate and bits of Jersey ad eastern Penn have some pretty stops, but to me they don;t compare to NYC, nor to natural beauty I have seen elsewhere. Those araes are neither exotic enough nor cosmopolitan enough (a nice bland middle). Ughh.

Spoiler:

As it turns out, Harry is a budding commie..just read the book!

[Imran Siddiqui]

[spoiler]
so the spoiler boxes have returned?
[/spolier]

It would help if you spelled 'spoiler' correctly

edit: And there you go .

[GePap]

I have regained the element of surprise!