A NEW Rowling review site. Can it be true?

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Hi, everyone! I hope this doesn't get flagged as spam: the folks at Ferretbrain posted a link to a tumblr called Reviewing Rowling. The reviews are a bit harsh - I truly don't think Rowling's grammar is that bad - but the reviewer talks sense about Harry's lack of normal affect and Petunia and Vernon's very normal and sympathetic desire to protect their son. Here's the link:

http://reviewingrowling.tumblr.com/

Comments

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

What makes you say that? I ask because I'm trying to get into doing the same sort of thing myself.

[snapes-witch.livejournal.com]

Truth be told I do enjoy Jo-bashing; I just didn't find it nearly as good or deep as what I've read here on deathtocapslocks and didn't bother to read beyond the first two chapters. I'm not too critical of the first book, except for that missing 24 hours; it was her first effort after all and a kid's book besides.

[oryx_leucoryx]

The other big one in PS was Dumbles insisting that Minerva (and others) refer to You-Know-Who by his real name 'Voldemort' when that wasn't his real name. Did Rowling only decide on the Tom Marvolo Riddle name later? Did she not realize the implication for Albus?

And small ones - Neville saying "but the family thought I was all-Muggle for ages." Did Rowling only come up with 'squib' when she wrote COS? The way it was written, some readers took it as an indication that he was a half-blood. Hermione's claim about Hogwarts being 'the best' and how pleased she was to be accepted there - this led many readers to believe there were other, less prestigious magical schools in Britain, and speculate who might go there. Ron not knowing about the Sorting.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

I think parts of it are interesting, but the focus on grammar is driving me away. The reviewer makes some good points about grammar/punctuation, but there are other points which aren't nearly as big a deal as she says, and I'm really not interested in that kind of critique even when it's correct.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

It doesn't exactly surprise me. I know the sorts of people who use that blog, and they're completely intolerant of writing styles other than the standardized stuff you learn in elementary and middle school. One or two of them have tried to make the case that all grammar that didn't follow a certain form was objectively wrong, which is patently untrue because famous novelists have been warping grammar rules since forever.

I remember trying to comment on the grammar in a sporking, but after awhile I was just "screw this, back to the plot."

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Nor am I, honestly! And I think the blogger is just wrong when she tries to distinguish between Conan Doyle retrofitting Sherlock Holmes's death and Rowling retrofitting various ideas in the Potter books. The blog as a whole does strike me as too harsh and too nitpicky - and I wouldn't want to have this person as my editor! But she does make a couple of good points about storytelling. She points out, for example, that the anti-muggle prejudice in the books is appalling, and makes it impossible for any sensible reader to get exercised about the anti-muggleborn prejudice that's supposed to be the pinnacle of evil. I so agree with this! She also points out, quite astutely, that Petunia and Vernon are normal in their responses to a very creepy situation. Yes, Terri pointed this out first, and more clearly, but it's good to know there's a stranger reviewing the books who sees these problems. And she says something I had not noticed in the first book. That is: Harry is special from the outset, and also strangely lacking in affect from the outset. Both these things make him a poor protagonist for a story of this sort.

So I thought those points were interesting, even though I can't agree with the blogger about everything. In particular, I think she's often wrong about grammar! She also comes across as a bit humorless. Still, I'd never seen Harry Potter contrasted with Luke Skywalker! IMO, that sort of thing makes the blog worth reading, opinionated and dry though it can be.

[lynn-waterfall.livejournal.com]

Oh, I do enjoy parts of it quite a bit. It's just that I teach composition, and reading the parts that are wrong about grammar/punctuation is... not relaxing for me.

Although it's kind of interesting to see what people *think* is wrong. I mean, I doubt that any of those ideas are unique to her.

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

Also with Petunia expecting Harry to control his magic - since in DH we see a young Lily obviously able to control her magic pre-Hogwarts, it makes Petunia's expecting Harry to do the same reasonable. Since Lily would be her frame of reference, Harry's denial wouldn't be believed.She would think he was just saying that to get out of trouble when he knew he did something wrong.

The "I don't know" response from children was the source of a Bill Cosby routine. His son comes home with a reverse Mohawk. The son's response on what happened - "I don't know". I remember Jeff Foxworthy doing a bit where his daughter blamed the dog for coloring on the wall.It is pretty normal thing for kids to do.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

Yes, I didn't pay as much attention to the grammatical criticisms, but I thought that the blogger has very good points about Draco and Harry’s first and second interaction, the absurdity of having Slytherin House if everyone there is supposed to be bad, and the implication of powerlessness when it comes to refusing to call Voldemort by his name.

Also, the concepts of “playing fair” and the Law of Conservation of Characters were very interesting to read about. I like mysteries myself, so I’ll keep those two concepts in mind when reading them. :)

/Still, I'd never seen Harry Potter contrasted with Luke Skywalker!/

Oh, I have, in a MAD Magazine parody where Harry is confronted by Luke and Cinderella, both of whom accuse of him of copying them.

[pearlette.livejournal.com]

Still, I'd never seen Harry Potter contrasted with Luke Skywalker!

Characters like Harry, Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins all belong to the same literary trope: the ordinary guy called to a higher destiny, who has to 'prove' himself (or herself) through various trials before they finally face their nemesis. It's a Jack the Giantkiller thing.

Personally, I'm not at all interested in finding the Dursleys sympathetic characters. They themselves belong to another literary trope, that of the Wicked Step-parent. It's like trying to find Miss Minchin in Frances Hodgson Burnett's Edwardian classic A Little Princess sympathetic. Miss Minchin is just a horrible abusive cow, period.

That's not to deny that Petunia is an interesting character, in massive amounts of denial. :) (Miss Minchin is a convincing villain, too.)

But to try and find her sympathetic is to take the HP books a bit too seriously, in my opinion. These are basically children's books which feature many traditional tropes.

I do love the basic Harry Potter Plot. Hilarious. :D

[mary-j-59.livejournal.com]

Hi, Pearlette! When you say, "Characters like Harry, Luke Skywalker and Frodo Baggins all belong to the same literary trope: the ordinary guy called to a higher destiny, who has to 'prove' himself (or herself) through various trials before they finally face their nemesis. It's a Jack the Giantkiller thing., I'd respond: Yes. Exactly. And the blogger knows this, too. That is the point of her critique: Harry is not ordinary. He is set apart from the outset - much more an Anakin Skywalker than a Luke. The trope only works if the character it involves is, on some level, an ordinary, sympathetic kid. Harry isn't.

As to the Dursleys, I'm the person who argued for years that Petunia, whatever her flaws (and they are many) was living her life in fear. Rowling is (I maintain) a good observer who is emotionally tone-deaf. What she clearly intends - the Miss Minchin/Roald Dahl type villain - is not what she actually shows. I don't like the Dursleys - who could like them? - but I do think Petunia, in particular, had a lot of untapped potential as a character. And the blogger is also right in pointing out that their reactions at the beginning of PS/SS are pretty normal. The Wizarding World is stalking them. The Wizarding World has done Petunia and her family nothing but harm in the past. They have two little boys to protect. Why wouldn't they be terrified?

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

I feel like the lack of humor in this is something of a difficult balance to strike in MST's. Because speaking as someone who's done MSTing myself, it's not always easy to keep MST's fun if you see something you don't like, and there's tradeoffs as to whether you want to focus more on fun or more on pointing out what's wrong. Too much emphasis on joking around, and you may go off on tangents and risk coming across as random; but too little focus on humor as opposed to listing problems and you risk coming off as too critical and a nitpicky brat. It's something I've been struggling with, and so far I've just been using my project stories' sensationalist aspects as a draw.