Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

The excellent, good and not so good in Harry Potter
By The Muggles
It’s been a traumatic three years. We’ve suffered endless agonies due to what seemed like J. K. Rowling’s callous disregard for our well being. Harry Potter should have entered his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft long years back in real time. But he didn’t. And his extended vacation from bookstores worldwide only ended on June 21, 2003.

Yippee, was the initial reaction. We’ve got to go and get a copy. There was the option of pre-ordering it but being the Muggles that we were, it seemed unnecessary. There was no way in which the copies could be sold out. How wrong we were. Not only were the copies allotted to Sri Lanka sold out by 12 noon, the incoming shipment was also sold out. We had three options.

Wait a month - Us Muggles are not patient creatures. Charter a flight to all countries where English was not the preferred language in the hope of finding it - We did not possess the adequate monetary resources for this, unfortunately.

The final option - Break the law and steal it. Even though we could have spent the long years in prison reading the book, this option did not seem feasible. We used our journalistic licence as a last resort. We would ask around and find out what happens, even though we did not want to know who dies. Was it good? Had J. K. lost her touch in making the unbelievable seem believable? Is Harry still the endearing wizard modern day society loves? Was Hermione still a Miss Goody Two Shoes? Had Ron lost any of any his freckles? What happens to Fred and George’s Joke Shop? What of ‘He who must not be named’ and his Death Eaters?

Senali (21) feels that the book was really good. “I think it really lived up to its expectations and once you started reading it was really hard to put it down. I think it’s extremely sad when Harry doesn’t get... CENSORED.” That was not the point of this interview.

“I thought the book was a bit too long,” says Shehan (16). “There were too many detailed descriptions at times when all I wanted was the story to go on. But it was definitely worth the rather long wait. She hasn’t lost her touch in the least.”
“It was very intense and scary,” said another 12-year-old Harry Potter fanatic who pestered her mother so much that she finally gave in and pre-ordered the book. “I thought Fred and George’s antics were brilliant.”

Her elder sister, aged 19, though deeply moved by the death in the book had some reservations, though, feeling that the book was not as gripping as the fourth, perhaps because J. K. Rowling was setting the stage for the exciting finale in the last two books.
“It brought tears to my eyes when... CENSORED died,” smiles Gayathri (14), actually telling us who dies and thereby spoiling it for us, much to her delight.

“Harry is all grown up,” was what Nayana (23) had to say. “He starts questioning everything like any teenager. Thus, though Harry is ‘supposedly’ all make believe, he is very much like any 15-year-old with a range of problems. I think that’s what’s appealing about this book especially.”

So what do older readers feel? “I loved the earlier books, but maybe because of the intense hype, I was a bit skeptical this time around. I was saddened by the death, because of what it signified to Harry and I guess that’s what convinced me in the end that J. K. was still a master storyteller. Harry still has the power to make us sad and you don’t find many contemporary books that touch us that way,” said Nalini, 32.

“I found the dialogue somewhat repetitive and the house cleaning bit dragged on for too long,” said Geetha, another mother, who has to deal with house cleaning on a regular basis. “It’s not my favourite Potter book, that’s definitely The Prisoner of Azkhaban, but I still couldn’t put it down.”
Out at lunch one day, we had to listen in on a conversation that took place nearby. (No, we were not eavesdropping.)

Grandmother: What’s that book you are reading child?
Grandson: (excitedly) Harry Potter’s new book!
Grandmother: When did you get it?
Grandson: I stood in line for two hours to get a copy yesterday!
Grandmother: What?

And so it goes on... (Why did we not do that?) Harry Potter and his escapades have taken over our seemingly rational new generation. We would not be surprised if the Sinhalese and Tamil copies rolled off the presses next month. (At least then we might be able to get hold of a copy.)

As for us (You must be wondering) we ended up getting double copies each. Let’s just put it down to being a bit over enthusiastic and placing orders at almost all of the bookstores in Colombo. But our quest has been achieved. And it was worth all the trouble. Now, wonder when the sixth book is expected? This time we are going to Be Prepared and Pre-Order.

Anything to add on Potter book 5? Write into:Your say on Potter, C/o The Mirror Magazine, The Sunday Times, P. O. Box 1136, and tell us what you think.

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