notes and observations on HP #2
Jun. 29th, 2007 02:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
salixbabylonI don't have very much to say about this book. It's always been my least favorite...
Things I Noted On This Reading
1) Reading it again, I see that Book #2 isn't a bad book, it's just the least-interesting, to me. Like OotP, it's very much a bridge-book, IMO. Despite plot points like the intro to Tom Riddle, it just doesn't grab me.
2) Draco = totally evil! (Is it wrong that I think that's cute?) But yes, even for someone just repeating Daddy's racist hatred, he's still an evil little boy, saying he hopes other students will die.
3) I do love some of the little asides in this book - things like the mandrakes hitting puberty and the Valentine's Day song where Harry's eyes are the color of fresh pickled toads. Hee!
4) Hermione is unusually assertive/pushy about the polyjuice potion and general resolution of the mystery. I don't think it fits with her character in the rest of the books, but it's certainly interesting.
5) Once again it's been weird to me to notice how different the pacing/emphasis is in the books versus the movies. The battle with the basilisk is barely over 1 page in the book! Likewise the spider-chase.
Mistakes/Loopholes/WTF Questions
1) I only had one as I was reading, which was "how the bloody fuck does Tom Riddle in a 50-year-old diary know about Harry Potter?" But Tom answered that question in the chamber, so nevermind.
Either I really fell down on the job of trying to read this one critically at all, or there's just not much there. What do you think?
Again - offer your own observations, comment on mine, answer my questions, argue, discuss, debate with each other!
Book #3 = werewolf love! Whoohooohoooo! :)
Things I Noted On This Reading
1) Reading it again, I see that Book #2 isn't a bad book, it's just the least-interesting, to me. Like OotP, it's very much a bridge-book, IMO. Despite plot points like the intro to Tom Riddle, it just doesn't grab me.
2) Draco = totally evil! (Is it wrong that I think that's cute?) But yes, even for someone just repeating Daddy's racist hatred, he's still an evil little boy, saying he hopes other students will die.
3) I do love some of the little asides in this book - things like the mandrakes hitting puberty and the Valentine's Day song where Harry's eyes are the color of fresh pickled toads. Hee!
4) Hermione is unusually assertive/pushy about the polyjuice potion and general resolution of the mystery. I don't think it fits with her character in the rest of the books, but it's certainly interesting.
5) Once again it's been weird to me to notice how different the pacing/emphasis is in the books versus the movies. The battle with the basilisk is barely over 1 page in the book! Likewise the spider-chase.
Mistakes/Loopholes/WTF Questions
1) I only had one as I was reading, which was "how the bloody fuck does Tom Riddle in a 50-year-old diary know about Harry Potter?" But Tom answered that question in the chamber, so nevermind.
Either I really fell down on the job of trying to read this one critically at all, or there's just not much there. What do you think?
Again - offer your own observations, comment on mine, answer my questions, argue, discuss, debate with each other!
Book #3 = werewolf love! Whoohooohoooo! :)
