Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
J.K. Rowling
I have this crazy ambition to read all of these books before book seven comes out on the 21st and I decided to begin at the beginning. It's very odd and very exhillirating to re-read the book that started it all. The familiarity of the book does make it quite difficult to evaluate on any sort of objective basis, and I think that I will abandon my usual efforts and simply heap my own critical praise onto this much-beloved book.
First things first: Rowling starts things off with a bang. Even a cursory glance at the first chapter title ("The Boy Who Lived") indicates that there are weighty matters at hand. The subject matter is dark enough to be interesting to mature readers but Rowling is clever enough to prevent things from becoming too awfully frightening. Reading the book, it is easy to forget that the world of Harry Potter exists only in Rowling's imagination and, therefore, ours. Her immaculate power of description radiates throughout the book, making everything believable and leaving nothing out. The book is riddled with clues regarding not only the end of Sorcerer's Stone but also the grand conclusion of the series. Rowling's world may not be as complex as Middle Earth, but it is as well thought out as Tolkien's universe and contains a similar power to entrance and delight.
The plot may be slightly predictable, but this might also be the fact that I've read the entire series thus far about two or three times (and this particular book in two languages). What emerges in the plot is an intricately woven conflict between good and evil with a few sharp surprises whose repercussions linger throughout the rest of the series. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone may be a basic story of good versus evil, but in the hallways of Hogwarts it is not always so simple to distinguish the two. This elegant and brilliantly thorough narrative is a delightful kick-off to a complex and captivating series, leaving plenty of questions to the tomes ahead but prodding the reader forward instead of leaving too many frustrating blank spaces. I'm so glad I decided to read all of the books again; this book makes for a wonderful afternoon.
Grade: A
J.K. Rowling
I have this crazy ambition to read all of these books before book seven comes out on the 21st and I decided to begin at the beginning. It's very odd and very exhillirating to re-read the book that started it all. The familiarity of the book does make it quite difficult to evaluate on any sort of objective basis, and I think that I will abandon my usual efforts and simply heap my own critical praise onto this much-beloved book.
First things first: Rowling starts things off with a bang. Even a cursory glance at the first chapter title ("The Boy Who Lived") indicates that there are weighty matters at hand. The subject matter is dark enough to be interesting to mature readers but Rowling is clever enough to prevent things from becoming too awfully frightening. Reading the book, it is easy to forget that the world of Harry Potter exists only in Rowling's imagination and, therefore, ours. Her immaculate power of description radiates throughout the book, making everything believable and leaving nothing out. The book is riddled with clues regarding not only the end of Sorcerer's Stone but also the grand conclusion of the series. Rowling's world may not be as complex as Middle Earth, but it is as well thought out as Tolkien's universe and contains a similar power to entrance and delight.
The plot may be slightly predictable, but this might also be the fact that I've read the entire series thus far about two or three times (and this particular book in two languages). What emerges in the plot is an intricately woven conflict between good and evil with a few sharp surprises whose repercussions linger throughout the rest of the series. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone may be a basic story of good versus evil, but in the hallways of Hogwarts it is not always so simple to distinguish the two. This elegant and brilliantly thorough narrative is a delightful kick-off to a complex and captivating series, leaving plenty of questions to the tomes ahead but prodding the reader forward instead of leaving too many frustrating blank spaces. I'm so glad I decided to read all of the books again; this book makes for a wonderful afternoon.
Grade: A
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