Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6) (Hardcover)
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Harry Potter mirrors our own dark world
Customer rating 5.0/5.0
July 20, 2005 By C. Vestal
21 out of 24 found this helpful
I've just finished reading the latest installment of the Harry Potter chronicles. My chest feels as though my heart has been torn out from the book's tragic ending as I sit here typing, hopelessly admiring the tactic Rowling used to achieve her greatest success to date in this much loved children's book series.
Children and adults who read this book alike will be left reeling in itsaftermath. As an adult I was first attracted to the Harry Potter series quite inadvertently. I had adamantly refused to read any ofthe three Harry Potter books published at the time until I was required to in college in my children's literature class. Almost instantly I was spellbound by Rowling's nostalgic narrative. Children of course (and quite a few adults as well) delighted in the fantasy and Harry's and friends' magical misadventures. However, I think much more alluring to adults is how Rowling's writing somehow manages to transport us in time to a much simpler, secure, and magical era inour own lives.
But in her latest achievement Rowling departed from her usual safe, magical, nostalgic atmosphere, instead embracing alltoo real themes prominent in the world at large. The opening chapter in her book portrays themuggle world hopelessly searchingfor answers to inexplicable acts of terrorism. In doing so, she has effectively raised the stakes in this book. No longer is it just the wizarding community in danger, but ours as well. It seems the ever present daily fear that magical characters live with is a very familiar echo of own terrorist fueled anxiety in this perilous new world we live in.
Gone is mystery obscuring Voldermort, who until this book, moved quietly(with a few notable exceptions) in the shadows of uncertainty and doubt. Every witch and wizard alive now knowsVoldermort is back and that they all are in "mortal peril". Potter and Dumbledore themselves take further steps to pierce the veil ofmystery that has always opaquedthis character. Acting very much like FBI profilers the two reconstruct recollections of Voldermort's past, uncovering thetruth about how a modest muggleborn Tom Riddle became the scourge of the wizarding world, with unimaginable consequences for both.
Perhaps the darkest (and most beautifully poignant) aspect of this novel is the way she strips Potter himself of callow illusions ofsafety. In the first book Potter's mother had imparted some magical shield to him through her death at Lord Voldermort's hands.Indeed all Potter had to do to vanquish the Voldermort specter was touch him. Even when Voldermert was resurrected in the flesh in later books, Potter still had layers of protection consisting of members of the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore himself. But in this book every ounce of protection once had, whether real or imagined, is stolen from him, in one fateful moment atop Hogwort's castle. The ultimate irony of this scene is that it is Dumbledore's trusting optimism, inwhich Potter found some sort of emotional respite in earlier books,which tragically leaves Potter very much alone. By the end of this emotional epic Potter has become a man, abandoning all desperate hopes of shirking his final confrontation with his arch nemesis and accepts his destiny with ironclad determination. For adults, Rowling has successfully tapped into our own memory of whatever tragedy or trauma caused us to cease to believe in magic and forget childish illusions of security in our own lives.
This is not to say that the book is completing lacking in humor or the lighthearted moments we have come to expect from Rowling's writing, this book seems to be an effective amalgam of both. From family squabbles over Christmas dinner to hormonal teenagers taking lusty refuge in each other's arms in darkened classrooms or abandoned hallwaysthis book had more than enough comical highlights. Ron and Hermione in their mature(or lack of it) relationship provide a greatdeal of humor in this novel.
However great this story might be or how well it sets the stage for the final epic showdown, this book may not be for everyone. It seems that Rowling is writing for adults or at least the children (now teenagers) that read the first book in the series when it was originally published. The vocabulary that Rowling uses is quite extensive and one should beprepared to have a dictionary on hand to discern the full meaning out of certain passages. Furthermore, as the characters have grown up so too have the series themes matured. Our teenage protagonists are now involved with romantic rivalries, rebelliousness, and quite a bit of making out. As mentioned before the themes and mechanisms Rowling utilizes in her writing may be too mature for younger readers. While this book will surly present hours of enjoyable entertainment to adults, parents would be well advised to wait for the eager younger readers to bea bit older before presenting withthis wonderfully written all too real fantasy masterpiece.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Book 6)
Price: $16.47
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