Hotter Than Kylie's Bottom! (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling)

Member Name: karenuk

Product:	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling
Date:	03/12/01 (151 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: excellent story, escapism, a wonderfully created world

Disadvantages: it's a kids' book - or is it??

Well, the Harry Potter phenomenon is well and truly established in the British Psyche. I wasn't a fan until I saw the film, but I loved it, so began to read the books.

I enjoyed the first book, but wondered what I'd think to the second one – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This was the first time I had read a book in this series without knowing what was going to happen! So, did it pass the test? Or was it just an over-hyped children’s’ book?

I’ll tell you what I thought of it in a minute – but the one problem I was having as a thirty-two year old reading a kids’ book was that I did worry it didn’t look right.

I mean, when I read a book, it goes all over the place with me and I’ll read it in a waiting room, on public transport, wherever I am. To be honest, I think I’d prefer people to see me reading Tolstoy than Rowling.

But earlier this week, that changed. First of all, a good friend of ours came over to see us. He’s well respected, a school governor, a parent, with a high ranking job in the NHS.

We were talking about the film and I mentioned I was reading the second book, instantly regretting this as soon as it’d come out of my mouth. I didn’t need to worry. I said “I’m on the second book”, he said “I’m on the fourth.”

Then on Tuesday, I was helping out on a school trip, an hour long coach journey to Wales with fifty noisy kids. So out came Potter. Suddenly, I was treated with new awe and respect from the little darlings – ‘Look! Miss is reading Harry Potter!’ This led us on to discussions about the characters, the film and the series of novels. Miss was IN!

So, that was one problem over, but intellectual snobbery can be conquered. However, was it worth it? Did I enjoy the book?

Well, YES, I LOVED IT!! I enjoyed it much more than the first book, proba
bly just because each page was a surprise on this one. I went into it knowing nothing, but expecting plenty. And – it delivered.

As you would expect, this book follows Harry Potter, our eponymous hero, through the second year of his studies at Hogwarts, the school for wizards. Once again, we have his wonderfully cheeky friend, Ron and the rather annoying Hermione. (A bonus in this book is that she spends quite a few pages unable to talk, hee hee!) Hagrid, Dumbledore, Malfoy and co. are there too, but with a few new faces joining them.

This time, we have a new teacher – the vain and conceited Gilderoy Lockhart, self-confessed slayer of monsters and successful published author. Another little Weasley has joined Hogwarts – Ginny. Then there is Colin Creevey, apparent founder member of the Harry Potter fan club.

Slightly more bizarrely, we also have a strange elf called Dobby, who punishes himself by pulling his ears and hitting his own head! (I think he needs to join a self-harming support group…)

The mandrakes are a brilliant invention too, look out for those. WARNING : Arachnophobics might not wish to read this book.

As we would expect, the school faces a huge danger and our hero needs to pull out all the stops to defeat it. I was expecting an almost carbon copy of the first book in this respect, but thankfully, it wasn’t the case.

This one managed to be different enough to enjoy wholeheartedly, but yes, there are similarities to The Philosopher’s Stone and yes, you can guess who the enemy is – but there are enough twists and turns to keep you wannabe detectives busy.

After a while, it didn’t seem like a children’s book. I found it held my attention throughout and despite my habit of having several books on the go at once, I kept being drawn back to this one and consequently, finished it in a few days.

It is definitely a page turner and as t
he chapters are pretty short, it means you are often tempted to read ‘just one more chapter’ until a hundred pages on, you realise it’s midnight and you’ve read half the book!

I’m trying to work out how J. K. Rowling has hit upon such a magical (pardon the pun) formula, but she has managed it. She has been compared to Roald Dahl, to Enid Blyton (especially the boarding school books such as Malory Towers) and to C. S. Lewis and yes, there are elements of all of these to be found.

Overall, it’s a well written adventure with young heroes and a heroine that most children can relate to and aspire to. It works within a fairly unrestricted boundary – the premise of magic meaning that Rowling can sprinkle her text with goblins, centaurs, unicorns, spells, dragons and illogically behaving objects.

This mix of realistic characters in a familiar setting (a school) but in a world of unrealistic and fantastic imaginary creations is surely the successful formula that enchants young and old alike.

Whatever your age, give this a chance, it’s well worth it – not to mention the respect you’ll get from children!

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