Magic she wrote (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling)

Member Name: maz

Product:	Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J. K. Rowling
Date:	02/08/00 (7 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun, imaginative and easy to read.

Disadvantages: Rowling is no Peake - but then nor does she pretend to be.

Having read a number of more serious magic books - Richard Cavendish histories etc - recently, I'd been interested in seeing what the fuss was over Harry Potter for a while. Having worked in a publishing company for a number of years, moreover, I'm intrigued by new fads in publishing, and Harry Potter is a relatively unusual one. But with too many other books vying for my attention, it wasn't until a recent weekend, when I was struck down by a mysterious stomach bug, that I finally got round to reading one - this one, in fact. It was, for the most part, a pleasant surprise, although I won't be running out to buy the others. I won't go into the childrens book/adult book debate, as it seems pointless - although notably Bloomsbury, the publishers, have issued new editions of all the Harry Potter books with more adult-friendly covers, so that older fans don't have to be embarrassed to read them in public. So why all the fuss? Rowling writes classic stories with an enviable lightness of touch and never loses sight of the sense of wonder that makes all fantastic fiction work. As for reference points, start with Roald Dahl, throw in a fair amount of Mervyn Peake, especially Gormenghast, and mix with The Empire Strikes Back (the story's remarkably similar at times), and you'll be more than halfway there. The phenomenon of the books' popularity is also heartening - a youth-based fad with nary a trainer or pokemon card in sight, which should hopefully provide the groundwork for thousands of new, serious magic enthusiasts; and a new source of hysteria for Christians in the US, who claim that magic is the devil's work. Kiss the smoking hoof of Satan, book-burner.

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