Book Reviews
Classic book review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
There's still every reason to be wild about Harry.
By Yvonne Zipp | July 19, 2009 edition
[The Monitor occasionally reprints material from its archives. This book review originally ran on July 18, 2005.] Raising a young hero can be a tricky business – even without the use of magic.
Many authors avoid fictional growing pains by either freezing their characters in time, à la Peter Pan or Alice, or shuffling them off stage when they get beyond that wide-eyed precocious stage, as C.S. Lewis did with the four young Pevensies.
(In fact, Lewis went so far as to punish Susan for growing up by denying her access to Narnia in “The Last Battle.”)
Frankly, creating believable teenagers in fiction is a tougher job than is usually acknowledged. Which is why it’s nice to see that Harry’s turning out so well in the sixth book of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
His (admittedly justifiable) sullen anger from “Order of the Phoenix” is gone, and in its place is a determination to enjoy life. As a result, the first half of the book offers a sense of lightness to balance the ominous doings to come. Savor the trip to the Weasley twins’ new prankster emporium, as well as the banter and the teenage crushes, because, as Rowling has indicated, the casualty list continues to rise, and Book 6 does not come equipped with a happy ending.
Actually, it doesn’t really end - the reader just runs out of pages. More than any of the previous books, “Half-Blood Prince” is a cliff-hanger, setting up the climactic showdown to come.
The first two-thirds of the novel focus mostly on life at Hogwarts. After the battle at the Ministry of Magic that ended “Order of the Phoenix,” Harry, Ron, and Hermione try to resume lives as ordinary teenage wizards, albeit amid heightened security and a seemingly never-ending series of tragic headlines in the Daily Prophet. (I won’t belabor the obvious parallels to life after 9/11.)
Except Harry can’t quite pull off “normal” anymore: It’s hard to focus on Quidditch when you’re convinced that there’s at least one Death Eater among the student body. And when the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is none other than Professor Snape.
In addition to his usual studies, Harry and Professor Dumbledore are trying to learn all they can about Voldemort’s personal history through Dumbledore’s Pensieve (a scrying pool that serves as a dandy flashback device).
The knowledge gained about the Dark Lord’s so-called immortality leads them on a quest for artifacts in which Voldemort has secreted pieces of his soul.
Throughout the novel, Rowling draws together plot threads she’s spun as far back as “The Chamber of Secrets,” and it’s exciting to see the tapestry taking shape.
Adult readers may find that she’s telegraphed a few of her moves too heavily (you can tell who’s not long for the world by Chapter 10), and the novel gets a little exposition-heavy in spots.
Also, there are so many characters now that a few old friends don’t get to do much but wave hello. (Personally, I can never get enough of Fred and George Weasley, and while some readers found Luna annoying, I plan to dedicate a shrine to her.)
But as always, Rowling excels at propelling the action forward, and her creativity is undiminished. Also, she raises some interesting questions about the perils of believing the best in others, and whether the possibility of redemption is always worth the cost.
And there’s a hint that the themes of trust and redemption may be developed further in Book 7, which, to my thinking anyway, would add a greater layer of nuance and complexity to some characters who could sorely use it.
Adults and teen readers can skip this paragraph, but parents of young Potter-maniacs, this means you: Several of the scenes are pretty tough going, and one of the characters killed is dearly loved.
Parents might find it helpful to read the book first and make sure that their young reader can handle the material. (They’ll also need to provide hugs at the end.)
• Yvonne Zipp is a freelance writer in Kalamazoo, Mich.
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Comments
2. Eileen | 07.19.09
I would hardly call that trash a classic. Books by Austen, Steinbeck, Eliot, Henry James, etc. are classics, but that foolish Harry Potter drivel? I don’t think so.
3. Lyn LeJeune | 07.19.09
THE WHITE ARMY
Out of New Orleans before the catastrophe that was made by a hurricane and, as Dante wrote, “of false gods who lied,” comes The White Army, part one in the New Orleans Trilogy. The White Army portrays New Orleans as Dante’s purgatory, a place where the sins of men are exposed for all to see, where redemption is close at hand but most often lost, where the mind, body, and soul are tested.
This world is revealed by the lives of two social workers, Hannah Dubois (white and nicknamed Scrimp) and Earlene Washington (African-American and nicknamed Pinch), who start their own business, Social Investigations, in order to solve the murders of ten foster children in New Orleans, Louisiana. The NOPD, the Catholic Church, and politicians have sidestepped clues that point to those who hold great power. As Hannah and Earlene find more and more evidence, they also know that they are dealing with a force that crosses into the realm of the spiritual. Earlene is murdered with a sword from the famous Cabildo but returns to join her ghostly friends in the Heavenly City. A ghost can certainly help investigations and The Parables of the Beatitudes gives us the world the ghost private detective. The murderers are part of a secret organization called the White Army (le Armee Blanc), centered in New Orleans, but rooted in Medieval Europe and the Children’s Crusades. Each clue leads to a beatitude and each chapter defines the novel: The Pure of Heart, The Persecuted, The Merciful, The Sorrowful, The Peacemakers, The Meek, The Poor in Spirit, and Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Justice. The White Army is thus a study of good and evil, and that act, the murder of innocent children, which encompasses all of the seven deadly sins. Who then can better perform acts of goodness and compassion than those who have suffered? Pinch and Scrimp- a ghost and a voodoo princess?
The work was critiqued by Mary Gordon and Kathryn Davis at the Skidmore Summer Writers Institute and was hailed as a work of fine writing, crossing from genre fiction to literature. Also, The Parable of the Beatitudes was a finalist in the 2001 William Faulkner Novel-in-Progress Competition (then titled The Foster Child Murders).
Book II in The New Orleans Trilogy, The Book Burners (shortly after the deluge) is almost completed, and book III, Almost Paradise (years after the deluge), is in outline form.
lynlejeune@cox.net
go to http://www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com to read the entire book!!!!!
4. Taylor J. Beisler | 07.19.09
Wow, nice review…Thanks for that!
God bless,
Taylor J. Beisler
http://www.taylorbeisler.com
http://www.eloquentbooks.com/ArintSaratir-WarriorsLight.html
5. rebecca | 07.19.09
I love harry potter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And all the movies that are fillmed!!!!
6. Jessie | 08.01.09
I love Harry Potter very much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I have buy all the DVD!!!!!!!!!!!
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1. lenona | 07.19.09
Many authors avoid fictional growing pains by either freezing their characters in time, à la Peter Pan or Alice, or shuffling them off stage when they get beyond that wide-eyed precocious stage, as C.S. Lewis did with the four young Pevensies.
(In fact, Lewis went so far as to punish Susan for growing up by denying her access to Narnia in “The Last Battle.”)
____________________
Oh please. Here we go again. (SPOILERS for “Last Battle” follow, though I’m sure others pointed this out in 2005.)
One: Digory and Polly are allowed to grow old gracefully, even though growing pains get skipped over, and we see them again in Narnia.
Two: Yes, the Pevensies don’t grow up - but that INCLUDES Susan, though she thinks otherwise! As Polly said: “I wish she WOULD grow up.” That is, Susan’s faults are the same whether by the standards of children or adults; she’s shallow, not too smart, vain, unimaginative, precociously condescending, and never quite a believer. I.e., contrary to what some readers infer, she has no real interest in adult relationships; her primary interest is preening before the mirror, which is how she plans to keep things for the rest of her life - unless the shock of finding out what happened to her family changes that.
And, in my opinion, aside from the foreshadowings regarding Susan’s unchanged character in “Prince Caspian,” Lewis was likely giving Susan, who was a negative stereotype of women from day one, a way to exit in style, since she was always useless compared to Lucy, contrary to the movie. There would have been no point in putting her on the train with the others and having her follow them. At least this way, Lewis admits that she WAS a useless stereotype.