Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. A book review.

 

Harry Potter and the philosopher’s stone is about a young boy living with his aunt, uncle, and their bully of a son as his parents were killed by a car accident when he was just a baby, or so he was told by his aunt and uncle. The Dursleys (his uncle and aunt) did not provide him with any sort of joy or comfort growing up, he spends most time sleeping in a spider ridden cupboard and was given everything their son Dudley broke or had enough of. Further, Harry was frowned upon on everything he did and the strange thing keeps happening around him like the disappearance of the glass frame that prevented the boa constrictor from slithering out in their visit to the zoo did not help either. But fortunately for him, things took a wizardly turn, as he was invited to have his wizard education in the biggest wizard school in existence. He went on to learn how wizards over thousands of years shielded themselves from being noticed by muggles (ordinary and non-magic people like his uncle Vernon and his family) and how his parents were killed by fighting the biggest lord of dark magic, Voldemort for protecting him and about the eventual defeat and disappearance of the said dark lord, Voldemort by him when he was just a baby for which he is famous all over the wizardry world. With his new-found knowledge, he now begins his journey, having a tremendous potential for magic which he was born with and the humility that he attained by living with the Dursleys.

 

What do I think?

This is the very first book in the infamous Harry Potter series which instantly shot through the roof among the English speaking world at its release in 1995 and over subsequent years, also the near-perfect adaptation into a movie in 2001 made the phenomena unavoidable irrespective of the boundaries of the language. The real-life story of the Joanne Rowling leading up to writing this book is as motivational as the story that the book unveils of the boy, unloved making his way to his destiny in a world filled with magic and hardship using his heart and compassion.

 

‘’ I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless. The fears that my parents had for me, and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.” 

-         J. K. Rowling (in her Harvard commencement speech)

 

She added,

 

“……..failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

 

 However great the following books might be of Potter, this one had a truly great story both in and out of the page in the binding, of both its protagonist and of the author who wrote him.

 

             Worldbuilding is one of the important aspects of the fantasy genre and Rowling’s concept of students going to a school to learn magic is pretty novel and a cool concept. Treading the path of perceiving wizardry as light-hearted and amusing rather than sinister and veil as seen in many literary works and through most, the human culture is well appreciated and since then many tried to emulate.

     

[   Note :

Joanne Rowling, better known by her initials J K, does not have a middle name, according to her birth certificate. The use of the author's initials instead of her full name was a marketing ploy designed to make her work acceptable to boys, who actively choose not to read books by women.]

 

     

   

 

 

 

                          

 

 

Forming spells and enchantments out of classical language such as Latin made them sound more dense and authentic rather than using gibberish for the spells (Thanks to her French and classical degree from the University of Exeter). Hermione Granger is the most entertaining character at least within these books as with her missy too good attitude and her prowess in the spells to back it up but flawed in the social skill as she became cringey and flat-out annoying at some times. Her arc from being a teacher’s pet with no real friends, also being most fixated on rules to breaking rules for friendship is my favorite part of the book. What is more impressive is that while doing all that she did not take away the spotlight from ‘Harry” who was still present as the Hero and was interesting in his own right.

     

[   Note:

Hermione Granger was Based on Rowling own self from her school days, as the author remembers herself as a book wormy little daughter of Anne, a science technician in the Chemistry department at Wyedean Comprehensive, where she herself went to school and Peter, an aircraft engineer at the Rolls Royce factory in Bristol.]

 

 

     

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bottom-line: 

“Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s stone” is an easily digestible read, with an immaculate world of magic ready to be explored, having the relatable backdrop of school life. 

 

 

              Works Cited

Rowling, J.K. “Text of J.k.Rowling’s speech.”  The Harvard gazette.  https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/ . Retrieved August 09, 2020.  

Savil, Richard. “Harry Potter and the mystery JK’s lost initial.” 

The Telegraph July 19, 2000.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1349288/Harry-Potter-and-the-mystery-of-J-Ks-lost-initial.html . Retrieved August 09, 2020.

“About J.K. Rowling.”  Jkrowling. https://www.jkrowling.com/about/ . Retrieved August 09, 2020.