Warning: there will be spoilers.
I very rarely read books reviews, I rather prefer to read the book and have my own opinion about it, and later I either choose to share that or not. Same thing happened with this latest “Harry Potter book”, but I did come across some especially disturbing “reviews”. People went as far as saying that Rowling should just go and die…what?… I only hope this was written by a poor adolescent soul plagued by hormonal changes, and not by someone who is from my generation.
Anyway.
I liked the book. It’s an enjoyable story. It’s a script for a play.
I can’t believe people are reviewing the book with one star and complaining that they were misled, that they thought this was a, you know, proper book. It says on every description of the book that it is a – script – for – a – play. One would assume that buying a book meant that these people can, in fact, read. Silly isn’t it?
The plot is set 19 years after Harry has left Horgwarts and fought Voldemort, and it starts precisely where the Deathly Hallows finished, platform 9 3/4, with Albus, Harry’s middle son, asking him what would happen if he was sorted into Slytherin.
The story revolves around the father-son relationship between Harry and Albus, and Scorpius and Draco. The two boys end up being best friends, despite all the animosity between their fathers, which honestly I think it’s one of those things that can perfectly happen in real life. After many struggles, including using Time-Turners to try modifying the past, fighting (!!!!HUGE SPOILER!!!!) Voldermort’s daughter and using Polyjuice potion to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic, we find that old enemies can become good friends, that we cannot alter the past no matter how bad it was, and that a father-son relationship can be mended, no matter what.
It’s true that I found some characters completely out of character; that I found gaps in the story; that I missed some characters; and that I missed, above all, the depth and breadth of the Harry Potter books.
It’s true that it’s very hard to imagine Draco Malfoy ending up being friends with Harry Potter, but it’s not impossible. We all have old relationships that may have had some animosity but after ten, fifteen years you just take it with a pinch of salt, forget about it, and even end up being friends; the gaps that I found in the story were easily filled in by me. The fact that the HP novels were so deep and well described/written gives us enough knowledge to fill in the missing pieces found in this story.
So, no, it isn’t perfect, and it’s definitely not a Harry Potter book, however, it’ll make a wonderful play!
Now what I’m really trying to get at: as soon as I immersed myself in this story, I felt a deep connection with all the characters, with Hogwarts itself; I felt like the teenage girl who’d spend hours reading a book under the covers with a flashlight, it felt like going back home. And even the father-son relationships felt incredibly close to my heart, because I am a parent now too, and I can perfectly understand all the reasons behind every actions and reactions. Reading the book was, for me, a revisit to the past, to a very very happy place, and as I finished the story, I realized that I could now stop wondering what is going to happen next – almost like giving me closure.
The Magic world is safe, Harry, Ron and Hermione are happy, and so am I.
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