The Order of the Phoenix Re-Read: Chapter 1

[slowfox]

Having boldly asserted that I'd kick off the re-read at 9pm this evening, I find that I've got to revise the schedule, because of work and cinema and dog-walking and stuff.

So, I'm posting this now, but in general chapter updates are going to be in the evenings from Monday onwards, generally some time around 9ish.


So, in this chapter we learn that Harry's been trapped at the Dursleys' for at least four weeks, and that we've missed his birthday.

Some hints of CAPSLOCK!Harry are evident in his confrontation with the Dursleys after he's cracked his head on the windowframe whilst attempting to listen to the evening news, and also with

In the past, his scar hurting had warned that Voldemort was getting stronger again, but now that Voldemort was back they would probably remind him that its regular irritation was only to be expected ... nothing to worry about ... old news ...

The injustice of it all welled up inside him so that he wanted to yell with fury.

This is, I think, a marked change to the Harry of the first four books, who, with hindsight, gets put into a lot of difficult situations, but comes out more or less unscathed each time. Also apparent in this chapter is the fact that he's not pleased with the idea that his so-called-best-mates are having lots of fun at the Burrow without him, and it pleases me that he doesn't immediately forgive them when they do all finally get together.

Some things stay the same, though, and I do like Harry's dry wit:

"Yes - yes, good point, Petunia! What were you doing under our window, boy?"

"Listening to the news," said Harry in a resigned voice.

His aunt and uncle exchanged looks of outrage.

"Listening to the news! Again?"

"Well, it changes every day, you see," said Harry.

and

"Not this brave at night, are you?" sneered Dudley.

"This is night, Diddykins. That's what we call it when it goes all dark like this."

Not that we know it at this point in the story, but we do get a hint as to what's coming up:

In the meantime, he had nothing to look forward to but another restless, disturbed night, because even when he escaped the nightmares about Cedric he had unsettling dreams about long dark corridors, all finishing in dead ends and locked doors, which he supposed had something to do with the trapped feeling he had when he was awake.

I had high hopes for the meaning of the moment where Harry casts Lumos without his wand and it works: I sort of assumed that this was some foreshadowing of wandless magic to come, but we seem to forget all about that as the story unfurls.

I do wonder how Mrs Figg knew there were two Dementors, since, being a Squib, she can't see them, and it seems she was out of sight for Prongs' defence.

Comments

[cesy]

The first thing I noticed on this is how she starts off in the middle of the series, on the first page, explaining too much for someone who's read the first four books (we know what Harry looks like by now), but not enough for someone who hasn't. Given the popularity of the first four books, she would have been somewhat justified in writing for people who had read at least some of the earlier books, or seen the films or something. Equally, many authors would put an explanation of the whole world at the beginning of every book in the series (e.g. Animorphs, Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, etc.). But J K Rowling does neither - we get an in-between worst of both worlds.

This time round, the CAPSLOCK is both still annoying, but I can see how it's kind of justified, at least from his point of view.

[slowfox]

The first thing I noticed on this is how she starts off in the middle of the series, on the first page, explaining too much for someone who's read the first four books (we know what Harry looks like by now), but not enough for someone who hasn't.

That's a good point - there has to be a point, surely, where there's too much backstory to try and bring new readers up to speed, and methinks we passed that with GoF.