Just finished #4.

Post #34,557 by Ashton 4/6/02 12:56:42 AM Reply	Just finished #4. Agree with all your points. Magically too (!) she writes as interestingly for adults as for children; there's enough er silliness for the rilly young, then utterly authentic school one-upmanship sub-plots to seamlessly cover the older kids too. Suspense as Hitchcock would applaud. But what I was most pleased to note is.. she is using her now worldwide bully pulpit to Educate! More than clever, the words she puts (in esp. Dumbledore's) mouth at crucial moments are as good as a parable or a Sufi saying - yet coming not even close-to sounding preachy. She is distilling some Gems of Wisdom for the little tykes / and any older tykes who have forgotten. And {Cackle} kids will recognize the title-besotted, egotistical fools like Fudge - whose insouciance sets the scene for the coming battle with the best-armed opponent ever. Surely Middle-Earthian calibre, even if the philosophical details may be more muted, less discussed? in HP. I simply can't imagine a parent (or a Church?) who could take offense at the ethical messages played out. Particularly stunning was, I thought - where Harry might well have killed.. Wormtail (nee Scabbers-the-rat) in the deserted house in the village. Given the plot and the significance of this character's Evil behavior affecting HP personally - no one would have considered the "ridding of this scourge" other than a Good Thing for all concerned. But he didn't, and with no sub-rosa ratiocinations or other foolish efforts to 'explain' what appeared to be either something of mercy or about an absolute reluctance to kill at all (see? we Don't Know.. nor does it matter that we don't). I deem this to be as Large a Universe as Middle Earth. The problems to be solved are, as with all good fiction, perfectly transplantable into our tawdry daily lives (or at least motorcycle weekends..). As you observed, they are quite different, as are the authors' styles and storytelling devices. And as always: it IS about the "world of duality" as must-be, ever to be believable. 'Good' is meaningless without unGood / Evil (or Microsloth). Sacrifice is meaningless if.. there's even a hint of self-gain in the action or expected approval. Now Nice that - at least 3 more shall appear. She should be prevented from riding in Pintos, VW- old-Beetles or ANY UAV: for life. (Were I elected dictator). Also * * * * ²/₃ When's #5? Huh? huh? when... A Rowling Fan, Now.
Post #34,558 by static 4/6/02 1:15:19 AM Reply	I had to re-read my original post! Last things first: book #5 is due out in June or July this year. IIRC, it's called HP & The Order Of The Phoenix. Re continuity and fore-shadowing: there are numerous elements setup but never touched for several books. It is a tribute to the effort Rowling has put into the world design that enables this to not only happen, but for it to be seamless. I cannot pick what incidental things are in the existing 4 books that will turn out to have set the stage for book 5! You also reminded me of something most curious. Before I had read the books or even seen the movie trailer, I heard a friend of mine at church talk briefly about them. Although I agreed with most of her comments, the one that struck me as a bit "What did you say?!" was that the later books contained more detail about the magic. Er, no, they don't. Not really. Rowling plays with popular mythology well - down to potion ingredients and spell components - but kids are not in danger of trying to use them to do "real magic". And if adults wanted to try, reading HP is definitly the wrong place. (How do I know? Call it research. :-) Wade. "All around me are nothing but fakes Come with me on the biggest fake of all!"
Post #34,560 by Ashton 4/6/02 1:59:09 AM Reply	Magic research results:__ the empty set. Despite the many pins in the Billy Doll, his surliness is undiminished despite what must be, many patches of extra-sensory arthritis? (and that's from just One pin-inserter). Now whether my ersatz defenestrator can suck the bugs out of the authors of XP-J The Jerk's Edition.. remains next project. or perhaps insert some Interesting new scaly-clawed ones, into the pineal gland. Ashton Bumbledore physics or meta- use what Works PS - as someone mentioned to me, Rowling wrote this-all (?) at a local coffee shop, while living on 'welfare' pittance. It seems clear that she has mapped out the entire saga. I can imagine (at home) some humongous chalk-board with circles, arrows and scribbled plot notes. It just has to have been conceived as a whole, before the first \ufffd was begun in final prose. I heard also - that the accommodating Shoppe has received some Welfare from the well-earned windfall. :-) Well, ya can't write about altruism well, unless you know how to practise it.. Neat lady. (Real Justice would be: that as Billy's fortune sags \\ Her's passes.. / the little twit's!)
Post #34,580 by a6l6e6x 4/6/02 11:09:34 AM Reply	Re: Despite the many pins... according to Jay Leno, a possibly questionable source, Billy is anticipating his third child, a daughter. Jay's comment was he wondered if Billy said to his wife "We'll have to watch our spending now, maybe try to get another 20,000 miles out of the Hyundai.". :) Alex "Never express yourself more clearly than you think." -- Neils Bohr (1885-1962)
Post #34,597 by Ashton 4/6/02 4:55:08 PM Reply	When ya gots all the money - what's left 'sides procreation? (I mean, of course - in the mercantile miniscule-view of the world)

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