Bridging the grump gap - a mother/daughter look at 'The Order of the Phoenix'
Written: Jul 01 '03 (Updated Jul 01 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great new characters and fleshing out of old characters
Cons: profanity; longer than it needed to be; Harry's attitude
The Bottom Line: Kids will likely enjoy this much more than their grumpy detail-oriented parents. Read the other books in the series first!
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| gracef's Full Review: J. K. Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the ... |
On Friday, June 20, 2003, my husband and daughter, and I joined over 1000 other excited folks at the local Barnes & Noble to await the release of the new book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Unlike most others, who were likely planning to snatch up the book, take it home and read it cover to cover before sunrise, my family was there for what we considered a rare experience that we could share.
That's what the Harry Potter series of books has been for us from the start. I started reading the series to my daughter when she was 5. Though she was, at the time, a little young compared to the target age for the series, my husband had heard the hype and bought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for us to try. My daughter loved it, so much so that she was quickly begging her father and I to read it and the other books in the series to her over and over again. By the time she was 6, she was reading the books herself (and to us as well). And now, at the age of 9 1/2, my daughter could hardly contain her enthusiasm over the coming of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Experiencing things with a child is very cool. It has a way of softening the cynicism that has been gained with age. So while a tiny part of me cringed at being sucked into the media hype surrounding the book's publication, I couldn't help enjoying the circus-like atmosphere that was the launch party. We had a terrific time, one that I've little doubt that she will relate with fondness to her own children someday.
My daughter has also changed my overall opinion of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. As with the other four books in the series, I read The Order of the Phoenix to her. And even though I found a number of faults with the book, thanks to her praise of what she calls "the good stuff", I have reached the conclusion that it might not be as bad as I originally thought.
Those not familiar with the Harry Potter series may as well stop reading this review here. Both my daughter and I agree that Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will be confusing if you haven't read the earlier books in the series. What's more, it will probably rob you of the enjoyment of them, since many aspects of the previous books are discussed throughout The Order of the Phoenix. Start instead with Harry Potter and the Scorcerer's Stone and work your way through the books until you get to this one. As I told someone recently, catching up won't be hard because it doesn't take much time for someone who enjoys fantasy to read the books. Even plodding readers like me can read the entire series fairly quickly.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix starts out in the summer before Harry is to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his fifth year. Some things are the same for Harry. His Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are still trying to ignore that the wizarding world exists. His cousin Dudley is still a fat bully. And Harry is once again feeling lonely. But it's worse than ever because this time, after seeing Voldemort's return at the end of the previous school year, he is worried about what is happening in the magical world without him.
Then the most unexpected thing happens. Two dementors show up and attack Harry and Dudley. Harry drives the dementors away with his patronus spell, but it leaves Harry scared, mystified, and in big trouble, since underage wizards are not to use magic in front of Muggles. His aunt and uncle are furious as well and once again lock Harry in his room. Soon, though, he is rescued by members of The Order of the Phoenix, a secret group that has been organized to prevent Voldemort from returning to full power.
When Harry returns to Hogwarts, he finds that a number of things have changed. Harry and his classmates must prepare for their Ordinary Wizarding Levels (OWL) exams amid the stresses of growing up. And Harry must figure out the secret behind recurring dreams.
I've been called a book grump for good reason. I can be pretty nitpicky with books, and as I read this book to my daughter, I kept adding to my mental list of reasons why Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix isn't great children's literature. First, profanity (quite a few damns and one "effing") is used much more frequently than I would have liked. I was happy that I was reading this book to my daughter the first time because I was able to edit out the obscenities. I know that profanity is common for children of Harry's age, but that doesn't mean that I want my child to read it.
The vocabulary in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was also pretty advanced. My daughter reads extremely well for her age (well past 7th grade level), but I still found myself pausing on occasion to translate for her. The book was written with a British audience in mind, with British slang intact. Many of these expressions are unfamiliar to American kids. But the author, J. K. Rowling also used a more difficult vocabulary for an aging reader base. This isn't necessarily bad; it's great that Rowling, does not assume that the readers are idiots. But it is important to understand that the youngest readers in the recommended 9 to 12 year age range will likely have some difficulty with the vocabulary. (Make sure they have a dictionary or a parent handy!)
I was really annoyed by the change in Harry's character. In previous books, he has been adventuresome and headstrong, but still caring about his friends. In The Order of the Phoenix, he is argumentative, rude, and self-centered. True, he is a teenager now, and he did go through a major trauma in the previous book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. But I can't help thinking back to the falling out that Ron and Harry had in The Goblet of Fire. Ron accused Harry of putting his own name in the Goblet of Fire because Harry always needed to be the center of attention. Harry adamently denied this and later proved to Ron and everyone else who shared that opinion that they were wrong. But in The Order of the Phoenix, Harry acts exactly like the person that Ron accused Harry of being in The Goblet of Fire. He repeatedly verbally abuses his friends, turns away from anyone who can help him, and in general acts like a jerk. The change was just too much for me, and I really wanted the old Harry back.
The biggest fault that I found is that Rowling occasionally seems to forget the rules to the world that she created in the previous books. In The Order of the Phoenix, Hermione continues her attempts to free the house elves. She knits hats for the elves and hides them around the Gryffindor common room so that the elves will find the clothing and thus become free. But this is contrary to the rules of house elves that have already been established in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. House elves are only set free when their master gives them clothing. Since Dumbledore is the head of the Hogwarts, he should be the only one who can free the Hogwarts house elves. Hermione is so intelligent that it's impossible for me to believe that she would forget this. In another part of the story, Dobby beats himself silly for giving Harry a information that he has gleaned from the teachers. Supposedly, this is because he is a servant of Hogwarts and is, therefore, bound to keep its secrets. But Dobby, being a free house elf, should be exempt from the restrictions that require the house elf to keep the master's secrets. If it was really not allowed, he would have behaved similarly when helping Harry in The Goblet of Fire, but he didn't.
Mistakes like this left me distracted throughout the book. What's worse is that these errors oftentimes led to stretching out of the storyline in areas where it really wasn't needed. In my opinion, the book would have been just fine without that nonsense.
The same could be said for many other elements from previous books that were thrown haphazzardly into The Order of the Phoenix. In a way, it was great to see some old faces again. But after a while, it was rather like walking into a house designed by someone who wanted to show off every single design technique that she has ever used. Sometimes, there is such a thing as "too much"! Rowling crossed that line several times, making the book much longer and more drawn out than it needed to be.
Still my daughter feels that there is much to be liked in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and after talking with her a bit, I'm forced to lay aside my grumpiness for a bit and agree. For one, the characters are better than ever! Part of the success is, I'm sure, due to the fact that Rowling has had four books worth of character development before The Order of the Phoenix. The Weasley twins (Fred and George) show that they are as brave and loyal as they are fun-loving. Ginny Weasley reveals more personality than ever before and actually starts to interact with Hermione and others students. Neville displays the heart of the Gryffindor lion after all. In addition, things that have been hinted at in previous books are explained and revealed in more detail in The Order of the Phoenix. (I don't think I'll ever look at Snape the same way again!)
The best thing about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is one of the most wonderfully detestable characters that I've seen in ages. Delores Umbridge is a new teacher at Hogwarts, and this woman gives nasty a whole new meaning. A woman who acts sugary sweet but who hides a heart that must be smaller than the Grinch's, she shakes things up at Hogwarts. Frequently during our reading of The Order of the Phoenix, my daughter growled with anger at the woman and her Hitler-esque antics.
How did my daughter feel about my nits? She thinks I'm bonkers! She didn't even catch on to the house elf debacle until near the end of the book. She loved seeing the old characters referenced because it tied this book to the old ones. And she wasn't bothered by Harry's attitude at all. Instead, she said, "Harry's a boy! Boys are supposed to be grumpy!"
At over 800 pages (US version), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is still a fast read. Even reading the book aloud, we finished it fairly quickly. My daughter is already ready to read the book again. (I told her that her father has hexed the book so that we can't read it again until he has read it, proving to her that her opinion of boys might not be wrong after all!) So instead, we're going back to the beginning and reading the whole series over again.
Our opinion on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is split. I give it 3 stars and think it's a book worth reading though not necessarily the book most worth reading. My daughter gives it 4 stars and says that it's good though not as great as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Since Epinions won't allow 3 1/2 stars and since the book is supposed to be targetted for children, I'll let her rating win.
Recommended:
Yes
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gracef
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Location: Lost in Texas
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