Rowling did make a world of characters that is almost alive to many people, so props to her. If nothing else it is a literary phenomenon. I don't think they're the best books ever written but honestly, most popular books aren't.
For some reason, books like Twilight and Harry Potter just suck you in completely even though there are far superior books out there. It's a quality you can't really explain.
NO! JK Rowling presents excellent character development in this coming-of-age story, which is set in the quintessential battle of good versus evil! The story is told excellently, keeping the reader entirely engrossed and on the edge of their seat. The reader seems to become friends with these her realistic characters. The story shows the true importance of love, friendship, and sacrifice. The theme of love as the uniting and essential quality in all human beings is prevelant throughout the novels. Some people might think that they worsen as they progress because they fail to recognize the deeper and consequently darker themes which are essential to the later books. Harry Potter will most likely go down in history as one of the most important works of fiction in our time, both because of the cultural phenomenon it represents and because of the themes within it, which are a vital part of ever person's life.
I think what happened was not only did Harry and Hermoine and Ron grow up, but so did the rest of us. We out grew the threat of Voldemort's return as the Big Evil in the whole good versus evil war. We out grew the world of Hogwarts and the thrill of quidditch. We grew up and Rowling's novels didn't grow with us. Sad. Makes me want to be a kid again.
i dont think it's overrated; and i think that the books went from being children's books to being young adults books! honestly, the first few chapters of book 1 i cant even read anymore nowadays... the letters from no one and the hut on the rock and i dont know what, when starting with the fifth book, the first few chapters are really really good to read.
and on a language level they evolved too- 7 is much more difficult than 1 concerning vocab.
i dont think they can truly become classics; too many people see nothing but the hype in the story. however the main thing is that to judge a book because of certain things, i.e. no character development or whatever, is simply wrong because no matter how many interviews are given or interpretations written, you can never truly tell what the author's purpose was. for example, maybe the charactes didn't develop THAT much because of all the shock they had been through. who knows.
Always has been, and it still is. I don't know about the future, though.
What I'm not getting is that why is it so hard for people to accept what they like is overrated when it is. Most of the stuff that are popular are overrated, there will always be people who claim that something is the best thing since sliced bread or something, and of course, there are those who disagree and get looked down upon... Or something.
I agree that he shouldn't have called you retarded in any way, shape, or form. A learned man would also realize that attacking people to try and convert them to your beliefs is actually pushing them away from your views to hold on closely to their original views that you disagree with. I do, however, disagree that the books became a worldwide phenomenon after the fourth book. I'm guessing one of your reasons for saying that would be that Goblet of Fire had the first midnight release for any of the books (unless I'm mistaken and I don't think I am). In any case, the books had been gaining the momentum to becoming a phenomenon a while before Goblet of Fire.
Also, I don't think Rowling just 'cashed in'. She put a lot of hard work into the books and was doing very well financially as a result of them prior to the fourth book. Also, I don't agree at all that the series lost 'charm and magic' in the last three books. (Unless you mean in the sense that they were written much less for children and were targeted more towards adolescents). If anything they gained it with deep character development, more stunning mysteries, and a well-paced plot.
that's great.. then you find that tolkien invented his own languages for his books. amount of research? how much work does it actually take to grab some name or symbol from ancient mythology and put it into your book? you know what boggles my mind? the fact that everyone and their mom has read these books. i read them, yes, but only because EVERYONE swore by them. i have no idea what the appeal is, but the writing is average at best, and the so-called "character development" was actually just harry being a little bitch about everything. each of her books had more love triangle crap than actual plot. while we're on plot, let's just quickly mention that it sucked. ass. moist, sweaty ass.
detail and elements? delicate intricacies? if you want to see a true example of delicate intricacies, go read the song of ice and fire series by george r r martin. hell, the vampire chronicles by anne rice has more connecting elements than this crap.
btw, yes, harry potter is overrated. is the series as a whole a good read? yes, and i'd probably recommend them. do they live up to the hype? no. not by a long shot. is it good that it got non-readers to read? yes. is anything good that gets non-readers to read? no. i wouldn't want a non-reader to sit down and read mein kampf or the satanic bible.
"with the education around the world going straight into the shitter because of things like religious indoctrination..."
seriously? did you know that to get into college back when america was a "Christian" country, you had to be able to read and write latin? have you ever looked at the middle school texts from before, when we had just started out as a country, and were still very strong protestants? i'm not saying that everything that has happened because of religion is good, but one would be a fool to not recognize the benefits we've reaped. i'd have a much easier case arguing that the world is going to the shitter because of the move away from religion. it's actually a quite simple progression. stephen king puts it well when he says in the dark tower series:
"you doom yourselves, susannah. you seem positively bent on it, and the root is always the same: your faith fails you, and you replace it with rational thought. but there is no love in thought, nothing that lasts in deduction, only death in rationalism."
I agree. Rowling doesn't write iin styles like Victor Hugo or anything, but she is still a literary giant, in my opinion. THe fact that the central theme is good versus evil makes the Harry Potter series an instant classic.
Harry Potter is not overrated. They are excellently written books with a great storyline and characters. What people forget is that before the Harry Potter books there wasn't a large selection of fantasy books that where written for that particular age group. Because of the success of harry potter that section of the publishing industry has completely bloomed. Yes today there are many books that are equal perhaps in storyline ect. to Harry Potter but the only reason they got published is because of the success of HP. I agree that the movies, toys and other items that are begin sold because of harry potter are money grabbing ideas and totally are bogus but the books themselves are never called into question. Plus there are soooo many teenagers, kids and adults who, after reading harry potter started finding other classics like LOTR. It started a whole generation of readers. Sorry for the rant :) hope is wasn't to long.
I am going to get more abuse but I didn't see any 'character growth' in this series.Yeah, one day harry starts shouting at everyone for no particular reason.Is that called character development?
How can you be so right about Douglas Adams and so wrong about Rowling? Harry Potter is intended to be an intimate look at human nature and how people become who they become. It may have ended a little on the hokey side, but you can't deny the emotional journey that millions of people took with these characters, and it had elements of mystery and suspense that has not been matched by any other fantasy novel that I have read. So no it is not overrated. I hate how just because something is popular it becomes overrated or the author "sold out." While I am not one to follow the crowds just for the sake of it, I think that there is something to be sad about so many people genuinely enjoying a series. That something does not have the word overrated any where near it.
nope. they made me laugh, cry, go out at midnight to see movies/buy books, play with toy wands in hopes that I'd turn into hermione, etc. Even if nobody else liked them, I'd still consider them my favorites.
Rowling did make a world of characters that is almost alive to many people, so props to her. If nothing else it is a literary phenomenon. I don't think they're the best books ever written but honestly, most popular books aren't.
For some reason, books like Twilight and Harry Potter just suck you in completely even though there are far superior books out there. It's a quality you can't really explain.
Facebook User about 1 year agoNO! JK Rowling presents excellent character development in this coming-of-age story, which is set in the quintessential battle of good versus evil! The story is told excellently, keeping the reader entirely engrossed and on the edge of their seat. The reader seems to become friends with these her realistic characters. The story shows the true importance of love, friendship, and sacrifice. The theme of love as the uniting and essential quality in all human beings is prevelant throughout the novels. Some people might think that they worsen as they progress because they fail to recognize the deeper and consequently darker themes which are essential to the later books. Harry Potter will most likely go down in history as one of the most important works of fiction in our time, both because of the cultural phenomenon it represents and because of the themes within it, which are a vital part of ever person's life.
Tammie about 1 year agoNo, it's not overrated. I was into the books way before they were popular. They are all amazing books, and more than just children's books too.
Facebook User about 1 year agoI think what happened was not only did Harry and Hermoine and Ron grow up, but so did the rest of us. We out grew the threat of Voldemort's return as the Big Evil in the whole good versus evil war. We out grew the world of Hogwarts and the thrill of quidditch. We grew up and Rowling's novels didn't grow with us. Sad. Makes me want to be a kid again.
Ishta about 1 year agoi dont think it's overrated; and i think that the books went from being children's books to being young adults books! honestly, the first few chapters of book 1 i cant even read anymore nowadays... the letters from no one and the hut on the rock and i dont know what, when starting with the fifth book, the first few chapters are really really good to read.
Facebook User about 1 year agoand on a language level they evolved too- 7 is much more difficult than 1 concerning vocab.
i dont think they can truly become classics; too many people see nothing but the hype in the story. however the main thing is that to judge a book because of certain things, i.e. no character development or whatever, is simply wrong because no matter how many interviews are given or interpretations written, you can never truly tell what the author's purpose was. for example, maybe the charactes didn't develop THAT much because of all the shock they had been through. who knows.
Always has been, and it still is. I don't know about the future, though.
Glard Chia about 1 year agoWhat I'm not getting is that why is it so hard for people to accept what they like is overrated when it is. Most of the stuff that are popular are overrated, there will always be people who claim that something is the best thing since sliced bread or something, and of course, there are those who disagree and get looked down upon... Or something.
I agree that he shouldn't have called you retarded in any way, shape, or form. A learned man would also realize that attacking people to try and convert them to your beliefs is actually pushing them away from your views to hold on closely to their original views that you disagree with. I do, however, disagree that the books became a worldwide phenomenon after the fourth book. I'm guessing one of your reasons for saying that would be that Goblet of Fire had the first midnight release for any of the books (unless I'm mistaken and I don't think I am). In any case, the books had been gaining the momentum to becoming a phenomenon a while before Goblet of Fire.
Timothy about 1 year agoAlso, I don't think Rowling just 'cashed in'. She put a lot of hard work into the books and was doing very well financially as a result of them prior to the fourth book. Also, I don't agree at all that the series lost 'charm and magic' in the last three books. (Unless you mean in the sense that they were written much less for children and were targeted more towards adolescents). If anything they gained it with deep character development, more stunning mysteries, and a well-paced plot.
that's great.. then you find that tolkien invented his own languages for his books. amount of research? how much work does it actually take to grab some name or symbol from ancient mythology and put it into your book? you know what boggles my mind? the fact that everyone and their mom has read these books. i read them, yes, but only because EVERYONE swore by them. i have no idea what the appeal is, but the writing is average at best, and the so-called "character development" was actually just harry being a little bitch about everything. each of her books had more love triangle crap than actual plot. while we're on plot, let's just quickly mention that it sucked. ass. moist, sweaty ass.
David about 1 year agodetail and elements? delicate intricacies? if you want to see a true example of delicate intricacies, go read the song of ice and fire series by george r r martin. hell, the vampire chronicles by anne rice has more connecting elements than this crap.
btw, yes, harry potter is overrated. is the series as a whole a good read? yes, and i'd probably recommend them. do they live up to the hype? no. not by a long shot. is it good that it got non-readers to read? yes. is anything good that gets non-readers to read? no. i wouldn't want a non-reader to sit down and read mein kampf or the satanic bible.
David about 1 year ago"with the education around the world going straight into the shitter because of things like religious indoctrination..."
seriously? did you know that to get into college back when america was a "Christian" country, you had to be able to read and write latin? have you ever looked at the middle school texts from before, when we had just started out as a country, and were still very strong protestants? i'm not saying that everything that has happened because of religion is good, but one would be a fool to not recognize the benefits we've reaped. i'd have a much easier case arguing that the world is going to the shitter because of the move away from religion. it's actually a quite simple progression. stephen king puts it well when he says in the dark tower series:
"you doom yourselves, susannah. you seem positively bent on it, and the root is always the same: your faith fails you, and you replace it with rational thought. but there is no love in thought, nothing that lasts in deduction, only death in rationalism."
David about 1 year agoI agree. Rowling doesn't write iin styles like Victor Hugo or anything, but she is still a literary giant, in my opinion. THe fact that the central theme is good versus evil makes the Harry Potter series an instant classic.
Erica about 1 year agoso so so not overrated
Athenna about 1 year agoHarry Potter is not overrated. They are excellently written books with a great storyline and characters. What people forget is that before the Harry Potter books there wasn't a large selection of fantasy books that where written for that particular age group. Because of the success of harry potter that section of the publishing industry has completely bloomed. Yes today there are many books that are equal perhaps in storyline ect. to Harry Potter but the only reason they got published is because of the success of HP. I agree that the movies, toys and other items that are begin sold because of harry potter are money grabbing ideas and totally are bogus but the books themselves are never called into question. Plus there are soooo many teenagers, kids and adults who, after reading harry potter started finding other classics like LOTR. It started a whole generation of readers. Sorry for the rant :) hope is wasn't to long.
Radha about 1 year agoI am going to get more abuse but I didn't see any 'character growth' in this series.Yeah, one day harry starts shouting at everyone for no particular reason.Is that called character development?
Anonymous User about 1 year agoThank you
Anonymous User about 1 year agoI am the person who started this topic.Now i have a facebook profile.So you can direct your thoughts here.thank you
Ajith Nair about 1 year agoHow can you be so right about Douglas Adams and so wrong about Rowling? Harry Potter is intended to be an intimate look at human nature and how people become who they become. It may have ended a little on the hokey side, but you can't deny the emotional journey that millions of people took with these characters, and it had elements of mystery and suspense that has not been matched by any other fantasy novel that I have read. So no it is not overrated. I hate how just because something is popular it becomes overrated or the author "sold out." While I am not one to follow the crowds just for the sake of it, I think that there is something to be sad about so many people genuinely enjoying a series. That something does not have the word overrated any where near it.
Facebook User about 1 year agonot at all! while i admit they have some issues they're really amazing books with enticing characters.
Andrea about 1 year agonope. they made me laugh, cry, go out at midnight to see movies/buy books, play with toy wands in hopes that I'd turn into hermione, etc. Even if nobody else liked them, I'd still consider them my favorites.
Caroline about 1 year ago