« Fortune of the Day | Main | Cowboy »

July 18, 2005

What is wrong with Harry Potter?

Well I have been challenged about my earlier comment:

I have to say that the quality of the writing does not stack up against someone like Pratchett
and so I now need to explain myself :-)

My theory of a decent read is that I require some internal consistency. In fact, without that, I walk away from a book feeling somehow cheated.... It is fine to have some big alteration to normality as long as the rest of the story remains true to itself. Think about something like 1632 by Eric Flint. The underlying premise of the Assiti shards is far fetched BUT once you allow them, the story flows and is internally consistent (and a great read). The same rule fits the Diskworld (Pratchett) - once you accept the idea of a world on the back of a turtle with its associated physical differences, the stories are consistent. More recently, consider Alien Attitudes (which is a multi-part young adults story just like Harry Potter) - the story stems around an extremely fit young person and her adventures in space which are internally true to themselves.
So what about Harry Potter? The "big" assumption is a parallel world based around magic. No bigger in terms of stretching the fabric of reality than a flying space turtle. The problem is that internally the books are inconsistent. Remember it is OK to have the "big" assumption but when you have to wave away the inconsistencies by saying "magic" as well then there is a problem in the writing.
How about an example? How many kids go to Hogwarts? How many are in Harry's house (Gryffindor)? How many of these are boys? Maybe we can work backwards. We know for sure that there are at least four more in the same year as Harry: Dean, Neville, Ron and Seamus. The five boys share a bedroom. Given that students will stay (normally) for six or seven years, we could guess at a minimum of say 30 plus boys and a similar number of girls. Where do the other 25 boys sleep? The texts quite clearly describe the two staircases - one for boys and one for girls. The boys go up the stairs and there is a room with five beds. Where do the other boys go? Small but annoying inconsistency (which was carried over into the movie). Now, the 60 children (boys and girls) in the same house all share one common room. How big is it? We never hear of more than enough chairs and tables for a dozen people - where is the rest of the house hanging about. Maybe that is just magic? Magically each boy gets a different room when they go up the stairs? Maybe the common room expands as required (like the inside of the car or the tents at the World Cup).
If this was written by Pratchett, there would be an explanation of why this was consistent with the underlying rules of the fantasy world. With Harry Potter, you need to make it up as you go along.
OK. How about a bigger example. Dumbledore. The greatest wizard of all-time. The only one who can stop you-know-who. The greatest headmaster the school has ever known. Really? Why does he allow Snape to teach at the school when he is clearly unfit for the job. Snape is biased and unfair in his classes and yet he is never brought into line. Why does he leave for London at the drop of a hat (leaving Harry on his own) when he could confirm the problem or deal with it from the school.
More? How about a double problem - the "secret chamber" - so secret that it can't be found by the greatest headmaster ever known but it can be discovered by a teenager? And why did Tom Riddle stop using the basilisk? Sure Hagrid had got in trouble but Tom wanted power and there was no reason to give up just because Hagrid was expelled.
Does this mean that I won't get book 6? No. I will get it and read it. Even though I know who will die near the end of the book. The point is, I will read it and still feel cheated. It is interesting and I would like to know what happens to the characters ... but unlike Pratchett, I don't think you could fairly accuse Rowling of literature.

Posted by Ozguru at July 18, 2005 06:30 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://mu.nu/mt/mt-tb.cgi/2352

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference What is wrong with Harry Potter?:

» Thunderous applause from Down Under? from Read My Lips - the blog
Unbelievably, OzGuru, who has read both, compares my book to Harry Potter and infers my efforts are more read-worthy. I like his way of thinking. To update all of you who are eagerly awaiting the next installments of the Alien... [Read More]

Tracked on July 26, 2005 01:38 PM

Comments

Woohoo, thanks for the mention. I am hopeful my tome is, at the very least, an interesting and enjoyable read.

Posted by: Tig at July 26, 2005 07:25 AM

Tig, The pleasure was all mine. I had the fun of reading your book and then the fun of pointing out how much better written it was than Harry Potter :-)

Posted by: Ozguru at July 26, 2005 08:09 AM