Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, by J.K. Rowling
WARNING: Possible Spoilers Ahead! Proceed at your own risk.
OK, I stayed up until after midnight last night to finish this, and I
went away well-satisfied. It was great–the best Potter yet. Jane’s
reading it now, and it’s taking her far longer to get up than usual.
The kids are too young to care, and of course are completely oblivious to
the whole thing.
For once I have to disagree with Ian Hamet. In my review
of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I said that I was
dissatisfied with the character development in book; in his comment on
that review, he said I’d probably be similarly dissatisfied with this one.
Not so! All of the major characters do a certain amount of growing, there
are many more minor characters, and we get a much better sense of them.
I was especially impressed with yinny Weasely and Neville Longbottom.
As Deb said, the kids are finally beginning to act like teenagers, as we
see with Harry and Cho Chang. But not only are the hormones raging, they
are also beginning to take responsibility–the establishment of
Dumbledore’s Army is a case in point, and a juicy one.
And then there’s Professor Umbridge–what a delightfully evil creation
she is. Not for her the deed grandiose; instead, she’s a master of
bureaucratic evil, of the death of a thousand cuts. Rowling understands
that evil can be most effective when it is small, stupid, and just plain
mean, especially when it is cloaked with righteousness and respectability.
I’m thinking of Professor Umbridge’s detention punishment: writing
sentences with a pen that painfully draws blood from the back of your
hand.
But Umbridge is not only arrogant, she’s also stupid. By alienating the
faculty as well as the student body she assures her downfall. And wasn’t
it delightful to watch Professor McGonagle give Peeves hints on the
proper way to unscrew a crystal chandelier from the ceiling?
Indeed, there were so many wonderful moments that I hesitate to list them all:
the organizational meeting for Dumbledore’s Army; the moment when
Dumbledore announces that he’s found a new Divination instructor; the way
the students and faculty of Hogwarts join forces against
Professor Umbridge; the battle at the Ministry of Magic; Malfoy’s final
comeuppance on the Hogwarts Express.
The one thing I disliked was the lack of any kind of redemption or
forgiveness for anybody. For example, Harry’s supposed to be
great-hearted; but he isn’t great-hearted enough to forgive Snape, even
after learning the root of Snape’s dislike. He’s unhappy at having his
image of his father darkened, but he has no sympathy for his father’s
victim. It’s likely that Snape would have rejected any advances of
friendship or reconciliation that Harry might have made…but I do think
Harry should have tried.
