Spoilers Ahead: Read with Caution
Hi all I'm back! What this? 3 chapter reviews in 2 days? Shock! What can I say? Harry Potter's kind of hard to put down and I'm hard pressed not to do all my chapter reviews in a steady stream all at once, that would be an interesting way to do it but it would be over really fast. I think I'm going to try to stick to one chapter a day or so when I can but you never know. Especially with how this one ends, it gives a lovely lead in for the next chapter doesn't it?
Summary:
This chapter starts, like most summer chapters do, during a normal day at the Dursley's. Dudley's practising for Smeltings by whacking alternately, his father, Harry, the table and Harry with his Smeltings Stick, (A kind of knobby can they carry around to whack each other with, it's supposed to be good practice for later life though personally I don't see it). Harry, come secondary school will not be attending Smeltings with Dudley but rather Stonewall High, the local comprehensive, of course, being an absolute Jerk, Dudley thinks this is very funny and takes to teasing Harry about it, leading to the following exchange between the cousins;
"They stuff people's heads down the toilet first day at Stonewall." Dudley told Harry "Want to come upstairs and practice?"
"No thanks," said Harry "The toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it, it might be sick."
And one of his pithiest lines is wasted on his whale of a cousin. This chapter is where you really (or I did) start to notice that Harry really is tremendously funny and witty and sarcastic and great in general. Another one of my favourite examples is his exchange with his aunt (she's dying some of Dudley's old things grey for his Stonewall uniform);
"What's this?" Asked Harry
"Your new uniform." Answered Aunt Petunia
"Oh...I didn't realize it had to be so wet..."
Anyway I digress, soon after these respective exchanges letters start arriving for Harry. Of course, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia brush them off, shred them in food mixers and even burn them just to prevent harry room getting them, But my Chapter review isn't called Minerva's persistence for nothing, once letters start arriving in such large quantities they overrun the house they run, and run and run, and end up on the Hut of the rock.
But there's someone at the door...
Commentary:
As I mentioned this may be the chapter in which Harry really comes into his wit and humour. I think that's one thing I missed about the movies is that in the books Harry really is tremendously funny but in the movies his best lines are cut.
I love this chapter, it may be one of my favourites, not only because of Minerva;s persistence that Harry Potter will get his Hogwarts letter and under no circumstances will those no account, good for nothing Muggles keep it from him. Remember she knows exactly what the Dursley's are like and I think she's having fun trying to figure out interesting ways to have them delivered and watching Vernon slowly go mad.
I think what bothers me about wizard logic in this chapter is that, every muggle raised or muggle born child gets a Hogwarts letter but there's is always accompanied by a teacher so they can explain things. If they had just sent a teacher (or a Hagrid, in this case) to deliver Harry's letter in the first place they might have avoided all that hassle and someone could have knocked some sense into the Dursley's earlier. As it is though I think Hagrid does a pretty good job knocking some sense into that oaf Vernon Dursley.
I think that concludes my review of Chapter 3, the next one will be up either later today (it now being the 25th of April) or tomorrow. Hopefully by Monday we'll have reached Chapter 5, I'll try and come up with a decent update schedule so it's not just an info dump.
No comments:
Post a Comment