Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone

The fantasy of every kid………

The overwhelming wish in almost all dire situations…………

To have magical power of some kind or other, maybe to know the paper tomorrow or help out in a competition or with a girl, well here is a case of a young kid (obviously living a wretched life coz he’s the HERO) finding out that he’s got it and to cap it he’s a rather famous character. Here starts a journey of fascinated learning of a world totally new and beyond imagination.

Our hero is now at a school for learning to use magic and in his first few encounters is faced with a society divided into the ‘old faithful’ style GOOD & EVIL or the DARK side. True to tradition the dark side one and only one ultra powerful egocentric self centred etc etc chap at the head and the other ie good side has one that believes in love and similar things. Just a basic deviation the head of dark side is not stronger than his opponent and thus wants to avoid a direct confrontation.

Returning to main story, Harry Potter, a legend, the only one to survive and somewhat related to partially destroying the Leader of the dark side ‘Lord Voldemort’ as an infant, suddenly comes to know he’s a wizard and has got admission to the best school for learning magic, HOGWARTS, headed by the redoubtable Dumbuldore. He meets people from the wizarding fraternity and instantly chooses the sides he wants to be on, is naturally talented in Quidditch the most famous game for wizards. There he meets a few friends Ron & Hermione, not to mention the gentle half giant Hagrid who also happens to be a teacher of his. Other major characters include Snape another of his teachers who happens to loathe him and Quirell another professor who acts rather strangely.

Hogwarts happens to be guarding a philosopher’s stone which gives the elixir of life, which helps a person live forever. The Dark Lord obviously wants it and that’s why it is guarded. He however latches on to quirell’s body and forces him to steal the stone….but at the last moment our saviour Harry comes to the rescue with his friends and saves the day.

An oft told story but with a few differences that the hero is not an all conquering figure but one who has to fight off his inner emotions, he does not just sacrifices his feelings for the greater good ala superman but rather fights for himself as well fights his own emotions before reaching a decision. This was a major shift in how our hero were supposed to feel & this along with the fantasy & children’s angle helped the book become as famous as it did.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The most awaited book of millions of fans all over the world, finally released with much fanfare. Long queues snaking up outside bookstores hours before they even opened the shutters.. that is the power of Pottermania! So was the book worth the hype? Did it justify all the months of speculations? Well, the answer differs from one to another. Many are ecstatic, but many are disappointed too. What follows is my personal take on the book. I wont be giving out the actual plot and suspense as there may be those who havnt yet read it, but there will be a few things given out, so proceed at your own risk!

Well, to begin with, a month before the release, I had read a fan-written version of the Deathly Hallows, and I must admit, I almost believed that its the real one. Because the book was so gripping, so endearing and so well structured. The only thing missing was the answers to all those questions which formulated in our minds through books 1 to 6. What was Dumbledore's youth like? Why did Snape do what he did? What was Lily's and Petunia's childhood like? Why did Petunia hate the magical world? And these were the very questions Rowling has answered. And thats what makes the book so special. Its not just about the end of Voldemort, its not just about whether Harry lives or dies, but its also about answering all those smaller questions, like clarifying the fact that house-elves can disapparate and apparate where humans cant, a point which had me wondering as they have mentioned time and again that nobody can apparate within Hogwarts, but the elves kept doing it! The books about the history of people we took for granted. Its about people who wernt always the good and noble people they are in the present or wernt always mean and vicious as we assumed them to be, these people had another opposite facet too.. Which most of us would never have guessed. And that's where the genius of Rowling lies. In providing a structure, a logic, an end.. to everything that she has hitherto written. And although the quest for horcruxes wasnt too exciting, infact it was pretty frustrating when nothing really was happening, it seemed to drag on at those times, and although the destruction too of the Horcruxes wasnt too challenging, the final battle more than made up for it. The descriptions, the sheer narration where you can actually imagine each and every scene unfolding in front of your eyes, made the book well worth its Rs. 975/- price tag! However, she could have made the deaths of some lovable characters more painful. The emotion involved was far too less as compared to the beautiful way in which she portrayed Sirius & Dumbledore's deaths which had driven, me atleast, to tears. This time around, the deaths I felt, were too hurried up. It could be that because they happened right in the thick of the battle, they wernt as elaborate, but I would have expected more on the deaths of 2 characters atleast which were just brushed away. But the end more than makes up for it. No Im not talking about the Hindi-movie style epilogue, but the conversation between Harry and Dumbledore, which revealed all there was to know. And just for that 1 long conversation, this book far outperforms the previous ones. For those who have been reading Harry Potter, you obviously have to read this last one, but for those who all this has been gibberish, take my advice, read the series (you cannot substitute it with the movies mind you!), you will be a part of a make-believe world you never guessed you could ever care so much for.