HBP - Chapter 9 The Half Blood Prince

[cheeringcharm]

Chapter 9 - The Half Blood Prince or Harry's first day of classes, year six

There's no need to call me 'sir,' Professor." Ah, probably the best line of the series - definitely the highlight of this chapter. We are greeted with the requisite trip to the Great Hall for breakfast, Ron's bad table manners and McGonagall inexplicably setting schedules

Comments

Confunded Character Writing

[euterpe5]

Hmm, seems to me Ginny was commenting on the "extra" stuff written in the book.....

And
That's how I see it, actually. I just think that it's stupid to get upset over scribbled words, since publishing doesn't magically make what's written in a book safer or more valid.

Agreed. Which makes Ginny look like an airhead when you really stop to think about it since her venture into stupidity was to mess around with a book that could think for itself, not a used book that had someone else’s notes written in it. Duh. It’s not like the book is whispering things to Harry.

This whole character snit about a used book having someone else’s notes in it is not at all clever and it falls flat when you recall that Hermione herself wrote her own note on a page from a book in CoS.

And no, I don’t buy this all of a sudden stick-only-to-the-books Hermione, although JKR wants me to, since Hermione has been shown in five consecutive books to have the ability to not only remember large quantities of printed material, but to apply that knowledge to

Re: Confunded Character Writing

[annearchy]

We discussed yesterday about Rowling seeming to be rather tired of her world as if she is just going through the mechanics of somewhat familiar plotting elements without any enthusiasm although I must give her proper ‘snaps’ for the “you don’t have to call me sir, professor” line which was priceless.

My daughter just turned 9. She has listened to me read books 1-5 to her twice. She is having a terrible time listening to HBP. Several times she has said, "This is boring." Once she said, "I think JK Rowling is getting tired of writing Harry Potter."

out of the mouths of babes?? Who knows.

Re: Confunded Character Writing

[euterpe5]

My daughter just turned 9. She has listened to me read books 1-5 to her twice. She is having a terrible time listening to HBP. Several times she has said, "This is boring." Once she said, "I think JK Rowling is getting tired of writing Harry Potter."

These were almost my exact words after I'd finished the book after I said that the subplot read like bad, bad fanfiction. LOL

Nia

Re: Confunded Character Writing

[house_elf_44]

I agree with everything you said about Hermione. She had been adventurous, curious, and resourceful, and it made no sense that she didn't want to check out Harry's book. She would have been doing side-by-side comparisons in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom

Re: Confunded Character Writing

[euterpe5]

I'm not ready to believe she's that bad a writer.

I think that JKR is a wonderful storyteller. To be able to hold readers' focus on a school story that has the same basic setting year after year with all the variety and suspense she has created is really remarkable. But there is a difference, I think, in being able to tell a story and being able to write it all down so that the story unfolds with logical and consistent characters and themes that overarc the whole.

Writing such an incredibly long story with adult characters is not nearly as difficult as writing growing children, who must appear to mature over time. This is an exceptionally difficult task. That is why so few people attempt it and those who do, tend to not allow their children characters to really grow up. This story has engaged us all, but the writing of it, I think, will have to be judged when all the hoopla dies down. Then, and only then, when people are divested of their attachment to the characters, can honest analysis take place.

Nia

Re: Confunded Character Writing

[cadesama]

apply that knowledge to required tasks sometimes under pressure.

Application isn't innovation. The closest example to innovation I can find is Hermione's use of the Protean charm, which is actually adapting Voldemort's use back to the original, text-book use, as far as I can tell. Hermione may be bright, but she's a book learner, and always has been. I find HBP!Hermione's opinion on the Prince's book to be fully consistent with Hermione's tendency to be a stickler to the rules. More importantly, I think her primary source of ire is being outshone (and not needed by Harry), something that has never happened to her, and which I think is effecting her judgment on the Prince's book more than a little. And remember, Hermione was called the best student in their year only about an hour before Harry showed her up. I think that stung a lot. I don't think that this undermines the depiction of the character, however. I think that HBP is probably the book that confronts Hermione's insecurity head on, and that academic jealousy is a big

Re: Confunded Character Writing

[bastardsword]

Fully agreed.

I also felt that Hermione was fully consistent in this book -- if anything, she was finally going through the age-old teenage angstfest than Ron and Harry had already gone through. She's very late in maturing -- she's grown very slowly over the past few books. She's always been over-emotional, insecure, a stickler -- now, she's just in a foul mood all of the time because of her various insecurities (namely, about her intelligence and attractiveness -- aka Harry/HBP and Ron/Lavender plot lines) so all of those quantities show up more often.

Re: Confunded Character Writing

[cadesama]

and by-jingoes,

OMG, my brain just went to such a Scrubs place with that. I'm so twelve.