Spreading the OotP love

[donnaimmaculata]

HBP is one week away, and I realised something: I am not worried about anything that might happen in the book. (I have quite reconciled with the idea of Remus' death.) But what makes me uneasy is the anticipation of the reactions in fandom. There will be hissy fits, there will be character bashing, and there will be outcries of "OMG! JKR is, like,

Comments

[titti]

is there anything you liked about OotP?

I don't have to read it anymore. *grins*

[donnaimmaculata]

Hee!

[teawithvoldy]

? did you eat it in frustration?

[titti]

I ended up reading the online version, and I've never opened the actual book which is saved in plastic covering, way at the back of my bookcase with a huge Harry on a broomstick resting on top of it. Wouldn't want to ruin the display now, would I? *g*

Eating it would have given me indigestion.

[fluffyllama]

OotP has become my favourite book, actually. While I love PoA, it's short and those first three books now feel like a completely different subset to me.

OotP gave us more Remus, more Sirius, it gave us James, it gave us so much info about Snape... and almost everyone gets a look in somewhere.

[donnaimmaculata]

PoA has good Remus bits, though *g*

But I totally see what you mean. While I've just finished re-reading PoA (well, the Remus bits) recently, I don't really read the first two books anymore.

Yes, the whole Sirius backstory is OotP's great asset. And Snape had some fantastic scenes, too. We finally got to know how spectacularly messed up they are.

[fluffyllama]

We finally got to know how spectacularly messed up they are.

Yes, they started to become real. I see a lot of people grumble about how it made them hate the Marauders, but I just don't get it. I love them for not being perfect.

[donnaimmaculata]

I know! But then again, I've never expected James to be perfect; Sirius was mad and dangerous in PoA already, and Remus - well, what I liked most about Remus in PoA was his cold-blooded willingness to kill Peter. The revelation in OotP didn't come as a shock, but more as a confirmation of their general fucked-upness.

[donnaimmaculata]

And you, too, like angry!Harry. I remember that much :-)

[chaletian]

Well, I liked George and Fred's campaign against Umbridge...

[donnaimmaculata]

Oh, I like how the Skiving Snackboxes were put to use after Fred and George left school. And their commission to Peeves.

[gmth]

Seconded. The twins ROCKED. So did McGonagall.

[isiscolo]

Yes, and yes!

[penknife]

I liked getting to see the way the Order members related to each other -- up until that point, we'd seen so little of the adults' relationships with other adults. I liked it that they were realistically frustrated and argumentative and afraid.

I liked getting a look at James and Sirius and Remus and Peter as teenagers, and the puncturing of the myth of "the sainted James Potter." I liked it that Sirius and Snape remember James so differently, and that they're both to some degree right.

I liked Harry getting angry, and Hermione starting to show a ruthless streak, and Ron being responsible as a prefect, and Neville being determined and stubborn. I liked seeing more hints at who these people will be as adults.

[donnaimmaculata]

I liked it that they were realistically frustrated and argumentative and afraid.

Oh yes. And that these feelings made them irrational and sniping at each other.

I liked it that Sirius and Snape remember James so differently, and that they're both to some degree right.

Yes, and that makes me wonder about the whole Pensieve thing. Obviously, if Sirius had put his memories into the Pensieve, we would have got a completely different account on what happened. It's the play with the perspectives which I find fascinating.

I heart Ron for taking his responsibility seriously, while still remaining such a boy ("Oy, midgets!") While I don't like Hermione as a person, I like how Rowling acknowledges her determination and ruthlessness a lot.