Literature?

2002-06-03 - 2:16 a.m.

So I am now reading Book Two in the Harry Potter series, the first book having been read about a year ago.

And let me say that while I think Ms. Rowling is a wonderful person, and I am glad of her success, please don't read the series expecting a literary masterpiece.

Yes, Pookie is right that it is an okay yarn, but you know what? I don't think the age of the target audience is a good excuse for simplistic writing, or for lazy cliches. Not that the books are rife with them, but they certainly don't make much of an attempt to avoid them.

I can understand having a story that wants telling, and the books aren't wretched...but they are over-hyped. Why can't they put this energy into promoting excellent fiction? Narnia? Madeleine L'Engle? Judy Bloom? Okay, that last one might need some explaining, but Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing spoke to me. It really did. And while SuperFudge wasn't quite up to that standards set by its prequel, it still had a certain gritty realism.

And I managed to debrief with two of my favouritist co-workers, so I'm not really as grumpy anymore as the last entry might suggest. Though his ass is grass tomorrow, boy howdy!

Cheers,

The Magus

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