Dear Roger,
me next to you going "la la la la la"!
Thanks, Judy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roger Day" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 5:48 AM
Subject: Re: Horcruces, surely? (Amazon review of latest Harry Potter, no
serious spoilers)
roger covers ears with hands and goes "la la la la la" ad nauseum or
at least until this Harry thingie person goes away. Which, given his
over-exposure, must be any day soon.
On 7/18/05, Dominic Fox <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The latest Harry Potter is more tightly plotted than its predecessor,
> and manages to sustain its central intrigue all the way to the end.
> Even Snape's most decisively villainous act does not resolve the
> question of what his motivations are, or where his loyalties lie.
>
> We find out a great deal more about He Who Must Not Be Named, who
> increasingly resembles one of Pratchett's villains in his background
> and psychology. Pratchett tends to decide that his baddies are
> psychically mutilated beyond redemption, and in need of a good heroic
> finishing-off (by a hero who just *hates* violence, but does what he
> has to do). Voldemort I think has a different fate coming.
>
> There is a nicely handled sub-plot about who's snogging who that
> captures the emotional grubbiness of teenage sexual intrigue - hurtful
> things are said and done, largely for stupid and selfish reasons -
> without losing sympathy for any of the characters involved. The
> various clinches and collisions are described with an appropriate
> indelicacy, without committing anything unfilmable to print.
>
> In fact, the author seems confidently in control of her material
> throughout. There is some strong, and decidedly filmable, dialogue:
> deathly insults, snappy rejoinders. The satire of the grown-up world
> is witty, pertinent and not heavily laboured; the focus is, as before,
> on adult self-seeking and self-deception, as well as its victims
> (notably an unjustly imprisoned death-eater suspect). There is a plot
> device pinched from Red Dwarf; but it's a good one, and used in
> surprising ways. For all the occasional heaviness of tone - and the
> plot arcs inexorably towards terrible disaster - the book feels like
> it was fun to write. I look forward to my own children being old
> enough to read it.
>
> Dominic
> --
> "The purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas,
> obscure pure reasoning, and inhibit clarity.
> With a little practice, writing can be an
> intimidating and impenetrable fog!" - Calvin
>
--
http://www.badstep.net
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