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tessalisette's review
0.75
Expectations: I don't know what I was expecting with this book or why on earth I picked it up to begin with. What possessed me to believe that it would be a good idea to read a book with "ESSAYS FOR FANS, ACADEMICS, AND LIT GEEKS" emblazoned on the cover? Maybe I have nothing to blame but my own stupidity for picking this up. I am in fact a fan but a low key one at that, seeing as the flame of my love for this series has steadily dwindled after a theme park, a play, and multiple additional movies were announced. I wouldn't venture to call myself an "academic" or at least not the type that would enjoy such a painfully dull and obvious book. And a lit geek? Uh... no not really.
And on top of all that, I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but come on. They literally just took a couple of bad resolution stock photos and stuck them together. Cringe worthy to say the least. But for some reason I still picked it up and I still suffered through it for OVER TWO YEARS (yes it took me over two years to get through this. looking back I should have just given up). So were my expectations met? If I could go back and ask myself from 2 years ago what I could have possibly expected this book could offer me, then I could answer that question.
Recommendation: I feel like this book will either drain all of the joy you got from reading Harry Potter out of you or make you appreciate the series so much more because you weren't falling asleep every other page while reading it. Okay, okay, maybe I'm not giving the purpose of this book enough credit. Yes, it is supposed to be for those select few fans that find pleasure in dissecting the literary purpose of every single sentence of every book they read and I don't believe I have to clarify that that is not me. I guess my point is, before reading this, take a good long look in the mirror and see if you fit that description, and if not, don't bother.
Writing Quality/Style: Considering there were over 10 writers contributing to this series of essays, there was a surprising amount of similarities between most of them. A majority simply seemed to state the obvious in hopes that their audience would be dumb enough to think they were brilliant. There seemed to be an abundant amount of stretchin' it going on and while some of the stuff appeared to be accurate, a lot of the analysis was just unnecessary and unlikely. That's what I hate most about literary analysis; why can't you just enjoy the story as it is without looking for some greater moral truth in every word? Yes, there were some brilliant and notable and purposeful allegories by J.K. Rowling, but most of this book was not talking about them.
And I mean I shouldn't be one to complain about professionalism seeing as I've used the word "stuff" multiple times in this review already BUT a lot of these essays seemed just as unprofessional as the front cover. All in all, I wasn't a fan.
Memorability: I must say, I did enjoy one of the essays from very early on in the book and that was "On Turtle-Back Tales and Asterisks" (the one on the chiastic structure) I believe. I don't remember everything about it from when I read it at the beginning of my bout with this book, but I remember the basic idea and find it to be very intriguing. Other than that though, nah. I couldn't even finish it.
Reread Value: Maybe just that one essay, but I could probably just look it up online if I really wanted to. So as for this copy of the book that I currently own, it's getting donated for sure.
Review: All I have left to say is that I've decided to leave my journey with the Harry Potter series where it is. Nothing can further my appreciation of the series beyond reading the books and watching the movies. In fact, every time I try to expand that list, I find myself more and more disappointed. I'm sure this book could really work for some people but I am not one of them, and I probably should have seen that coming if I'd really thought about it before diving in.
And on top of all that, I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but come on. They literally just took a couple of bad resolution stock photos and stuck them together. Cringe worthy to say the least. But for some reason I still picked it up and I still suffered through it for OVER TWO YEARS (yes it took me over two years to get through this. looking back I should have just given up). So were my expectations met? If I could go back and ask myself from 2 years ago what I could have possibly expected this book could offer me, then I could answer that question.
Recommendation: I feel like this book will either drain all of the joy you got from reading Harry Potter out of you or make you appreciate the series so much more because you weren't falling asleep every other page while reading it. Okay, okay, maybe I'm not giving the purpose of this book enough credit. Yes, it is supposed to be for those select few fans that find pleasure in dissecting the literary purpose of every single sentence of every book they read and I don't believe I have to clarify that that is not me. I guess my point is, before reading this, take a good long look in the mirror and see if you fit that description, and if not, don't bother.
Writing Quality/Style: Considering there were over 10 writers contributing to this series of essays, there was a surprising amount of similarities between most of them. A majority simply seemed to state the obvious in hopes that their audience would be dumb enough to think they were brilliant. There seemed to be an abundant amount of stretchin' it going on and while some of the stuff appeared to be accurate, a lot of the analysis was just unnecessary and unlikely. That's what I hate most about literary analysis; why can't you just enjoy the story as it is without looking for some greater moral truth in every word? Yes, there were some brilliant and notable and purposeful allegories by J.K. Rowling, but most of this book was not talking about them.
And I mean I shouldn't be one to complain about professionalism seeing as I've used the word "stuff" multiple times in this review already BUT a lot of these essays seemed just as unprofessional as the front cover. All in all, I wasn't a fan.
Memorability: I must say, I did enjoy one of the essays from very early on in the book and that was "On Turtle-Back Tales and Asterisks" (the one on the chiastic structure) I believe. I don't remember everything about it from when I read it at the beginning of my bout with this book, but I remember the basic idea and find it to be very intriguing. Other than that though, nah. I couldn't even finish it.
Reread Value: Maybe just that one essay, but I could probably just look it up online if I really wanted to. So as for this copy of the book that I currently own, it's getting donated for sure.
Review: All I have left to say is that I've decided to leave my journey with the Harry Potter series where it is. Nothing can further my appreciation of the series beyond reading the books and watching the movies. In fact, every time I try to expand that list, I find myself more and more disappointed. I'm sure this book could really work for some people but I am not one of them, and I probably should have seen that coming if I'd really thought about it before diving in.
minervareads's review
2.0
It was okay. I went in expecting at least more of the essays to take a serious tone - calling Dumbledore "Dumby" did not quite accomplish that. Aside from a large number of editing errors (Gryffindor spelled incorrectly in the first essay, and random text on the page changing size), I felt like too many of the essays either stretched my belief too thin in their explanations, or didn't have enough space to articulately make their point. I did enjoy a couple of the essays - the one on wizarding insults stands out most, as well as the explanation of chiastic structure - but my overall impression is lacking.
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