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3.15 AVERAGE
3.15 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As a life long die hard Harry Potter fan, this installment could not be more disappointing. In every way, it reads like bad fan fiction. The characters are completely out of character, especially Harry. There’s no way that he’s wanted kids all his life to have a family, TELLS Albus he doesn’t care if he’s in Slytherin, then treated him like a second class citizen? No way. Plus the fact that this takes us all the way back to Diggory? No, too many plot holes, too many ways this was absolutely not canon. If I could give it zero stars, I would. I can only hope the real play is somehow better than this.
If I could, I would give this book an eighth of a star. Upon reading "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," I can only assume that Jack Thorne lived under a rock until quite recently, and has never been exposed at all to the mythos of the Wizarding World beyond its Wikipedia page, and yet somehow, by some unknown magic of his own, he managed to con J. K. Rowling into singing off on a half-baked Potterverse rip-off of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Dopplegangland." That is the only way I can justify the grossly out-of-character depictions of no less than Ron, Voldemort, Snape, and Harry himself. No character and no event is sacred, and all are trod upon with equal abandon. A supremely disappointing addition to this series that I will just pretend does not exist altogether.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
"HARRY: Are you okay, Albus?
ALBUS: No.
HARRY: No. Nor me."
I took this book from my co-worker's hands convinced I would hate it. HATE IT. I went through the first few scenes chanting the mantra "it's fan fiction, it's not canon, it's fan fiction, it's not canon..."
And it does read like fan fiction. It draws from the movies more than the world of the books, and a lot of the lines are stilted. There are confusing scenes where the characters' motivations suddenly switch for no perceivable reason. That's all very on-brand if you're thinking of this play as fan fiction.
The main character isn't particularly likeable either. Harry's sulky, infuriating teenager, Albus, is held back by the poor decision to not make him sympathetic before revealing his over-exaggerated adolescent characteristics. I also quickly grew fond of Scorpius, which made his best friend Albus's flagrant disregard for other's opinions and feelings even more frustrating.
"ALBUS: We're ready to put our lives at risk.
SCORPIUS: Are we?"
As for the rest of Jo's cast, the writers get Ginny right (finally), but few other characters are done justice, and some are, frankly, slandered. Others are redeemed beyond reason to the point of sending them flailing out of character.
Interestingly, I found the stage directions more compelling than anything else, which might explain why the play is so much more popular with people who have actually seen it. While a character's closing line in an act is "Our journey has only just begun" (cringe), the final stage direction two lines later is the intriguing "Whispers rise to a roar." It almost feels like the playwrights would have been happy for the characters to talk like the adults in Charlie Brown while the visual and aural emotional impact and special effects continued.
"There's a silence. A perfect, profound silence. One that sits, twists a bit, and has damage within it."
But it's Harry Potter, and it's Harry Potter with Jo's influence. So ultimately, as a complete "Potterhead," I got caught up in the nostalgia and the series's well re-produced dry humour. I grew to accept the utter ridiculousness of the plot. Would I have finished this book if it weren't HARRY POTTER and such an easy read (being a 300-page script)? No. But, from the stage directions, it does sound like it would be spectacular on stage, and there are some truly wonderful moments.
"They were great men, with huge flaws, and you know what -- those flaws almost made them greater."
It's not the disgrace I was expecting it to be.
ALBUS: No.
HARRY: No. Nor me."
I took this book from my co-worker's hands convinced I would hate it. HATE IT. I went through the first few scenes chanting the mantra "it's fan fiction, it's not canon, it's fan fiction, it's not canon..."
And it does read like fan fiction. It draws from the movies more than the world of the books, and a lot of the lines are stilted. There are confusing scenes where the characters' motivations suddenly switch for no perceivable reason. That's all very on-brand if you're thinking of this play as fan fiction.
The main character isn't particularly likeable either. Harry's sulky, infuriating teenager, Albus, is held back by the poor decision to not make him sympathetic before revealing his over-exaggerated adolescent characteristics. I also quickly grew fond of Scorpius, which made his best friend Albus's flagrant disregard for other's opinions and feelings even more frustrating.
"ALBUS: We're ready to put our lives at risk.
SCORPIUS: Are we?"
As for the rest of Jo's cast, the writers get Ginny right (finally), but few other characters are done justice, and some are, frankly, slandered. Others are redeemed beyond reason to the point of sending them flailing out of character.
Interestingly, I found the stage directions more compelling than anything else, which might explain why the play is so much more popular with people who have actually seen it. While a character's closing line in an act is "Our journey has only just begun" (cringe), the final stage direction two lines later is the intriguing "Whispers rise to a roar." It almost feels like the playwrights would have been happy for the characters to talk like the adults in Charlie Brown while the visual and aural emotional impact and special effects continued.
"There's a silence. A perfect, profound silence. One that sits, twists a bit, and has damage within it."
But it's Harry Potter, and it's Harry Potter with Jo's influence. So ultimately, as a complete "Potterhead," I got caught up in the nostalgia and the series's well re-produced dry humour. I grew to accept the utter ridiculousness of the plot. Would I have finished this book if it weren't HARRY POTTER and such an easy read (being a 300-page script)? No. But, from the stage directions, it does sound like it would be spectacular on stage, and there are some truly wonderful moments.
"They were great men, with huge flaws, and you know what -- those flaws almost made them greater."
It's not the disgrace I was expecting it to be.
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I'm not sure what people's problem was with this book. The story wasn't absolutely perfect, but it was really entertaining and had some wonderful human aspects. Many favorite characters from the series made appearances, and I really cared about the new ones in this story. The plot seemed fairly well thought out too. I wasn't crazy about the way a certain part of the story treated Hermione (if you've read it, I think you know the one), but overall, it was a nice sequel. I can't wait to see it on stage!
En realidad no tengo claros mis sentimientos ahora mismo respecto a este libro.
Por un lado, lo he visto una tomadura de pelo total para los que, como yo, tenían unas expectativas súper altas por volver a adentrarnos en el mundo de Harry Potter, expectativas que el libro no ha cumplido para nada.
Siento que los personajes han perdido sus propias voces, y los personajes nuevos, no han llegado a engancharme.
La historia me ha parecido darle una vuelta de tuerca a lo que ya sabíamos, y bajo mi punto de vista, predecible prácticamente durante todo el libro.
¿Me arrepiento de haberlo leído? Quizás si pudiera viajar al pasado, le diría a mi yo del pasado que me estuviera quieta y que no lo leyera, pero entonces sé que siempre hubiera tenido las ganas de leer este guión de la obra de teatro... Así que supongo que "a lo hecho, pecho".
Por un lado, lo he visto una tomadura de pelo total para los que, como yo, tenían unas expectativas súper altas por volver a adentrarnos en el mundo de Harry Potter, expectativas que el libro no ha cumplido para nada.
Siento que los personajes han perdido sus propias voces, y los personajes nuevos, no han llegado a engancharme.
La historia me ha parecido darle una vuelta de tuerca a lo que ya sabíamos, y bajo mi punto de vista, predecible prácticamente durante todo el libro.
¿Me arrepiento de haberlo leído? Quizás si pudiera viajar al pasado, le diría a mi yo del pasado que me estuviera quieta y que no lo leyera, pero entonces sé que siempre hubiera tenido las ganas de leer este guión de la obra de teatro... Así que supongo que "a lo hecho, pecho".