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A review by katykelly
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
4.0
Book 2 with my son and his interest and enthusiasm only grows...
We moved straight on from the first to the second Harry Potter, and once again moved between our paperback (and a library illustrated copy) in bed and Stephen Fry's audio reading in the car. We got the best of both worlds here, I got to enjoy reading this aloud and discussing the scenes as we went along, and I also got a break and let Mr Fry take over reading all those voices!
Book two builds on the world of the first, and continues the structure of the school year, the start with the Dursleys, the routines and ceremonies of Hogwarts that my son was already frighteningly familiar with. It's a more complicated plot, with clues throughout that lead to the finale, I had to remind my son of a few occurrences so he could see how it all fed into the conclusion.
We both like the flying car, Myrtle, the duelling club, polyjuice potion. He's seven, and I had to hint very heavily that Gilderoy Lockhart was not as he saw himself, he took a long time to realise the subtleties of his portrayal (it's much more obvious for younger readers in the film).
Dobby seemed to flummox my son a little too - the self-flagellation and servitude, the portrayal of a 'slave' was not something I think he's ever seen before, and I look forward to the future books and being able to show Dobby again in better circumstances and in greater depth - he's only in this for three scenes.
Personally, I took great delight in the opening scenes with the Dursleys, they are deliciously, obtusely Muggle-ish, pompous, supercilious and vicious towards their nephew/cousin.
As with the first book, there is too much exposition in the final chapters, both with villain and with Dumbledore afterwards, giving what is essentially a debrief. It's clunky and wordy, I remember noticing this even on my first read nearly two decades ago. But then as now, I'll always overlook it for the imagination, excitement and pure joy of the books.
So much is added in this book, so many more wonderful wizarding terms and words, a broadening of the wizarding world with foreshadows of both a certain prison, a Ministry and a newspaper...
My guy already wants to move onto book three but I'm aware I'm going to need ot slow him down as I intend only to read books 3 and 4 this summer and then letting him mature a little more before the emotional darkness of the final three instalments.
The world of Hogwarts has definitely taken a hold of my son's imagination now, he keeps coming out with comments and thoughts based on the books, and clearly took a great deal in. I'm looking forward to seeing what he makes of the gradually darkening book three...
We moved straight on from the first to the second Harry Potter, and once again moved between our paperback (and a library illustrated copy) in bed and Stephen Fry's audio reading in the car. We got the best of both worlds here, I got to enjoy reading this aloud and discussing the scenes as we went along, and I also got a break and let Mr Fry take over reading all those voices!
Book two builds on the world of the first, and continues the structure of the school year, the start with the Dursleys, the routines and ceremonies of Hogwarts that my son was already frighteningly familiar with. It's a more complicated plot, with clues throughout that lead to the finale, I had to remind my son of a few occurrences so he could see how it all fed into the conclusion.
We both like the flying car, Myrtle, the duelling club, polyjuice potion. He's seven, and I had to hint very heavily that Gilderoy Lockhart was not as he saw himself, he took a long time to realise the subtleties of his portrayal (it's much more obvious for younger readers in the film).
Dobby seemed to flummox my son a little too - the self-flagellation and servitude, the portrayal of a 'slave' was not something I think he's ever seen before, and I look forward to the future books and being able to show Dobby again in better circumstances and in greater depth - he's only in this for three scenes.
Personally, I took great delight in the opening scenes with the Dursleys, they are deliciously, obtusely Muggle-ish, pompous, supercilious and vicious towards their nephew/cousin.
As with the first book, there is too much exposition in the final chapters, both with villain and with Dumbledore afterwards, giving what is essentially a debrief. It's clunky and wordy, I remember noticing this even on my first read nearly two decades ago. But then as now, I'll always overlook it for the imagination, excitement and pure joy of the books.
So much is added in this book, so many more wonderful wizarding terms and words, a broadening of the wizarding world with foreshadows of both a certain prison, a Ministry and a newspaper...
My guy already wants to move onto book three but I'm aware I'm going to need ot slow him down as I intend only to read books 3 and 4 this summer and then letting him mature a little more before the emotional darkness of the final three instalments.
The world of Hogwarts has definitely taken a hold of my son's imagination now, he keeps coming out with comments and thoughts based on the books, and clearly took a great deal in. I'm looking forward to seeing what he makes of the gradually darkening book three...