BOOK DISCUSSION: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

[cmere]

“I’ll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle,” said Sirius. “But…well…think about it. Once my name’s cleared…if you wanted a…a different home…”

Some sort of explosion took place in the pit of Harry’s stomach.Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published in 1999-fifteen years ago! Book Three left many of us

Comments

[bonsaibetz]

This was my favorite of the books. I thought the plot twist with Sirius and Wormtail was the best and it was such a shock, and so well set up. This is my favorite of all the books because that was the biggest surprise of them all. Sirius wasn't the Secret Keeper, Wormtail was and one of Voldiebutt's Death Eaters. GAH! What a shocker! And he's been hiding out with the Weasleys for years. OMG! So creepy!!! Best set up and execution in a novel EVAH!! Hit me like a ton of bricks.

[author_by_night]

It also occurred to me how much darker this book is when you read it as an adult. I was sort of in between the adult fans and the kid fans, being fourteen when I was PoA, but oh the things I missed. Anyone else feel this way, if you read the books as a kid (or even TO your kids)?

Related, but on my most recent re-read, I had a bit of fridge horror: JK Rowling based Dementors on depression, which she struggled with partly due to her mother's death. Think about what Harry remembers. :(

[kate34books]

now I'm even more horrified.

[kerryblaze]

That quote. Now I'm feeling all the feels again.

[patoo_tee]

Explosions... monsters, I'm quite frankly gobsmacked Harry hasn't developed a a large seeping ulcer in the pit of his stomach!

[madderbrad]

PoA was the book that launched a thousand 'powerful Harry' fanfics

[moreteadk]

I think JKR was probably somewhat forced to make sure that Harry seemed more or less averagely talented at magic after that moment. Otherwise he would have landed squarely in Gary-Stu territory.

I absolutely agree with you on how he managed such a strong spell in that scene though.

[madderbrad]

I think JKR was probably somewhat forced to make sure that Harry seemed more or less averagely talented at magic after that moment.

But she over-reacted, doing everything she could to make him barely adequate. :-(

It's not an 'error' of Rowling's, it was her call, a matter of what she wanted to write for her series. She could have made Harry gifted, or actively heroic, which I would have preferred, but instead wanted to have her tale be one of a 'normal', non-heroic, quite passive boy who won on luck, coincidence and the sacrifice/stupidity of others. Which weakened her series horribly, IMO, as a consequence.

Otherwise he would have landed squarely in Gary-Stu territory.

And yet there are some very good (far better than Rowling's IMO) fan fiction novels out there with a 'powerful Harry' which don't fall into the Gary-Stu trap. Thank goodness for fan fiction!

[ladysugarquill]

He seems to be powerful/skilled in certain areas (duelling, Patronuses, resisting Imperius curse - and it's interesting these two are dependent on willpower), although it's hard to know since he was a student getting the same education as everyone else. But I think it's telling that he exceeded in every extra-curricular, wildly complicated thing people taught him, AND that he basically breezed through school with great grades even though he didn't apply himself that much, and usually had a million other things in his mind. He got an E on Potions even though he spent most of every class hating Snape so much that he failed to read instructions properly!

Which *is* impressive, but a feat that Harry never comes close to matching ever again.
He did, on DH. During the Battle, Erniem Seamus (i think) and Luna keep the Dementors briefly at bay with their combined Patronuses, but Harry's alone manages to scare them off.

*has a lot of thoughts on Harry's magical abilities*