Harry....Potter

Most people who know me have heard me rave about Harry Potter...the books. I have seen every movie, and the first five movies I watched immediately after finishing the last page of the book. I have to say every time I was greatly disappointed by the movies.

Here are a few basic examples:
In the books, Harry is consistently badly dressed and awkward. His pants are Dudley's castoffs and he has to wear them cinched tight around his waist, his shoes have holes in them, and he's dirty. Visually, they make Harry too 'normal' in the movies. Also in the books, Harry is completely plagued by self doubt at every turn, not the triumphant, consistent hero he is in the movies. He has no idea what he's doing most of the time, and acknowleges constantly that either luck or someone else saved him. Also, he begins showing signs of post-traumatic stress disorder in the books, which for me greatly added to his beliveability as a character. He is so depressed and exhausted by book seven that it becomes painful to read. Dumbledore also readily admits to everything he does wrong that he doesn't seem to be aware of in the movies.

The first two or three books are fairly light, about age-appropriate for eight to ten year olds. But then the books become consistently darker, more psychological, and incredibly complex. By book seven, I was completly overcome by the power of the story, and found myself contemplating things which I won't reveal here, lest I give away the plot. I've discussed the books with quite a few of my highly literary adult friends who also loved them.

Critics have dismissed some of the plot devices, particularly 'deus ex machina' - meaning god coming from the machine - which means that suddenly something appears out of nowhere to solve and insolvable problem. And those plot devices do occur and I did find them obvious and annoying at times. But I forgave them and was well rewarded.