Harry Potter sucks

[Window Bar]

But I have to agree, they are quite typical, not as creative as a lot of people seem to think they are. Ursula Le Guin is much better

Hannah, the two author's have very different purposes. Rowling is an entertainer, primarily; Le Guin is a philosopher. Your ranking of LeGuin on top probably means you are more interested in ideas than in stories per se.

--WB

 

[Sparrow]

Besides a philosopher, Le Guin is also a world-class bore.
In every one of her short stories, leastwise those that I've read, is a very tedious preamble about the human condition or the human condition as applied to some alien being. The latest was Seasons of the Ansarac, which after ten minutes of her perfunctory lecturing and deadpan setup, I finally tossed in the towel and began reading The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt.

Rowling can spin a tale, Le Guin spends way too much time spinning her wheels.

 

[Karn Maeshalanadae]

Harry Potter sucks.


Title of the thread says it all. Idiot boy with idiot friends and Rowling didn't even bother making up her own world for it.


Now Earth as a setting CAN work-if the story is good. Harry Potter was just bad all around. And the basilisk is a LIZARD, Rowling, NOT a freaking snake!

 

[blacknorth]

Most amusing thread.

I've found you can't talk to a Harry Potter fan. You can't offer the faintest insight or praise or criticism. Unless you're a gushing enthusiast you're treated like a heretic. In fact, the whole thing has reached the proportions of a cult. I view the whole phenomenon with the same eye I reserve for scientology and the Moonies and other craziness.

I have a niece who believes boy wizards grow up to become teenage vampires. She seems to have picked up this notion at school; has been fully indoctrinated into an entirely new theory of biology. If you get them young enough, you have them for life.

 

[Shamu]

Wow, generalisations. Given the sheer number of people who like HP, and the fact they come from all walks of life, it seems mighty silly, oui?

 

[Interference]

Wouldn't it be great if this were to become the most subscribed thread on Chrons?

 

[Ursa major]

Nothing succeeds like success, you mean?

 

[Rosemary]

Well, I must be going through my second childhood because I have enjoyed Harry Potter.

Not everyones taste in literature is the same; there are a lot of people who don't like GRRM or even Robin Hobb (as an example of course).

 

[Lacedaemonian]

Just a good story with some decent characters and a throw back to the escapism seen in CS Lewis et al.

The Twilight series were awful and are far worthier of criticism/abuse. Meyer had some good ideas but failed to expand them or her characters.

 

[Grimward]

The Twilight series were awful and are far worthier of criticism/abuse. Meyer had some good ideas but failed to expand them or her characters.

Not to mention Eragon.

I liked the Harry Potter series. Sorry if Rowling's approach, ideas and story weren't nirvana to everyone, but after ignorantly resisting them (thru The Goblet of Fire's release) as just so much more bubble gum, I'm glad I gave them a spin.

 

[j d worthington]

Sorry if Rowling's approach, ideas and story weren't nirvana to everyone,[...]

Ummm, perhaps not the happiest choice of terms there, given the actual definition of the term, let alone its etymology:

Dictionary - Yahoo! Education

 

[RcGrant]

All I'm going to say about Rowling, Meyer, et al, is 'Damn, what I wouldn't give to be in their shoes!'

I couldn't care less if anyone else in the world agrees with how I feel about either series (love both, for the record - I'm a shameless fangirl, and proud of it). Books are so personal...if someone's reading, no matter WHAT it is, then that's a victory.

 

[Grimward]

Ummm, perhaps not the happiest choice of terms there, given the actual definition of the term, let alone its etymology:

Very funny. Taken in the same vein, I think we'll...

1) stick to state; and
2) skip the word's origins, thank you very much!

Observation: If Webster's can allow dis/diss to become a word, it has no legs to stand on for protesting my opportunistic appropriation of 'Nirvana' in this context.

 

[Clansman]

I wonder if Kurt Cobain knew that.

Phew.

 

[starrypawz]

I wouldn't say it sucks but I just personally couldn't get into it. When I was still in Primary School when the first book came out we had to listen to it on Audio tape in school and it didn't do much for me.
I don't know, I have tried to read the books but I've never really gotten into them for some reason. They just didn't 'spark' with me.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I know the OP is long gone, but has anyone bothered to read his bio on Wiki? Forget about his self-promotion or bashing of others' work; that guy is genuinely disturbed. Check it out: Kenneth Eng - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Here's a sample -

"I'd just like to say that I just read about the Virginia Tech incident and it was the funniest thing I ever read in my life." Eng also said he had wanted to conduct a similar shooting spree while attending New York University but could not afford a gun.

Yikes!

As for the original topic, I actually liked Harry Potter. I only started the series when I was about 20 or 21, and enjoyed all of them. They were a lot of fun. At that point, however, I hadn't been a fantasy reader and wasn't really familiar with most works (except LotR, and even I could see the obvious similarities. I mean, come on, Rowling! Couldn't you have at least come up with a name besides Dark Lord??); having read a few different authors in the last couple of years, however, I realise now that JKR, as JD said, is a talented storyteller, but not necessarily a great writer. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the series, and remember it fondly.

The movies, now, are a whole different matter. I am absolutely willing to get down and dirty with anyone who suggests that they're better than "somewhere between awful and someone else's urine."

Each of the movies was a contender for "Worst Movie I Saw" in their respective years. Just terrible. So why the hell do I keep watching them?? I don't know. I'm a damn fool. Maybe I keep hoping that they will refill me with the sense of wonder I felt when I first read the books. Maybe I think that the series can't help but get better as it progresses. Maybe I have an irresistable urge to help Rowling make even more money. Or maybe, I just need a life.

I'll probably still go ahead and watch Deathly Hallows when it comes out. I'm just that stupid.

 

[Vladd67]

It's simple JKR just did an infernal deal at a crossroads, I only hope for her sake she manages to pass on the runes before a demon comes to collect payment.

 

[Judderman]

It took a long time to go through this old thread, a couple of days inbetween working at the office, but there were some very interesting points! Particularly about what makes a masterly author, or a popular one. I have read plenty of Fantasy books but still have just scratched the surface compared to many on these forums. I also read other types of books. When I read a Harry Potter novel several years ago I thought it was a fairly mediocre fantasy book, though not completely tedious either. As people say it is an easy read, in particular it appeals to teenage and young adult girls who otherwise wouldn't touch Fantasy novels with a bargepole. For that JKR deserves credit but it doesn't really change my opinion on it being a great Fantasy novel or not. They are easy reading young persons novels with some fun ideas and easy to relate to characters that has now had amazing publicity. So I don't hate them. I read Lord of the Rings at 10 years old, some words I wouldn't have understood but still I could get through it and also pick up some vocabulary. It disappoints me how a book with such simplistic language as in Harry Potter is so highly regarded for adults. Though then again books like Da vinci Code and Twilight aren't amazing but they are also very popular, mainly from publicity or not seeming to be the norm of their genres. I'm not sure if many people who start reading these sorts of books when they grow up would then go onto something more advanced. If they read them as children then they are more likely to develop their reading further. Ah I blurb...

 

[ser4]

i just had to know why people think that Harry Potter sucks....., but after few post decided that i am too lazy to read all of the posts so i'll just post an opinion. The books are great. Except for the ending of the last one ...that could have been done a little better.

 

[Hober Mallow]

I didn't like the first couple Harry Potter books (or movies) because there was nothing dark or human about the characters...understandable since the earlier novels were geared to young children. I don't think JKR's works can hold a candle to JRR Tolkien's. I used to love LoTR and the Hobbit, until the LoTR movie came out and made Tolkien so popular among mainstream movie-goers as well as readers.