I know, I know. Harry has seen some shit. He’s 15. 15 year olds are not exactly known for their emotional subtlety. But even as someone who was the WORST kind of dramatic teenager that You Just Didn’t Understand Because You Laughed At Us Because We Were Different And We Laughed Because You’re All The Same ™, even at the time… UGGGHHHHH STAHP HARRY.
I remembered this as my least favorite entry in the series, mostly because Dolores Umbridge presaged an era where the idiots in power got to make the rules irrespective of facts (sorry, US bias sees that she’s Maggie Thatcher, but still gets to claim ignominious dibs on dumb politicians. Her movie star president contemporary was bad, but the USA has never seen a bad idea it couldn’t ask you to hold its beer to top, so here’s a reality Tv star to show us all what rock bottom truly is.)
Anyway, politics are dumb, rules are dumb, authority is dumb, and my friends are dumb is the theme of HP5, and it makes a spectacularly frustrating read.
Our hero is kind of an every man, so it’s expected his specific feelings are kept at arm’s length – and thematically appropriate as all the adults do the same in the book – but he’s just the biggest jerk to all his friends here without much cause. There’s not enough explanation of Potter’s motivation to shield his friends from his actual feelings, so his frustrations with them seem to come out of nowhere even if they’re understandable. The reader isn’t feeling what he does, so even if potter’s feelings make sense, we’re left to empathize more with the bystanders left in the wake of Harry’s anguish than our protagonist himself.
That said, in a flip side of my last review, even a frustrating HP book is still damn good. The ambiguity cast upon all Harry’s heroes – Sirius’ impetuousness, dumbledore’s patronizing nature, Hagrid’s teaching limitations, James’ arrogance – continues Rowling’s increasing narrative complexity as the series progresses – so this only gets docked a star. But ughhh shut UP Harry!
