Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)
by J.K. Rowling
Genre: Adventure/Magic
Reading Grade: Middle
Grade
Publication Date:
October 1, 1999
Source: purchased
paperback
Age Rating: all ages
A mysterious
letter, delivered by the friendly giant Hagrid, wrenches Harry from
his dreary, Muggle-ridden existence: "We are pleased to inform
you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry." Of course, Uncle Vernon yells most unpleasantly, "I
AM NOT PAYING FOR SOME CRACKPOT OLD FOOL TO TEACH HIM MAGIC TRICKS!"
Soon enough, however, Harry finds himself at Hogwarts with his owl
Hedwig... and that's where the real adventure--humorous, haunting,
and suspenseful—begins.
My Review
I finally read my first
Harry Potter book—I know. That took me a while, to say the
least. Join the rest of the literate world, Cathy—right?
Well, now I have. I bought this book on a whim at Wal-Mart one day,
long ago, but never got around to reading it. I really am not all
that into Middle Grade fiction, so this never had much appeal to me.
But, now that I've read it, I do see what all the fuss is about. This
really is an amazing story like nothing else out there.
Whoever is reading this
review has almost certainly read this book by now, so I'm not going
to write this review the same old way I normally write them. It's not
meant to get anyone to read this book. I'm just going to give my
opinions on what I know IS definitely a crowd already familiar with
it.
This is my opinion on
why this book is a classic, and will stay that way for a long time to
come: this exact narrative voice, this exact way of telling this
story, and this exact mixture of these particular characters can
never be duplicated. It is like eating The Colonel's country
fried chicken, and loving it, but coming up empty on trying to
duplicate his recipe for his succulent chicken. Only this author,
J.K. Rowling, can do what she has done in this modern era. The only
other author like her that even comes close is Charles Dickens (who
surpasses her, in my opinion), and he's long dead. (By the way, I
detected the Dickens influence in this book.)
When you're not only
the first to do something, but you're the only one who can do it,
then nobody ever forgets you and what you did. This is what makes
this novel so lasting and probably the best-selling book in human
history (excepting, perhaps, the Bible, which has a 2,000-year head
start). Rowling is a fascinating iconic celebrity to me—she's much
more interesting than any British Royal. She has an incredible gift
that no one else has even had for more than 100 years. It's like
she's a sort of reincarnated writing spirit in the form of a human
avatar.
Anyway, I won't say
this is my favorite book now because that wouldn't be true. I happen
to have a lot of favorites, anyway, but I will be filing this one
under the stack of my many favorites now. I figure this book is so
great that, if I were a small child right now, I am positive it would
be my most favorite book in the whole world. Certainly, if I had
children, I'd make them be all up in this business, and I'm sure
they'd want to be. What a wonderful way to bond with your children!
For all its
amazingness, I award it extra points (referencing the awarding of
points to the Hogwarts Houses, if you didn't quite get that). It is a
magical fantasy world for children and adults of all ages to escape
into. I want to move into the Griffyndor dormitories, and I hate
dormitories. That has to account for something. But, I find that I
can't connect with the book the way I need to in order for it to be
an ultimate favorite. It might be my age, or my problem with not
completely loving Middle Grade fiction—I don't know. But, it is the
best Middle Grade fiction that exists in the entire world, so you'll
probably never read better than the early Harry Potter books.
And, I do intend to
read the rest of the books in the series, for sure. Hopefully, I'll
connect better with the later YA sequels....
My score: 4.5 out of
5 stars. (I really liked it. Pure magic.)
