My Least Favorite Harry Potter Criticism
Well, there are better books out there
No, really, there aren't. There are no books better at being Harry Potter books than Harry Potter.
Yes, there are books that are better written. Yes, there are authors you like better (and why you think other people ought to like them better I don't know). Yes, there are other wizard boy in school books. Yes, there are books where whatever thing you don't like about the Harry Potter books did/didn't happen. And yes, I'm sure there are books which you wish had been as widely-read and their authors as well-rewarded as the Harry Potter books and J. K. Rowling.
But, so? None of those books are Harry Potter. And it's Harry Potter that sold 80 gazillion books and inspired people to go to bookstores at midnight. And while some of those people are almost certainly Very Stupid People (I mean, odds are), lots and lots of them are not reading Harry Potter because they're too dumb to read/appreciate/understand anything else.
I don't know why this particular criticism bothers me . Partly, because it implies that all those Harry Potter readers are too dumb to know that other books exist. Or that reading Harry Potter is any kind of judgment on any other book (it's not).
I think, say, Perfect Circle is 500 times better than The Da Vinci Code but I still enjoyed reading The Da Vinci Code (yes, I know this makes some of you think that I am nuts--that's why I used it as an example :-)
This exercise in crankiness is brought to you by the letter 'H.' Or maybe 'P.'
Comments
My sentiments exactly. Except I didn't enjoy reading The DaVinci Code, what little I read. But that's not the point.
Posted by: Merrie Haskell | August 2, 2007 04:11 PM
Yes.
And to me the more interesting question is--why haven't those 'better' books done as well as Harry Potter. Some of it is just luck. Some of it is degree (some of those 'better' books have done well, but HP is it's own special category). And I'm sure there are countless other reasons, too. But, I think some of those 'better' books are well-written and have interesting ideas but are missing something too, some elusive spark that would make them unputdownable.
Posted by: Deb | August 2, 2007 11:19 PM