Thoughts on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (WARNING: SPOILERS)

Reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was oddly satisfying. Hermione is Minister for Magic. Ginny edits the sports pages for The Daily Prophet. Harry did become an Auror after all and is now Head of Magical Law Enforcement.

Fans who had a strong desire to see Harry and Draco Malfoy bury the hatchet will also be glad to see that the two have done just that. Taking it a step further, Albus and Scorpius are the new Harry and Ron/Hermione, sharing everything from their sweets from the Trolley Lady to bending the dimensions of time.

As was bound to happen, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child broke sales records this week but many JK Rowling fans are seething. ‘You owe yourfans a BOOK!’ they shout from this headline in The Telegragh. But does she? Really?

Rowling swore never to write another Harry Potter novel after The Deathly Hallows and she has upheld that vow. That, I think, is deserving of respect because why overexploit a winning franchise and risk brewing the Drought of the Living Dead?

Nobody wants another Harry Potter book more than I. Written by JK Rowling, not a playwright working off a short story she wrote. The Cursed Child has been accused for playing out like fan fiction. I’m pretty certain I read a tale woven around the theory that Voldermort might have had a child with Bellatrix and that is just how the book rounds off to close for its finale.

If this were a JK Rowling original, none of these theories would have been given any credence in the final product. As the creator of this world, she managed to keep her fans on tenterhooks until the very end. She was the one who designed the pillars, dungeons and secret chambers, and fan fiction just spun like webs around them. It must have been very hard work for her, if you ask me. To have so many traps to get caught in and yet, in the course of seven spectacular books, not once was her storytelling influenced by these theories, no matter how creative, fantastical or fantastic. Somehow, Rowling masterfully steered her story towards more exciting – unexpected and fulfilling – avenues because she is the maker of this, a god in her own right, a master of fantasy fiction.

I have read the Harry Potter series so many times, I actually found myself creating a quiz for Potterheads at pubs and themed parties after it ended. I envy every woman, man and child who hasn’t yet read the book because you only get to discover Rowling’s world of magic for the first time, once. But when I finished the final book, I was, once again, oddly satisfied because I believe that this series I had followed for over a decade was, much like life, made more precious by the fact that it had ended. I really appreciated that.

I read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child for a whole day and a night – under the blanket by torchlight, no less – and yes, it was oddly satisfying. Except, not in the manner in which I was used to given my love for the original series. I kept waiting for something to jump out and shout, “Boo”. Sadly, it was in vain. 

Review | The Casual Vacancy

'Eastenders on Steroids' -That's my three word review of Rowling's The Casual Vacancy.  Eastenders - for those are fortunate enough not to have ever seen (Don't you lead a charmed life?)  is a long running soap on the BBC set in the East of London. There are clan wars, sordid affairs, pregnant teenagers and the odd attempt to acknowledge minority citizens. J K Rowling's book transposes that plot line onto a small british village, Pagford, that is thrown into disarray by the sudden death of a local councilman- Barry Fairbrother. The empty seat becomes the bone of contention as townsmen and women from different walks of life and differing personal agendas put their names forward to contest the seat, none of them deserving candidates in my opinion, which sets into motion a series of events that culminate, as always, in skeletons walking free of their closets, disillusioned suicidal teenagers and death. Through the dialogue and the prejudices, J K Rowling tries to weave in her own agenda, which is to lament the viciousness of gossip, breakdown of family values and the dark side of human nature. All of which is surprisingly entertaining, just like an episode of Eastenders.

Moving on from the plotline and into the writing, the first page reads like one from a Harry Potter novel. She takes on the usual third person omniscient view point- " Barry Fairbrother did not want to go out to dinner. [...]",  and setting the scene that will be the catalyst for the storyline moving forward. Rowling's tone is fairly acerbic through the entire book, especially when it comes to sex, which is abundant throughout the novel, as if overcompensating for the fact that she is a children's author. "The leathery skin of her upper cleavage radiated little cracks that no long vanished with decompressed." Toto, we're not in Hogwarts anymore! Especially since none of the characters, and I kid you not, none, not even the children are likable. Okay make the toddler. But that's it. So there's no Molly Wobbles or Dobby here to endear you to the book.

Rowling doesn't pull any punches whether it is commenting on the effects of racial bullying of a sikh teenage girl with too much facial hair or the debilitating effects of subliminal class warfare so deeply entrenched in the fabric of the village society, that it echoes in every dialogue. At the heart of the story is the battle between the success of rehabilitation and upward mobility. For instance,  can we, today,  take someone from a slum in mumbai, enroll him in Cathedral and watch him grow up to become a CEO of a major bank in twenty years. Will you allow your child to go to school with that kid from the slums? Will that child infect others with his grim view world or will he change? These are some of the topics Rowling addresses but in a terribly superficial manner, exactly like an Eastenders episode.

Rowling is a great storyteller and she really does reel you in with her seedy plot line but once you are done with it you're left feeling exactly the way you feel after you've bitched someone out- dirty and guilt ridden but quite ready to jump right in into the next bitching session.