Oh, ok, I misunderstood. For some reason, I read it as Lily having had one magical and one non-magical parent. Oops.
they had to refer to the Sorcerer’s Stone instead than the Philosopher’s Stone if American readers were to understand what they were talking about, although I can’t understand why this was originally changed. Seems rather unnecessary.
I did notice a couple more places where the narrative was not Americanized, for example, elevators are refered to a lifts even in the descriptions. It doesn’t really matter to me, either way, I just like the fact that, if they were going to change something, they did not change the characters dialogue (so far as I know of, at least)
Okay, where’s the reference? Just asking because it’s driving me bughouse trying to find it myself.
On the subject of Britspeak…
“‘It was my father’s,’ said Sirius, throwing the ring into the sack. ‘Kreacher wasn’t quite as devoted to him as to my mother, but I still caught him snogging a pair of my father’s old trousers last week.’” (pg 117)
As I recall, “snogging” means kissing, and if so, Kreacher is REALLY disturbing…but could it also mean stealing in this context? Anybody know alternative meanings for snog? And if not, at what end was Kreacher kissing the pants?
IIRC, this was not a “let’s dumb it down for the Americans” decision, although that appears to have become a popular belief. I believe it was a marketing decision – the American publishers simply believed that “Sorcerer’s Stone” was a catchier title than “Philosopher’s Stone” and thus was more likely to sell well.
Let’s remember, this decision was made before Harry Potter became a phenomenon. At the time, it was just another new children’s book that may or may not do well.
As it turns out, Rowling probably didn’t need that change for the books to sell well. But hindsight’s 20/20; it’s pretty easy to sit on the fat side of Potter, Inc. and say earlier decisions were foolish.
(N.B.: this is an “IIRC” in the truest sense – I’m perfectly willing to be corrected on this point).
OK, I shouldn’t really be reading this thread, as I can’t get the book yet (no money :(), but LadySybill, that made me roar with laughter.
Hahahaha! Snogging definitely doesn’t have any alternative meaning. Either Kreacher really was kissing the trousers, or iy’s a typo and it should be ‘snagging’ (stealing). Helluva funny typo if it is.
Phew: thats comforting. Sorcerer’s stone dsoes dlow better than Philosopher’s stone.
Re: Snape’s memories of Sirius and James.
These are Snape’s memories, and not necessarily a photographic record. We all shade our memories to some degree to make ourselves more comfortable with them. Snape’s memories of his school years may therefore be somewhat less than accurate. I suspect that unravelling the truth of James, Sirius, and Snape may play an important role in an upcoming book. If so, it may well alter the relationship between Snape and Harry.
I wonder if Petunia is a person who, like her sister, was born with magical ability, but refused to acknowlage or develop it. This would make her something different than a Squib – perhaps something that the wizarding world would view even more negatively…
Great book. Its’ my favorite yet. A few things:
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What did Dudley see when the dementors came near? Will it make him nicer?
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I love Tonks and want to see a lot more of her (whoever said Coolidge Effect on the last page, LOL, but its’ true). I had a theory about halfaway though that Dumbledore had died over the summer and Tonks was imitating him (you never saw those two in the same place at the same time until the fight at the end), but we never saw Dumbledore do anything clutsy, so there went that.
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I loved the family tree. For a second I thought Malfoy was a half-blood, but then I re-read the scene. Damn, it would have served him right and given his character more depth.
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Mother in the frame. Hilarous.
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Luna has a bit of a '60s vibe about her. I like that girl. She has a lot more depth than Cho and her name is Lovegood…
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I loved the DA scenes. Good for Neville for begining to become less of a comic relief character and more of a major player.
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The kiss was done great. No need for description, well besides “Wet.”
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The profs passive resistance to Umbridge was classic. “It twists the only way.” Hee hee.
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I liked the fight and I liked that Sirius was brought down by his overconfidence. Hopefully Harry will learn a lesson.
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I hope Harry and Luna start up a correspondence over the summer to mellow Harry out. I like Holdenized Harry, but don’t want to overdo it.
My predictions for Book 6: Dumbledore is done. He’s divulged the big secret and all he can do now is pull Harry’s butt out of trouble. We can’t have that. Dumbledore is going down, setting up the Voldy/Harry battle in Book 7 (I’m getting a image of Harry and Voldamort facing each other as duplicate Voldies stand on the side. Maybe I’ve watched to much of the Matrix.). Harry and Luna will become closer, but not date. Ron and Hermy, probably.
It’s in book three, when she’s first introduced. Oliver says that the Ravenclaw Seeker is Cho, and that she’s a fourth year.
I am such a geek.
Oh, you’re not a geek! Thank you for finally clearing that up for me!
What is the Coolidge Effect?
And I wonder something about the Pensieve. Why do the memories not play out from the POV of the person to whom they belong?
i think the poor house elf was indeed snogging the pants. like some people when their beloved is away, will cuddle up with a shirt or bathrobe. he missed the fun filled olden days.
ARRGGHH!!!
My oh-so-serious observations turn out to have been already made by other posters. I thought I had read the thread thoroughly, but…
Incorrect. Reread Dumbledore’s reference to the pensieve in his exposition to Harry at the end. He says that the memories in the pensieve are a perfect record of what happened. I believe the same is stated in GoF.
The Coolidge Effect is the highlight of Intro to Psych…
Calvin Coolidge and his wife were touring a poultry farm, though they were being led around seperately. At one point, Mrs. Coolidge was informed that the rooster she was being shown mated up to 12 times a day. She told the guide “Be sure to tell Mr. Coolidge that.”
Later in the day, Silent Cal is being shown the same rooster, and the guide tells him Mrs. C’s comment. Coolidge replies, “Same chicken every time?”
“No sir, a different chicken every time.”
“Tell Mrs. Coolidge that.”
The Coolidge Effect is the tendency of a male to become re-aroused when presented with a different mate.
Yup, had to stop reading and have a “teaching moment” over that one, but it actually went very well. That scene, BTW got the biggest laughs from my kids so far–owl after owl after owl after owl is pretty funny.
I’m not sure Petunia is a squib or a drop-out–in an earlier book she expressed resentment over the pride of her parents when Lily got a letter just like the one Harry got–I don’t think she’d have said it in this way if she also got a letter but flunked out. I wouldn’t call her a squib either because her parents were muggles. Late-developer is still possible.
Also, she remembered hearing about dementors “from that horrible boy.” This was probably not James, IMHO. Maybe Snape?
Upon re-reading, I stand by my opinion that Mrs. Figg lied at the hearing about actually seeing the dementors. The tag line of “that’s what happened” doesn’t override the first person narrative she gave that she actually saw them.
I assumed it was James. It seems like something he would do to rile her, and Petunia of all people would have no problem in calling James “that horrible boy.”
You know what I found interesting, the divergent ideas among my friends, based on gender to Harry and Cho’s tryst. Most of the men I spoke to thought he was a bit insensitive, but nothing too horrible. I mean, Cho should have known that Hermione was like a sister to Harry. However, most of the women said they thought Harry was a total jerk.
My personal opinion is that he wasn’t that smooth with Cho in saying he had to meet Hermione on Valentine’s Day, but Cho overreacted. I mean, yeah it’s Valentine’s Day, but it’s the first Hogsmead weekend of the term and Hermione is his good friend. Cho was kinda getting out of line in bring up other guys to make Harry jealous and then basically demanding that he talk about Cedric. Of course my opinion of Cho drops further later when she sticks up for Marietta, even though Marietta’s snitching may have gotten CHO thrown out.
I too has very let down by Dumbledore’s non-revelation. In fact, I still don’t really understand it: why was he so reluctant to tell Harry the supposedly “too horrible” news that… he was destined to either kill or be killed by Voldemort? Like others have said: who DIDN’T see that coming. I was waiting for something dark and depressing like Harry and Voldemort becoming the same person: two halves of the same coin, rather than just this “imparting some power onto Harry, and Harry is destined to fight him” stuff. I also expected something that was a better fit for all the “weapon” talk (Harry is the weapon? Uh, what? How could they know that BEFORE Harry started reporting his dreams?) Some better explanation why the Occulmancy lessons made things worse, not better.
And what about Voldemort’s claim that the ritual made him immune to the “mother’s protection” thing? Again, I expected something deeper and more complex behind that explanation, but it turned out to be exactly as it already seemed.
Rowling still relies too heavily on long exposition at the end to tidy up her plots.
Still, I loved it.
“In fact, I still don’t really understand it: why was he so reluctant to tell Harry the supposedly “too horrible” news that… he was destined to either kill or be killed by Voldemort? Like others have said: who DIDN’T see that coming”
It might be obvious to us: the readers of a fictional series called Harry Potter but that doesn’t mean it would be obvious to Harry himself that this is so. It essentially means that he is personally responsible for making sure Voldermort is killed. You can see why that would be scary for a teenage boy and why Dumbledore is reluctant to break the news.