Friday, February 15, 2013

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - Readalong Post 2

 *sigh*

I'm really excited to discuss the second half of this book (because it is GREAT!) but it also means that we are about to move on, which is sad.

*double sigh*

Grumpy Tommy Lee Jones gets it.
Eeeeeeenough of feeling sorry for myself though! I am PSYCHED to talk about the rest of this book!

So.

Malfoy gets his daddy to bully some Ministry dudes to kill an animal so that he can stick it to Hagrid and the Gryffindor trio, which is SICK. Lupin's a werewolf AND is friends with a serial murderer (TWIST, he isn't really) AND was best-buds with Harry's parents. The Dementors are HORRIFYING, that scene by the lake is INTENSE and I don't know how I slept after reading it as a kid. Harry and Ron and Hermione are friends and then they aren't and then they are, oh wait, now they're not friends anymore. But now they are. McGonagall gets carried away at a quidditch game, and Trelawney makes an actual prediction.

Oh and Snape is all;

WITH EVERYONE.
Ummm, is Pettigrew naked through that whole part in the Shrieking Shack? Or do their clothes transform with them? I'm thinking they must since McGonagall transforms in front of their transfiguration class and that would be WEIRD. But it also seems weird that his clothes just transform into fur or something while he's a rat? For 12 years?  On another note, it must be extra upsetting for Ron to find out his rat was Pettigrew. Scabbers sat in his pocket and slept in his bed, and probably saw Ron cry or practice writing Mr Ronald Granger is pretty script. There is also a good chance he masturbated in front of that rat. Although I hope he didn't because that's creepy.

It is deeply upsetting when Harry is conflicted with the whole Dementor thing. For a 13 year old to be secretly desperate to hear his parents die because that's the only time he's heard their voices... Oh brother, that is intense. And once again I'm realising just how dark even these earlier books are. Well done JK, I don't know how you didn't completely screw me up and turn me into an emotional wreck of a child.

I'm glad Lupin is there to help Harry through all this dark and twisty stuff, but I'm also glad that Lupin acts like a disappointed dad to Harry at times. Because seriously, Snape is kinda on point with the whole "we're spending a gazillion dollars + a bunch of our time and energy and he keeps strolling off grounds because he's THE Harry Potter". The talk he gives Harry post-mudslinging match against Malfoy must have hurt a BUNCH, Lupin is the king of guilt trips;
"Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them - gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks"
I don't know about everyone else, but I am always kinda disappointed when I get to the end and Crookshanks is still just a cat. I always thought he'd turn out to be an animagus or something, not just a smart cat that can recognise people disguised as animals. Also, I think it's normally forgotten in the excitement of that final section, but apparently animals can talk to each other. Is this an understanding of meows and barks thing, or a reading-each-others-thoughts thing?

And who can forget the wonderful scene where Hermione gets her Jerry Springer on and slaps Malfoy right in his smug ferret face. GO HERMIONE!

I could watch this ALL day.

Bits and Pieces:

*p176 - something wooshed suddenly out of the end of his wand. LOL and *snigger*

*p194 - something silvery white, something enormous erupted from the end of his wand. DOUBLE LOL and *double snigger*

*I'm so happy when Neville's vindicated. He didn't lose the passwords, Crookshanks stole them. Yeah Neville!

*Why can't they use the pensieve to see what happened at the shack? Boom, all problem ever, solved.

*I want to know why Sirius thought Lupin was the spy.

*When Percy holds back and asks Harry to win because he doesn't have 10 galleons on p191 - I feel like that's the first time Percy's come off as a regular human teenager and not someone's 80 year old pompous relative.

*Do not get me started on the 320% result in muggle studies.

*I feel sorry for anyone who gets the Knight Bus bed next to Buckbeak. Is that really the best way for him to travel?

*On p142 there's a margin note next to a passage with Fred and George that just says "love these two". I love owning second hand books.

*I always loved Hagrid, but I just noticed that he uses excessive capitalisation in his letters. HE'S JUST LIKE ME!

*I would very much like a scops owl please. 


So cute. 

Toodle oo Potter heads, 'til next week...



20 comments:

  1. "For a 13 year old to be secretly desperate to hear his parents die because that's the only time he's heard their voices... Oh brother, that is intense."

    Yeah, but its another one of those "Rowling is amazing" moments for me. Especially because Harry actually realizes what he's doing and gives himself a stern talking to about his parents being dead for good and whatnot. So few 13 year olds would have that kind of inner reflection.

    And sometimes stuff just erupts out of the ends of wands, get your mind out of the gutter Kayleigh! :-p

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    1. But it's silvery white and enormous...WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK?!

      It's definitely a JK is amazing moment - and one that I think only really hit me when I hit about 18 or so and really grasped that whole concept of mortality. I do not think I would have had Harry's self-awareness there, I would have probably spent the entire year sobbing into my pillow and searching the castle for the mirror of erised so that I could see a less painful image of them.

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  2. Ewwww to all of the things Scabbers/Pettigrew probably saw Ron (and Percy!) doing in his rat form. I'm going to hope he would scurry off or something when that happened.

    We made the same points about Harry wanting to hear his parents' death cos it's the only time he gets to hear them (sad) and Snape making really good points about how HP needs to quit wandering off and thinking he can do whatever he wants just cos he is HP. And then Lupin actually getting that message across.

    I also thought Crookshanks was more than just a cat. Not quite typical house cat. Sort of "just enough magical powers to make the plot work" cat.

    I distrust the pensieve. Memories seem so malleable. However, everyone in the series trusts them so good point, why wouldn't they have used the pensieve?

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    1. It's been a good week for everyone making the same/similar points. Except for the whole Sirius business, people CAN NOT agree on that!

      I think the pensieve definitely has issues, but it also kind of doesn't deal with actual memories y'know? Since it takes them from your mind grapes, I don't know that you can alter them in the same way we tend to alter our memories depending on feelings and perception and what not. But I'm pretty sure we'll all get into some sirius penseive chatter in a couple of books time.

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  3. I want to know why Sirius thought Lupin was the spy too! I feel like Pettigrew was an obvious spy? Did Sirius just think that because Lupin's a werewolf? Very uncool if so!

    Isn't it implied that Crookshanks is part [magical creature whose name I forget]? I feel like he is implied to have some magical properties, and we just don't hear about them in the book because it's something Ron and Hermione and Harry aren't paying attention to.

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    1. You and Emily just cracked it! Emily mentions Crookshanks being part-kneazle down below, I'm not sure if I knew that or if I've just heard the word Kneazle - but I'm glad to know that there is something different about Crookshanks!

      If it's just a werewolf thing then Sirius is a siriusly bad friend - so I'm going to hope that there's another reason. But if they were all as good friends as they say, how could you ever suspect that one of your best friends would sell you out?

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  4. I think Sirius's logic behind Lupin being the spy was as simple as "he used to be friends with Black and also I don't like him." He can have tunnel vision and this is no exception. And yeah, it's super-awkward that Ron's rat is a person and watched him do all that stuff. Although why the hell would Ron let a rat sleep in his bed? I don't even let my cats on the sheets. Man, I hope they're not people. That would be even more awkward than a 13-year old's pet transforming into a human.

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    1. Rats in general are pets I think should be kept in their cages and maybe held only on occasion, if at all. But maybe I'm rat-ist. I don't really like rodents at all. Ugh.

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    2. Try to sneak up on your cats reading or something.

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  5. Oh my GOD, Kayleigh! That whole Pettigrew watching Ron thing, eaugh. I was thinking about the clothes thing, too. I think he's wearing clothes the whole time, but then he was wearing the same clothes for 12 years straight! Crazy magic.

    Animals talk to each other! Fabulous. Gettin' all Narnia up in here. I think they'd probably communicate non-verbally, you know, with pheromones and body language and stuff. Yup. I know things.

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    1. Maybe he stole clothes from Mr Weasley every now and then, otherwise I would NOT want to be downwind of him when he becomes human again. Ock.

      I love the idea that transforming yourself into an animal lets you instantly know all those animal cues. I also love the idea that animals actually think/talk, because I like to interpret the look on my cats face all the time. She's usually doing the cat version of rolling her eyes and saying "oh brother".

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  6. You made me laugh so hard this week. I somehow missed those whole eruptions out of the wands and didn't snigger while reading, but I pretty much just snorted coffee up my nose now reading yours.

    Sirius probably assumed Lupin was the spy because, as someone said at one point, no one would have thought Pettigrew capable of it. Lupin is smart and capable--maybe not as showoffy as James and Sirius were, but would be seen by anyone as being more useful to VOldemort. And maybe the werewolf thing had something to do with it, but only in the sense that Voldie was gathering up werewolves as his supporters, not that Sirius thinks that werewolf = evil.

    I was also disappointed with Crookshanks turning out to be just part-Kneazle. I thought he would serve some other, higher purpose in the books.

    And yes: penseive-viewing would solve most of the wizarding world's legal problems, wouldn't it?

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    1. It makes them siriusly crappy friends to ever suspect each other as spies. I mean, logically I get it, but if I found out Sirius had thought I was the spy I'd be siriusly upset. I like the idea of the werewolf thing being about V rounding them up and not that Sirius is were-prejudiced, because it rubs me the wrong way to think Sirius could still be that kinda prejudiced considering his school pal. So yay!!

      Crookshanks was the greatest misdirect in the whole series, so I applaud JK for that, but I'm definitely disappointed that he never really plays a role again in the book.

      I can't help but think JK was trolling with the amount of white swooshy references she used with the patronus training - congratulations JK you reduced me to a 12 year old!

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  7. Oh my god, oh my god, grumpy Tommy Lee Jones is the BEST! I kind of love his face, like, in general!

    It's possible that you're obsessed with the Weasley boys masturbation habits. All I can think now is, Fred and George totally share a room, right, so how do they find the time to... TELL ME HOW KAYLEIGH!

    I was so so so sad for Harry about his parents. Because like, how awful must that be, for that to be the only memory he gets of them, so he both wants to and doesn't want to hear them? It hurts my heart!

    I had actually forgotten that Crookshanks WASN'T an animagus! All through the book, I was like 'So he turns out to be a human later as well, right?' but nope. Still just a cat. But a really really smart cat, obviously.

    My thought on the penseive is that, um, JK hadn't thought it up yet? So it couldn't be used for anything at all?

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    1. When I was in Japan Tommy Lee Jones was EVERYWHERE because he is the face of one of their coffee brands and I loved it because Tommy Lee Jones is AMAZING.

      I might be a little obsessed, but once that wheel is set in motion WHAT AM I MEANT TO DO? With Fred and George though I bet they just took a lot of showers.

      That must have been so fun about the Crookshanks thing! I'm thinking maybe I need to leave bigger gaps between my reads, because I'm not quite at the stage where I forget big things like that, but there is a bit of a newness about some sections where I've forgotten some of the smaller details. I wish I could read this for the first time again :(

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  8. Aww, owl.

    And yeah, Crookshanks totally seemed like not-actually-a-cat. Nice move, J.K. Was not expecting that.

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    1. Isn't it just the cutest? I know Ron's new owl isn't this breed, but this is going to be my go-to reference whenever Pig is mentioned from here on out.

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  9. OMG RIGHT? Stop being so reckless with everyone's sacrifices, Harry. It makes me like you less.

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  10. I'm glad Crookshanks turns out to be a super-awesome cat-cat and not a just-average cat-human. Because he was in the animal store for a long time and no one wanted him, and now he can be like, "Aren't you all sorry you didn't want me now?!" Only it's meowing and no one can understand him...because he's a cat.

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  11. Hahaha love your 30 second, beginning-of-the-episode-recap!

    HAHA your animagus question is SO LEGIT. I remember reading Animorphs and though it was bothersome how they always had to carry spare clothes around with them OR wear bike shorts (because that somehow accommodated their shape-shifting). Either scenario (naked or wearing bike shorts) is not ideal for Pettigrew. Awwkward!

    Lupin is a PRO at giving guilt trips, WOW.

    Bwahahaha and the wand innuendos kill me every time!

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