Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter)

J.K. Rowling (Mary Grandpre, J. K. Rowling)

The boy who Lived.....and HOW!!! I was expecting my return trip to be something of a dampener. I...more

The boy who Lived.....and HOW!!! I was expecting my return trip to be something of a dampener. I had finished the series…. and after all, how many more surprises could the first book reveal? The magic must have faded over time and the characters must surely have achieved the status of house-guests who had overstayed their welcome. But predictably enough, I was proved wrong. It offered me new avenues of thought. It was interesting to see how the complex and brave heroes of the later years started off as grimy, nervous, ickle-firsties! It was a time for firsts…..neglected, ill-treated Harry’s discovery that he is a wizard – an actual-honest-to-goodness-magic wand-wielding-wizard….that he had a family who loved him and lost their lives to save him……..that there exists a fantastic magical world where’s he much, much more than just an unwanted kid who stayed under the stairs. It is also the first time he meets his to-be best friends, not know that it would be the start of unforeseen but memorable adventures for them. My personal delight lay in the re-introduction to some of the finest characters I could hope to find sandwiched in one series: Dumbledore, McGonagall, Ron, Hermione, Neville Longbottom, Peeves, Filch, Malfoy,Nearly-Headless Nick, Hagrid, Snape, Voldemort, Fred and George, the Dursleys and of course…..a truly well-crafted hero…The Boy Who Lived. I also liked the fact that Rowling didn’t patronize her young readers. She spoke about death and other sensitive topics that usually don’t find their way into a children’s book. Minimal sugar-coating…..she created realism in a world of improbability. It’s not all fun and games…..at the end of the day, Harry has to face his demons. He gets his first opportunity to prove that he’s more than just the kid with a glorious and mysterious past. The book sets an adequate pace, unsolved questions and a strong foundation for the rest in the series. It engages, it thrills, it satisfies. Needless to say……the rest is history.    hide

I’m about fifty pages into the first harry potter. I’m not really enjoying it,...more

I’m about fifty pages into the first harry potter. I’m not really enjoying it, because it's all too familiar. Didn’t I used to write like this in the sixth grade? Yes, in fact I did. I find this very annoying. The writing style is the same, and the characterization is the same, and worst of all, the imagination is the same. This is easily my story, I could just as easily write about a giant on a motorcycle that flies. How random, how me (giant and motorcycle disturbed me the most). I suppose I should be praising Rowling for getting into the mind of a sixth grader so well. As a sixth grader I would've loved this book, but now I’m asking, did it have to be my mind so exactly? There are differences, my stories were much more complicated, in the sense that if they had been less complicated they would have been easier to understand. But they were complicated as only a sixth grader could complicate things, and to simplify would have meant ending up with this harry potter product. It’s so simple it's almost humiliating. And I never relied on stereotypes the way Ms. Rowling does. Mostly because I didn't know what they were. I may have relied on some inadvertently, I mean hey, stereotypes are pretty funny to a sixth grader, but I never used it as a device to make my plots easier to understand. Maybe that's my problem, maybe this book is so dumbed down as only a sixth grader could do it, but then it's also refined by an adult point of view and dumb downed even more, in sneaky ways that we simple sixth graders can't understand. It’s polished and there are literary devices being used. What’s all that about? Review written in 1999 (yes, I finished it. And never picked up a Potter book again.)   hide

As a faithful rendering of the book squeezed into a two-and-a-half hour period, the movie is...more

As a faithful rendering of the book squeezed into a two-and-a-half hour period, the movie is beautifully done. I don't have a single complaint about any of the actors, who successfully bring to life, with the aid of costume design and special effects, the many colorful characters from the book. My favorite character, the giant Hagrid, is played by Robbie Coltrane, and I say with no exaggeration that he is exactly how I imagined him while reading the book. It's as if they took the image in my mind and transferred it to the screen. While I had my own personal image of Snape (for some reason, I always imagined him as the head villain from another Chris Columbus film, "Adventures in Babysitting"), Alan Rickman is perfect in the role. I usually expect to have words of criticism for some performances, but I just don't. The remaining adult actors, including Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall and Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore, are as good as they possibly could be, and the kids do an excellent job of holding their own against these veterans. Some have criticized Daniel Radcliffe for appearing too subdued in the title role, but that's exactly how the character is portrayed in the book: modest, unassuming, and laid-back. The kids who play Harry's two best friends are flawless.    hide

Writing a review for this book represents a particular challenge. On the one hand, it is a...more

Writing a review for this book represents a particular challenge. On the one hand, it is a delightful, short (300 pages) read that is pleasant, surprising, and satisfying. On the other hand, it is the shortest and simplest of the almost seven-book series. Comparing it to juvenile fiction books in general, Sorcerer's Stone is a solid winner. It's a very well written, charming story that introduces us to a world that we don't want to leave. Hogwarts and the world of magic become for us (as it does for Harry) home, and one is sad to put down the book and come back to the real world. It is a great introductory book, as it gets many of the main characters of the series out in the open, lets us know who they are, and the battle between good (Harry) and evil (Voldemort) is set up well. Comparing it to the other Potter books, this is by far the least complex and shortest of the books. It is a simple narrative with few subplots running around in it. Clocking in at a little over 300 pages, the size is nothing compared to the fifth book, which comes in at well over 800 pages. But, as an introductory book, one that is written with an eleven year old in mind, this is a delightful fantasy book, one that will surprise and delight. It will also leave you wanting more, which is good, because there are six more to go, and they only get better.   hide