Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's 2023 and I'm just now getting around to reading Harry Potter. There are a number of reasons for this. One, I don't have a Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) because if you spent your life worrying about how other people feel then you'll waste all the time on your deathbed thinking about how you were a disappointment to everyone. Two, I'm a pretentious prick. In my youth, I would say that I just have good taste. And, while that remains to be true, sometimes it would keep me from enjoying something if it was popular among the unwashed masses.  So now that mob mentality from all those unwashed has finally turned against JK, I feel I can sit down to see what all the fuss was about.

I can tell right off the bat there is an inescapable charm to this book. In tone, it feels like someone is reading this story to me from my bedside while I'm curled up in my blankie. While I would normally be offended by such a delivery method, it manages to strike a perfect balance between what it is saying and how it is saying it. The book reads as if we're children but doesn't speak to us as if we're children. It handles themes of harsh seriousness as if post-toddlers can actually deal with it. I know overprotective and strictly religious parents have a hard time hearing this, but they can.

The pacing is great for the first half of the book but tends to hit the fast-forward button during the second half. One of the things I noticed when watching the movies is that, for a book series that spends 90% at a boarding school, there is a surprisingly little amount of school work. While I normally praise books that skip over anything that isn't relevant to the plot, the setting makes this skipping over more awkward. There's also the fact that it takes place over the course of a year which makes it noticeably top-heavy on the same level as Christina Hendricks. Issues I probably would have a bigger problem with if not for the intended younger audience.

Characters are just different enough to tell them apart. They also tend to be interesting but more in a quirky kind of way. I know most of these characters are children, but even the adults aren't bothered with much of a backstory. Defined more by their physical traits and functional position to the plot rather than characterization. I know through osmosis that much of this is flushed out more throughout the series but it's noticeable when your characters are bullshitting their way through the book.

Even from the very first chapter, I can tell why this series is popular. While it's not a perfect book, it's perfect for the audience it sought out. It's charming and imaginative but not in an overly stupid way as with most books in this genre. I can't help but escape the fact that sometimes something is popular because it's good. Or has an OnlyFans account.

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