Skip to main content

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone Book Review (in honor of the movie's 20th anniversary!)

 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone:


In grand celebration of the Movie adaptations 20th anniversary, I thought that it would be somewhat appropriate to reflect on the first ever Harry Potter book: Sorcerer's (or Philosopher's) Stone!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Spoilers


The story follows the lovable, ever iconic Harry Potter: As a baby, he lost his parents to "You-Know-Who," an evil and powerful wizard, but lived when he struck him with a spell, leaving a lightning bolt shaped scar on his head. He's delivered to his closest relatives the Dursleys: Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and Cousin Dudley. 

He's raised in their house as sort of a lesser being who's inferior to the rest of the family. This stems from the fact that he has magical heritage, which would harm the Dursley's appearance of being completely, totally, wholly normal. He's forced into staying in a dusty cupboard under the stairs, made to do the bulk of their chores, not allowed to ask questions, yelled at, and neglected on a daily basis.

 This is opposite of how Dudley is treated: Dudley is massively spoiled, meaning he gets 39 presents on his birthday, he gets to go to amusement parks, burger restaurants, while Harry gets to stay with some old lady who smells of cabbage. Dudley is also practically encouraged and enabled into bullying and abusing Harry emotionally, mentally and physically. 

Soon enough, we get to the whimsy.

The Dursley's soon start receiving mysterious letters in their mail addressed to Harry; and because it's about Harry, they gaslight him into thinking it was a mistake, and attempt to forget the letter even came...Then more letters start arriving, still addressed to Harry. They came through the mail slot, the Dursleys nail the mail slot. They start sliding under the doors, and entering windows, then they get ripped up and burned. And of course...the iconic chimney letter scene, where Harry attempts to grasp all the flying letters n the air instead of grabbing one off the ground (maybe that's why he was sorted into Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw).

Vernon is so fed up, that he decides to spontaneously go to a trip far away in a musty old hotel...more letters. He brings the family to a depressing shack by the ocean and...

A giant man bursts in. He gives Harry his letter, is named Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Keys, and gives Harry his letter, and a squashed cake. Hagrid also fittingly turns Dudley into, well, not a full pig. Just the tail. He already has the rest of the features. He condemns the Dursley's for keeping everything (from Harry's heritage, to how his parent's died) a secret, and whisks Harry away to Diagon Alley the next morning to buy supplies for Hogwarts like wands, owls, and hefty text books. Here, everything is the opposite of the Dursley's plain and boring lifestyle; regularly he's treated as a nobody with his broken glasses, messy hair, and baggy hand-me-downs, but in the Wizarding World: He's a celebrity. The Boy Who Lived.

Taken to King's Cross in London, albeit very reluctantly, Harry meets the Weasleys: Percy, Fred, George, and Ron, they casually phase through a wall, entering Platform 9 3/4, and get onto the Hogwarts Express. Ron meets Harry and they hit it off, bonding over future cavities snacks and candy bought from , Hermione Granger walks in, searching for a toad, sassily introduces herself and fixes Harry's glasses. SO 3 problem children who are constantly caught up in a plethora of wizarding drama begin their first year at Hogwarts.
(I'm not spoiling the rest of this)

Review:

Reflecting on this series, from the books to the movie adaptation, The Harry Potter series still remains to be one of the most iconic, and recognizable book series in probably the whole history of literature. The book series alone was enough to spark a nerd phase in me, from... I'd say around late 4th grade to early 6th grade. 

The first book shows the contrast between the dull and boring Dursley's and the exciting, dynamic, mysterious Wizarding World, and I almost feel as if that's a metaphor for escapism, where Harry readily immerses himself in Hogwarts and the rest of non-muggle society due to 11 years of ongoing abuse from the Dursleys. With J.K Rowling's descriptors already giving the audience a decent general idea of the setting, characters, and their personalities, the movie capitalized on these descriptors immensely, and produced a setting so iconic and so recognizable that millions of fans across the world would want to visit the places in the adaptation. 

Everywhere from the burst of   chimney letters a couple chapters in the story, to Diagon Alley's cluttered and bending buildings, contrasted by Gringott's Bank's very symmetrical, and stiff environment, to Hogwarts and its campus was portrayed in the most fantastic manor. The theme song they gave the movie was also extremely fitting, capturing the idea of something small, yet magical and whimsical that slowly built up and swelled in a grand crescendo.

Harry Potter is a must read for any readers who haven't yet read the books, maybe watch the movies too. And if you have been through the whole series, Fantastic Beasts included, (or even the Cursed Child play and book that nobody really enjoyed), perhaps watch the new 20th anniversary reunion movie between all the actors from the first movie. Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, and all the actors (except, Richard Harris, and Alan Rickman, may they rest in peace) will be there, along with J.K Rowling herself!

The Harry Potter series is in libraries basically everywhere. Champaign Public Library, Urbana Free, Our own library (I think), U of I's library, etc. (Really, without that series then is it even a library?)



Comments

  1. This brings back memories. I remember watching the movie for this back in 4th grade, and realized that I might read the book. I didn't read it because I saw how thick the book was. But this is one of the most popular books ever, and reviewing a iconic like this shows just how far 20 years can go.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Honestly, this review was super interesting to read because I have never read or watched Harry Potter. I knew about some of the characters and concepts but I never had any real idea of the plotline. In the past, I was deterred by the length of the books, but it does sound pretty interesting, so I might cave and read the series!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This was a fascinating review! Incredible job Willie! I have never watched or read Harry Potter, however I did know about the characters, concepts. and some of the plot. In the past I wasn't a huge fan of fiction and fantasy, but after this review I might read the series!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins of Gorlan

The Ruins of Gorlan John Flanagan Summary: The Ruins of Gorlan is the first book in the Ranger’s Apprentice series. The book starts by introducing the major enemy, Morgarath, who was exiled by King Duncan 15 years ago. Morgarath has been carefully plotting his revenge against King Duncan and the kingdom, Araluen. His army is comprised of the evil creatures, wargals. In Arulen, Will begins his training to become a ranger with his mentor, Halt. Halt is a serious person, and his teachings with Will reflect that. During a lesson, Halt takes Will to visit Old Bob, the equestrian of the fief, and Bob introduces Will to his horse, Tug. Tug is a strong and fast horse who reflects Will’s eagerness to learn. Meanwhile, Horace, a member of Battleschool, is training to become a member of the army. However, his life is incredibly depressing because he is constantly being bullied and harassed by his classmates. One day, Horace is selected to join a boar hunt with Will and Halt. Once the gr...

Assassination Classroom by Yusei Matsui. "Slice of Life-y Action Manga where a ragtag team of underperforming students attempt to kill teacher who is also a deadly alien."

 暗殺教室 (Assassination Classroom) A Manga by Yusei Matsui, Review by Willie Fowler (Yes, this guy is what is constantly drawn on the Chalk Boards) For some background,  Assassination Classroom is a manga written by Yusei Matsui from 2012 to 2016 that gained enough popularity to have an anime produced for it in Late December of 2013, and a...so-so movie. It's chapters were being published to Japan's No. 1 best selling magazine from Shueisha: "Weekly Shonen Jump" from the start of July in 2012 to the middle of March in 2016. The chapters were collected and put into 21 volumes a few months down the line, releasing in November of 2012 and concluding in July of 2016. Weekly Shonen Jump currently holds the undying One Piece ( CHAPTER 1  CAME OUT IN 1997 AND IT STILL HAS CHAPTERS NOW ), The "quirky"  My Hero Academia , Jujutsu Kaisen, and more. Though now no longer running as of now, many well known manga in pop-culture such as Naruto, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, ...