Video Review - Tumblr Posts
(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6YTnxWkvs8)
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD BOOK REVIEW
(*SPOILERS AHEAD*)
AUTHOR: J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany
PUBLISHED DATE: July 31, 2016
SERIES: Harry Potter [Original Script by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany]
PAGES: Approx. 320 pages
RATING: 4/5 STARS
The eighth story – 19 years later.
Rumors about J.K. Rowling continuing the adventures of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley have been circulating the Internet since the publication of Deathly Hallows in 2007. Although there are 7 full-length novels, 8 movies, 3 companion stories, several video games, a couple thousand fanfiction websites, numerous blogs, Pottermore, and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter amusement parks located in California, Florida and Japan – the world still constantly asks for more adventures about the Boy-Who-Lived and his two best friends. It wasn’t until December 2013 that it was revealed to the world that a play about the much-beloved fantasy series was being put into production, with plans to launch the performance in 2016 at the latest.
At first, because of certain choice comments released to the media, it was believed that the play, The Cursed Child (its official title was revealed June 2015) would center on Harry Potter and his parents, James and Lily. The idea that this was going to be a prequel story about the Potter parents and their son, with speculation revolving around the concept that the play would start in James’ and Lily’s 7th year, follow as they graduate Hogwarts, marry, and fight in the Order of the Phoenix, eventually leading up to their deaths by Voldemort, continued for some time before Rowling herself admitted that The Cursed Child was actually a sequel to the book franchise, with the story centering around Albus Severus Potter, Harry and Ginny’s second child and son.
Divided into two parts and four acts, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened at West End Palace Theatre, London, scheduled on July 30th, 2016. On July 31st, 2016 – Harry Potter and the J.K. Rowling’s shared birthday – a printed and digital copy of the two-part play, a special first edition entitled “Special Rehearsal Edition,” was released, with plans for a finished, re-edited “Definitive Collector’s Edition” to be released in 2017.
*~*~*~*
Two boys from two different families. One with a family legacy that he fears he’ll never live up to; the other with a legacy he fears he will never escape from.
Albus Severus Potter arrives at Hogwarts with a particular set of expectations already placed on him. Not unlike his father, Harry Potter, Albus must contend with other people’s estimation on what kind of person he is, the kind of wizard he’ll grow up to be, and how he’ll measure up to the legacy left behind not only by his father but also his namesakes, Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape.
Scorpius Malfoy – the son of Harry’s rival Draco Malfoy – also has expectations, but whereas Albus is viewed favorably due to his family and name, Scorpius is looked down upon with fear, disgust and morbid curiosity. There are rumors circulating the Wizarding World about Scorpius Malfoy’s true parentage, rumors that make him out to be something much worse than the son of an ex-Death Eater. Surprisingly, despite the fact that he physically resembles his father Draco, people speak – in hushed tones – that Scorpius is actually the progeny of Voldemort.
Neither boy looks alike nor do they come from the same background, family, or circle of friends. The burden of their legacies, however, bonds the two children, and from there, a friendship is born.
Being sorted into Slytherin helps to strengthen that friendship; it does nothing to alleviate Albus’ situation. From the first night at Hogwarts, through the rest of first year, then second year, then third, Albus is continuously judged by the other students on not only his choice of House but also his choice of friends, his lack of flying talents, and everything else that sets him apart from the rest of his family. Sullen and resentful, by the beginning of fourth year, Albus has resigned himself to being the “black sheep” of the family.
Harry Potter’s life is no easier than his son’s. Despite the war being over and Voldemort dead, there is still much trouble needing to be dealt. He cannot seem to mend his straining relationship with his youngest son, and he’s being plagued with nightmares about his past. If that wasn’t bad enough, in between working as an Auror, managing as Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Department, and juggling his responsibilities as a father and husband, he, Hermione (the current Minister of Magic) and Ron stumble upon a magical item that no one thought they’d ever see again, at least not after the Battle at the Ministry of Magic: a Time-Turner. The discovery of such an object brings a figure from the past to Harry’s doorstep, and when Albus overhears this particular conversation, it sets into motion a daring quest to change the past and bring back to life a much-missed character.
What neither Albus or Harry or anyone could’ve predicted, this same quest may end up resulting in Voldemort’s return. After all, why else would Harry’s scar start to hurt again?
*~*~*~*
Reading Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was a quick and enjoyable experience. Unlike the 7 novels and 3 companion books, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is printed in the script format, so there isn’t much detail about the surroundings, classes, people and events that were featured. It was a new way to experience Harry Potter, certainly, and made for a quick reading, but there were several issues. A lot of scenes took place in familiar settings – the Ministry of Magic, Hogwarts, Dumbledore’s (now Minerva’s) office, the Forbidden Forest, the Quidditch pitch – so it wasn’t difficult to picture it mentally because a lot of the scenes came from watching all 8 Harry Potter movies. What was difficult about reading The Cursed Child in the script format was when it came to certain scenes involving magic, transformations, duelings, and subterfuge. A great part of the reason why I want to see the play for myself is because I want to see how the theatre adapted the Wizarding World onto a live stage: I want to see the costumes, the stage props, the background designs, hear the sounds and see the lighting and how they accomplish making it look like the actors were doing magic or transforming into each other with the use of Polyjuice Potion. Another difficulty is the lack of emotional empathy for the characters introduced, most especially the new ones. Caring for Ron, Hermione, Harry, Ginny or even Draco comes from the fact that we were able to connect with them because Rowling had fleshed out their characters and was able to elaborate on their thoughts, emotions, decisions and pasts; I enjoyed the characters that were newly-introduced in The Cursed Child but I couldn’t feel as strongly for them because we were only able to garner their personality from the dialogue they had and speculate on everything else about them.
The story for The Cursed Child was certainly an interesting one. I wouldn’t have guessed that Time-Turners would come back into the story, although this probably fulfills the wishes of every reader whom wished that J.K. Rowling expanded on the time-travel magic that she introduced in Prisoner of Azkaban but never thought to bring up again. A probable reason for why Rowling hadn’t involved time travel more is most likely because it’s a confusing concept with many variables, outcomes and possibilities for paradoxes and the sort, assuming she goes for the basic rules of time travel: the butterfly effect, fixed timeline events, paradoxes, etc. It was certainly confusing in The Cursed Child, more so because there was little elaboration on how time travel magic worked in the Wizarding World and how one’s actions in the past ultimately led to the new future created.
Another surprise was the subject of Voldemort having fathered a child. That idea always seemed more like a fanfiction story prompt than an actual detail belonging to the story of Harry Potter. Needless to say I was shocked that it featured here in The Cursed Child. And I thought that the idea of Scorpius actually being rumored to be that child was laughable. Even disregarding the physical resemblance to Draco, I got enough of an impression on Scorpius’ personality to know that no one in their right mind would believe he was related to an ex-Death Eater, much less be the son of the Dark Lord.
I was greatly overjoyed about Harry’s, Hermione’s and Ron’s return in The Cursed Child. Now adults and married, with kids in school and their own individual careers, everyone’s favorite Golden Trio continue their lives as both family and friends now that Voldemort has been vanquished and the Ministry and Wizarding World is rebuilt. In the 19 years that have passed since the end of the war, Harry, Hermione and Ron have experienced much and it shows in the small changes to their personalities. The most noticeable change is Harry: juggling his work and his family life is no easy task, but the strain shows in particular when it comes to Albus, whom during one particular scene he has a bad argument with. Readers will know which scene I’m talking about; it’s the same scene that most people take issue with because of how out-of-character Harry responds to Albus and then to McGonagall in a later part of The Cursed Child. I have my own issues with this scene but I put it down to the fact that Harry as an adult is a different person to when we last saw him as a 17-year-old hero, and that because we skipped to 19 years later, we weren’t able to see how him develop into the person, father and husband he is now.
Because of how the play is written and how long it would actually take to perform, it’s understandable that certain things couldn’t be properly explained and why certain characters didn’t appear or weren’t even mentioned. That being said, it’s another disadvantage of The Cursed Child being released in script form. James Sirius and Lily Luna, Harry’s and Ginny’s other children, appeared in, at most, three scenes total in The Cursed Child and then never mentioned again. None of the Weasley’s beyond Ginny and Ron appeared; none of the other kids of the new generation (besides Rose Weasley) appeared; not even Neville and Luna appeared in The Cursed Child. Only Neville has been given a mention at all the entire script. It was disappointing that we weren’t able to check in on any of the other characters, especially in regards to the situation, or how they thought it should be dealt, and that other characters that were featured were given a brief cameo at best.
For all its problems, The Cursed Child is still something worth checking out. I can’t honestly say that The Cursed Child met everyone’s expectations, and for some of us it came as something of a disappointment because of how certain scenes were written, what certain characters did and how the story progressed, because I know that another issue is the fact that the Time-Turner and its uses, discovery, and creation were never properly explained and that, in turn, caused a bit of confusion regarding the storyline.
That doesn’t mean, however, that The Cursed Child didn’t have its own merits and value. Although I can’t say that I love The Cursed Child with the same energy as the novels and movies, that’s an unfair comparison. When read and analyzed on its own, the story was intriguing, the characters were a great surprise in how we came to know them and re-know them, and despite the lack of details and explanations, it gave readers the chance to mentally build up the story in their own minds, which is something we’ve always had to do before the movies were created. And that’s what we have to do now.
At least until the play comes to America.
Don't forget to watch video review of juni taisen on YouTube