Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
People all over the world had been waiting for this book for what seemed like an eternity. Now that it is here, I think the wait has been worthwhile. If you are a Harry Potter fan, read on. Else, don’t waste your precious bandwidth. Because The Half-Blood Prince is an entertaining book, but it is still a Harry Potter!
Rowling learnt from her mistake. She ensured that this book mended what the last one had ruined – a cheery thrill that keeps you turning the pages. Don’t get me wrong, The Order of the Phoenix was also a page-turner, it had its twists and turns, but it was gloomy. However, the Half-Blood Prince has it all: thrill, mystery (and this is not about who dies), twists, funnies, adolescent romance, and fascinating fantasies!
In keeping with her usual style, Rowling helps you warm up for the characters she is going to use in the climax. Half way through the book you can guess who’ll date who, who’ll win the quidditch match, who’ll help death eaters but that is okay, because this isn’t the mystery. Nope, the mystery is not even who’ll die this time. And, that is the best part of the book. The author has done an amazing job of underplaying the real thing until the very end. She unveils the thing so casually, that the reader has to do a double take. Awesome!
However, she hurried the end. For reasons better known to Rowling, she just got over with the book after a few things happened. The last thirty pages or so are drab and don’t add anything to the story. It just provides a reasonable closure for readers so that they can wait patiently for the next book. Nope, there is no to-be-continued thrill either; one just loses interest.
All the same, an interesting book. If you have read the previous ones, you will read this one as well. Do that, it is my second favorite in the series. (The Prisoner of Azkaban being at the top of my list)
7/5/2005
I, the Divine
Amy Tan says this is a ‘Literary genius, humorously naughty’. I say this
is a ‘Well represented confused mind of a woman.’
Rabih Alameddine writes a journal of an utterly confused, rebellious
woman. I respect him for being able to represent feelings of a woman so
well. He must really know what goes on inside a female head to have been
able to write this book. But that is where my praises for the book end.
Alameddine has put together seemingly endless series of chapter ones
describing the supposedly exciting and definitely atypical life of Sarah
Nour El-Din. Sarah grows up in Beirut during the civil war and travels
to New York to lead a normal life, in vain. Her life story includes an
array of bizarre relatives: a psychotic sister who turns into a serial
killer, a homosexual lover, a devoted ex-husband, a not-so-devoted
ex-husband, a lesbian best friend, gay brother, a depressed mother, an
obsessed step-mother…the list goes on.
Alameddine writes the entire book in first chapters; this is a pain
after a while. He repeats the descriptions, the characters are
re-introduced, the scenario is restated. I get bored. A unique, novel,
and dull style of writing. The book has no beginning, and of course, no
end. It just goes on and on describing the events of Sarah’s life. Some
chapter ones are complex, deep, and run high on emotions. Others
describe mundane activities like taking a bath. In Alameddine’s defense,
the characterization is very well done. The book is full of people and
by the time you reach half way, you know them well. (The fact that most
characters are introduced at least three times helps this point.)
Read I, the Divine if you want to experience a book that travels in time
(not the Sci-fi way, silly!) Alameddine writes about the kid Sarah who
listens eagerly to her gramp’s mystical stories, about the rebellious
teen aged Sarah who is out to get them all, about young romantic Sarah
who marries the man of her dream, about the middle-aged Sarah who
marries for convenience, about the mother Sarah, about the aching and
lonely Sarah, about an incomplete woman Sarah. The author has a great
understanding but his writing style is what did not appeal to me. If you
like to read, give him a shot. May be you could tell me what I am
missing here.
