Sean Randall reviewed Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter)
Review of 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Hoo-Boy! What a whirlwind of controversy Rowling has unleashed with this one. Spoilers coming. Not quite in this paragraph, but if you are not familiar with the plot, don't say you weren't warned.
My review readers will of course be familiar with my Harry journey. If you're not one of those, you can catch up when I first reread The Philosopher's Stone since joining Goodreads. I reread the whole series thereafter, of course, and whilst my initial disgust for Deathly Hallows was pronounced (it did really read like a movie script) I think a rereading mellowed me some. Certainly, I enjoyed The Casual Vacancy.
Now I've read so much about The Cursed Child that it's hard to be certain of anything. I've never actually seen it on-stage, but then a lot of the visual magic would be lost on me anyway. SO I suppose all I have to go on …
Hoo-Boy! What a whirlwind of controversy Rowling has unleashed with this one. Spoilers coming. Not quite in this paragraph, but if you are not familiar with the plot, don't say you weren't warned.
My review readers will of course be familiar with my Harry journey. If you're not one of those, you can catch up when I first reread The Philosopher's Stone since joining Goodreads. I reread the whole series thereafter, of course, and whilst my initial disgust for Deathly Hallows was pronounced (it did really read like a movie script) I think a rereading mellowed me some. Certainly, I enjoyed The Casual Vacancy.
Now I've read so much about The Cursed Child that it's hard to be certain of anything. I've never actually seen it on-stage, but then a lot of the visual magic would be lost on me anyway. SO I suppose all I have to go on is character and action and word.
I did quite enjoy it, do you know? I mean it wasn't magical in the same way that Harry's growing up was. But for me it set out to show me a little more of the future of things; the harmonic between Harry, Ron and Hermione present but in the background and the reality, the poignancy and the real magic focused on Albus. And then we come full circle at the end, that final scene in 1981 glues us right into the first day of the Philosopher's Stone.
People have argued that The Cursed Child is "just bad fanfic". I like fanfic. I've read a great deal of it: not so much now, but in that big gap and between the rest of the books as well and I can say without reservation that Some fanfiction authors are very talented. Equally, nobody can say Rowling tried to sell a novel as a cinematic experience this time. Those comments have been around since Half-Blood Prince but I think it's undeniable she's got a solid team here who can produce on-stage drama worthy of Harry's legacy.
As to the plot? yes, there are contrivances. But theatre is contrivance, it's what makes it good theatrics. Does the whole time travel thing hold a taste of teen-penned, angst-riddled fanfiction? Perhaps so - but what came first? if the fanfic writers hadn't used the device until after the play, who'd be copying whom?
For all the cliches, I think it's a solid story. It's not something you'd believe happened to one of your mates if he told you about it down the pub, but it does, morally and true to the world Rowling has made, give a lot of detail and definition into things such as parenthood, growing up, friendship and expectation. I think I'd be disappointed by it as a sixteen-year-old expecting new spells and further adventures of our hero Harry. But as a thirty-year-old father who can still sometimes see that teen, I think this is a diamond of a tale, shining lights in areas the books didn't explore and in a format to capture the imagination in a new, shiny and interesting way.
