Friday, March 31, 2017

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Miss 11 bought this with her own money the moment she could and read it the same day.   She loved it, for any continuation in the HP empire is a treat as far as she is concerned (hence her Christmas presents filled in the gaps in the DVD collection!) 

J.K. Rowling has teamed up with two other writers, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne to write a play set 19 years after the Harry Potter books – it picks up at the point of the final chapter of book seven, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It mainly follows Harry’s second son Albus Severus as he starts his education at Hogwarts.   Surprisingly for many, he ends up in Slytherin House and becomes friends with Scorpius Malfoy, Draco’s son.  Over the course of the play, with the introduction of a more powerful time-turner, Albus and Severus seek to change the past.  As such we are introduced to two other possible realities, where the events of the previous books are changed and the future is very different.  It’s an interesting premise, but in the end, it just rehashes the events of previous books and rework the endings – so it doesn’t feel especially new. 

I found the play format frustrating.  So much more could have been done with a novel, and plays are by nature harder to read and follow.   Miss 11 agreed with me on this, also preferring a novel format.  With no explanation of who some characters were, there were times we weren’t sure if a character was a fellow Hogwarts student or an adult. 

In the end, it was a light, mostly entertaining read delving back into the world of Harry Potter - a book series which we have enjoyed.  Existing fans will probably like it, as it continues the characters they have grown to know and love, and watching their children together is always a fun continuation of a loved story.  Yet, I finished it feeling it lacked something – and I think it was depth and originality.

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