Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

[smeddley]

I'm confused as to why they changed certain things in the movie. It's all little things, things that don't seem to make much difference, but it's like they felt the need to make some sort of change...

The books are still short enough that the movies aren't leaving much out. The writing is still far move juvenile than I remember - I think her writing improved as the books got deeper and more complicated. Practice, perhaps? Of maybe I'm even remembering the last book as better than it is!

The characters seem more true to the 'movie' versions now (other than a few physical details, like McGonnagal's glasses). It was much easier picturing the movie as I was reading, it seemed to mesh together better (I'm still not over how really unlikeable Hermoine was at the beginning of book one!).

So, onward to book three...

Comments

[kailita.livejournal.com]

The writing is still far move juvenile than I remember - I think her writing improved as the books got deeper and more complicated.

I remember thinking the same thing when I went back to reread the series last summer. Particularly with the first book! But they do get better as they go along...wait until you reread the 4th and 5th books...I was really impressed with those after going through the ones that came before them.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the later books are more fresh in my mind, so I was kinda shocked re-reading the first three. I didn't remember them being Children's books! ;)

I'm excited to keep reading, but if I don't finish by Friday night... do I put off book 7 until I complete my re-read? I think I should, just to make sure I don't miss anything... but at the same time, it'll be hard to exercise that sort of self-control!

[revoked-soul.livejournal.com]

I'm doing a similar re-reading, mainly because my memory is failing me and I cant really remember a lot of what happened in the books. Its been a long time since I read them, especially the earlier ones.

I have this theory that when you read something for the first time, you dont notice the writing so much as long as the story's good. You're too busy finding out what happens next to get caught up in the writing style (unless the writing is really atrocious, in which case it keeps you from getting into the story). But in a reread, when you already know to a certain extent what's coming next, your brain is more free to notice those details.

Which is an unnecessarily long way of getting around to saying I'm noticing the same things.

[smeddley.livejournal.com]

I understand the memory thing - I'm picking up a lot of things I'd forgotten, or the movies had overridden in my mind. There's really a lot more to them than I remember!

And, yes, I agree. A really great story can pull me along and I'll gloss over some pretty egregious errors in the writing - because my mind is already two paragraphs ahead to 'what happens next?!'. But once you know the story, and settle in for a good re-read, it's harder to gloss over those things. And not that her writing is bad, like some things I've read recently, it's just not amazing. But it is an amazing story, so I guess it balances out.