The Not a Book Club Club discussion

Discuss Chapter 19 - Chapter 22

NOTE: While this section is meant to focus on the specified chapters of this book, this read is meant for people who have already read the entire series.

As a result, unlike most of our group reads, full spoilers for the series will be allowed without spoiler tags in every discussion post.

If you haven't read some/all of the books (What's wrong with you?) proceed at your own peril.

Finished it just now. I just couldn't bring myself to stop reading this.

I loved at the end, what Harry tells Uncle Vernon about Sirius Black.

It all ties together a little too neatly, though, doesn't it? I think Sirius giving him permission for Hogsmeade was overkill.

Rabindranauth wrote: "Finished it just now. I just couldn't bring myself to stop reading this. "

Now you just have to restrain yourself for 2 weeks from starting the next one. :)

And what is so wrong with a happy ending? God these are supposed to be aimed at kids. I know the world doesn't do much in the way of happy endings, but isn't that part of the reason for fiction? To escape reality?

Sometimes I like everything wrapped up all neatly. But I guess that's why I like the epilogue for Deadly Hallows when most people seem to hate it.

I dug the epilogue for Deathly Hallows as well.

I hated that epilogue.

I'll jump in on the book discussion when I'm not typing on my phone.

Rob wrote: "Rabindranauth wrote: "Finished it just now. I just couldn't bring myself to stop reading this. "

Now you just have to restrain yourself for 2 weeks from starting the next one. :)"

Lol, no worries on that front.

For a middle grade ending it's definitely great, I just didn't dig the Hogsmeade permission slip ending. Ah well, all in all, an excellent reread. I actually ended up enjoying this book a lot more than I did before. Score one for positive valency!

Here's my review

Ch. 19
-Lupin and Sirius jump to murder awfully quick.

-Sirius is right – being a better rat than a human is nothing to boast about.

-I find now that I'm older that I identify with the adults a lot more, especially everything that happened with the Marauders and James' and Lily's deaths.

Ch. 20
-Poor Harry has the dream of living with Sirius crushed after a short time.

Ch. 21
-Harry gets a hard but necessary lesson: Dumbledore can't fix everything.

-Dumbledore must have known the whole time that someone successfully rescued Buckbeak from the get-go but not until later that it was Harry and Hermione.

-Prisoner of Azkaban is probably my least favorite film. One thing that irritates me to no end: When Harry and Hermione use the Time Turner to go back 3 hours, Hermione makes a comment about what her hair looks like from the back. Book Hermione would never make that comment. It's vain and she's not that kind of person.

-The end of this book is so emotional and personal for Harry. Learning so much about his father, finding Sirius and helping him escape, learning about his dad's friends... gah. I love it.

Ch. 22
-Lupin is leaving. :-( Petty shit like Snape telling the Slytherins about Lupin is why I don't like him.

-Dumbledore has the opportunity to tell Harry about the prophecy again but chooses not to. Don't blame him. Harry is already down about Lupin leaving and Pettigrew getting away and losing Sirius. Don't want to burden him even more.

-Sirius is the best. I love his letter to Harry, the permission slip, and giving the owl to Ron.

My review.

I had to stop reading for a day when Sirius invited Harry to come live with him and everything was going to be so happy....because .... sniff...I was hoping it would be different this time =).

Yeah. I think that's the worst part. Not all the stuff with Voldemort. But how Sirius dies and Harry never gets to live with him. :'(

Alex wrote: "Dara wrote: "-Prisoner of Azkaban is probably my least favorite film. One thing that irritates me to no end: When Harry and Hermione use the Time Turner to go back 3 hours, Hermione makes a comment..."

Heh, it's a management theory thing. Basically, for every task one of your workers does, you assign a valency.

If they did a job and enjoyed it, +1.
If they did a job and hated it, -1.
If they did a job and don't care they did, 0.

The goal is that at the end of the work day, every worker has a positive valency.

In my case I came out of the book enjoying it much more than any other time I've read it. So positive valency :)

Alex:
-Sirius talking about never betraying Lily and James hit me so much harder this time around. I think it has to do with me relating to the adults a lot more now that I'm older.

-I think Snape believes Sirius's story and wants to send him back to Azkaban out of pettiness.

-Great quote from Gandalf! Definitely see the parallels there.

-I'm glad I'm not the only one who really doesn't like this movie adaptation. A lot of fans hold it up as the best.

-There is a difference however between a happy, satisfying ending, and one that feels a bit too perfect, and seems constructed rather than an organic conclusion to the story.

That's how I feel about the epilogue - it doesn't feel organic. But that's a discussion for another day.

I like but don't love all the movies. None are great adaptations though. The first one is the best adaptation. Not sure which is my favorite movie though.

Yeah I didn't love any of the movies. I thought they did a great job with the casting, though. They lose a lot of the subtly through the translation and I hate the unnecessary additions. Don't think I really had a favorite

Yea, I think that wrap up line was priceless also. I can imagine Uncle Vernon's face.

I really need to watch those movies someday. I've seen the first three, the majority of the fourth, and bits and pieces of the fifth.

I'm not crazy about the films either. Like Rob, the first one is my favorite. It captures the wonder and magic so well. I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by the 6th. It was unexpectedly funny.

I have seen all of the movies at least 20 times. My old roommate was obsessed with them. I was always annoyed that they didn't use contacts to change Harry's eyes green since it was such an easy fix to fit the story.

"Ready?" He whispered to Hermione. "You'd better hold on to me -"

Smooth Harry. Oldest trick in the book.

Lol

Bill wrote: ""Ready?" He whispered to Hermione. "You'd better hold on to me -"

Smooth Harry. Oldest trick in the book."

Hilarious.

Several people really didn't care for the Time Turner, but I loved the whole bit. I actually read this book first out of the whole series. I somehow missed they hype of the first too, probably being a lot older than their intended audience.

But I borrowed this from my sister, and after getting through the Time Turner scenes, I was hooked for the rest of the series. I loved how it was hinted at much earlier in the book, but I had no idea it was coming.