欧宝娱乐

On my list of reasons why my daughters are the bestest thing to ever happen to me, Number 14,577 is that they gave me, at 41 years old, the perfect excuse to revisit the Harry Potter series.

When my oldest angel told me she wanted to start reading the Harry Potter books, I couldn’t have been happier. As I was collecting all seven volumes off the shelf to bring up to her room, I started feeling nostalgic for the whole Hogwarts gang, and I realized that I’d never done more than a perfunctory review of this first volume. I figured it was high time to rectify that oversight.

Harry deserves it.

However, with over a million ratings, and almost two reviews for every day I’ve been alive, I think I can dispense with any plot distillation or character profiles. It has all been eloquently said before. Therefore, I just want to briefly express what I see as the essential magic at the heart of the series, and why I think it has resonated so strongly with so many people.

Here goes...

Only rarely does a story come along that can so completely wrap you up in a warm blanket of contentment and good feelings. One that can hold at bay, even if only for precious moments, the nasty brutishness of what often passes for daily life. These stories do that.

It’s an escape into a world of optimism, honor, and hope, where things always look hopeful and anything is possible. Who wouldn't want to hang around in a place like that, especially when it is decorated with sorting hats, kindly giants, magic wands and Quidditch.

Granted...no aspect of the story is revolutionary, or even particularly noteworthy, from the standpoint of blazing new trails within the fantasy genre. It isn’t great literature, and nothing about its technical merits makes it befitting of even a fraction of its unprecedented success.

Fine...acknowledged. And? So what!

The virtue of this story is the postive feelings it conjures in its readers. Harry’s story is something that radiates acceptance, inclusion, and friendship. It invokes a sense of belonging. Inside these pages, you can find the impetus to see the better angels of humanity’s nature, and feel just a little better about the world around you.

How is that not worthy of praise?

As for Harry himself, he’s just a good kid. The quintessential everyman who makes good. A loving boy with a clear head on his shoulders and a caring heart that pumps affection for the world around him. He’s someone you can’t help but like.

He’s not perfect. He makes mistakes, he’s occasionally short sighted, and I know many of us wish he would stick up for himself a little more. Maybe reduce his aunt and uncle to a pair of fatty stains on the carpet, or give Dudley an atomic wedgie until his skivvies scrape against his pancreas.

But that’s not Harry. He’s a better person than that. That’s why we love him.

Maybe all of the above is a bit much. Like I said, I was feeling nostalgic and maybe the gush got a tad away from me. Let’s just say that these stories are perfect comfort food and reading them will make you happy.

I’ll certainly settle for that.

As for the rating, I Initially only gave this first volume 3 stars, and I’m not going to change that now. As much as I love the series as a whole, I don’t think it reaches stratospheric heights until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Still, this is where it all began. As such, it should be read and savored knowing that it only gets better.

3.0 stars. Highly Recommended.