Happy Reading and Happy Weekend! So besides reading, I do enjoy many other things in life and Baltimore along with having an awesome job, hence I had to take a few days off from the blog (but not really from reading.)The Chamber of Secrets has been open and closed. Saturday, I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Let me start this post with this is my least favorite Harry Potter book in the series. After reading all seven books many times, the book makes much more sense in the grand picture of the quest Harry, Ron and Hermione serve throughout the book. The first time I read the book, I thought to myself this is weird.
Every time I read the Chamber of Secrets, I realize the importance of this book. We see the great trio emerge and the great lengths they will go to support the good versus evil battle. After establishing the familiar magical setting in book one, Rowling now uses the second book to bring out the magical characters and strong influence of fantasy literature. Talking animals, over-sized snakes, the phoenix all play critical roles in s book two. Other classic fairy tales such as The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wind and the Willows, and The Little White Horse utilize animals to send the protagonist to critical story changing moment or further develop the plot. Rowling continues this trend with Harry and the interplay of the magical creatures both wrecking havoc and saving the day at the end of book two.
Finally, book two is a riddle in many sense of the word. People, places and objects are not what they seem. The diary becomes Tom Riddle, Tom Riddle becomes Lord Voldemort. In later books, we learn the true reason why Tom Riddle was able to come out of the diary. The largest riddle to me comes in figuring out what is the hidden meaning or true purpose of this book? Many of the other books have some capstone point or mission that Harry reveals to the readers or Dumbledore shares with both Harry and the readers. While we learn more about Harry's world and we begin to see the character that becomes Lord Voldermort, I am not convinced that this book make since in the series as a stand alone book.
I am curious what are your thoughts on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets?
(PS I'm about 200 pages into Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
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