Author: J.K. Rowling
The Triwizard Tournament is to be held at Hogwarts this year, the fourth for Harry Potter at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This means students from two European wizard schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, will be at Hogwarts for the year. It also means Harry will once again be put in mortal peril.
When my wife and I first started reading the Harry Potter books, the first three had already been published. As such, the release of Goblet of Fire was our introduction to the publication craze. We didn't go to the midnight release party (my wife is a morning person) but we did pre-order our copy and pick it up the next day.
Goblet of Fire is the book in which the series loses its innocence. More on that in a bit. It's also abundantly clear Rowling is writing with the films in mind by this point. A lot of the exposition reads like a story board.
The world-building:
- This fourth book provides the first deep exploration of a wizarding world beyond the UK. Even before the Triwizard Tournament, we visit the finals of the Quidditch World Cup, contested by Ireland and Bulgaria (neither normally significant players on the world sport stage).
- It's another good food book as we see Molly Weasley cook with magic and learn of the mostly invisible House Elf staff who cook all of the amazing meals at Hogwarts.
- As powerful a wizard as Harry may be, he's a terrible date. If anything, Ron's worse.
- We get the first hints that Hermione's and Ron's feelings for each other might extend beyond platonic.
Once again, my favorite part of the story involves the Weasleys and their affection for Harry. I got quite emotional when Molly and Bill turned up as Harry's "family" for the final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Mind you, I was less impressed by Molly's passive aggression towards Hermione when she believed Rita Skeeter's article claiming that Hermione was Harry's manipulative girlfriend.
!!! SPOILER ALERT !!!
It's impossible to discuss the significance of The Goblet of Fire without addressing the book's ending. The story is 18 years old. I'm not sure what the statute of limitations on spoilers is but I'm pretty sure we haven't reached it.
Cedric Diggory, Harry's fellow Hogwarts representative for the Tournament, is murdered by Wormtail, right in front of Harry. It is not the first time the series addresses death and loss but it is the first time a student dies. A big part of why the Harry Potter story works through seven volumes is that we are taught to see Hogwarts as a sanctuary from the evils of the broader world and then feel the loss deeply when that safety is compromised. With Cedric's death, the citadel begins to crumble.
!!! END OF SPOILER !!!
SPOILER ALERT!
ReplyDeleteCedric's death was a chilling shock, and at the time (18 years ago!) we related it to war time stories. Feels more contemporary now my grandchildren are reading this.
It's so sudden, too, and Harry doesn't get proper time to process it until later - not unlike a combat death, I suppose.
DeleteGoblet is quite a step down for me between books 3 and 5. And I feel like it introduced a very large plot issue which was never addressed.
ReplyDeleteAnd that is?
DeleteI would agree there's a bit of a dip here. I find myself aware of process - not a good sign. I'd much rather forget I'm reading at all. Rowling's really good at that at her best.
That said, I feel the ending is really strong - a powerful sense of a point of no return.
It's the middle she gets lost in. It's worse in 6 & 7.
DeleteThere's absolutely no discrepancy between how fake Moody acts and real Moody. Rowling made a big point earlier when Harry and Hermione used the morphing stuff about them not being like Crabbe and Goyle, but Madeye is always Madeye no matter who is being Madeye, and that bothers me.
You make a good point with Moody. I would go further: in Book 4, she establishes him as a genuinely intriguing character, then we don't get much meaningful time with him at all after that. I don't see it so much as sloppy as a lost opportunity.
DeleteI believe the Half Blood Prince is the 6th after the Order of the Phoenix. My sister used to read these, I just hadn't time. Star Trek commitments see.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct.
DeleteI understand the time crunch. There's so much ground to cover in geekdom!
I enjoyed reading the books after the kids finished them. Those were some fun years. There are some things I didn't like and I question but we had fun.
ReplyDeleteThey really are fun. And it's been long enough for me that I've forgotten a lot of crucial details. I fully expect the story will hold up well for future generations.
DeleteWe read them all, talked about them. I never thought of Hogwarts as a place of safety, but of course it is!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly is for Harry. The most important reason, in terms of story, for him to return to the Dursleys every year is to remind us of the contrast between his two lives. One gets the feeling Harry would rather face Lord Voldemort than Uncle Vernon.
DeleteWhen Hogwarts eventually "falls," it's heartbreaking in a way Tolkien never quite achieved with Middle Earth nor Lewis with Narnia. Rowling is far from perfect but she deserves a lot of credit for the intensity of the emotional journey she leads us on.
I liked #4 and thought it was quite good with the challenges they had to face. I think of Hogwarts as a place of fairy tale and adventure not darkness and death reality has now set in.
ReplyDeleteYes, let's be clear. Weaker by Rowling standards is still awfully strong by anyone else's.
DeleteI'm just wild about Harry. I loved the way that the series appealed to kids--and adults--on a more mature level as we went through the books. My daughter had a friend whose dad read the first book and said it was crap. He had an opportunity to engage with his daughter about the book and why it appealed to her instead of calling it crap and tossing it aside. I'm glad that my daughter and I read the books together and discussed them.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
What I have always appreciated, as one who works with teenagers, is the realism as Harry and his friends grow through the various ages. A 14-year-old boy is different from the same boy at 11 or 18. The stories reflect that.
DeleteI absolutely got involved in the release party shenanigans. It was a family affair, which helped.
ReplyDeleteHaha! Just too late in the evening for us. If I'd known him at that stage of life, I probably could have gotten Mock to go with me...
DeleteI’m not a social person and I hate parties because of the social density, but for some reason I love release parties. I love standing in long lines listening to people chatter.
DeleteHaha! I understand. That's the fun of going to the big geeky movie releases for me.
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