The Cephalopod Coffeehouse: August 2016

Welcome one and all to the Cephalopod Coffeehouse, a cozy gathering of book lovers, meeting to discuss their thoughts regarding the works they enjoyed most over the previous month.  Pull up a chair, order your cappuccino and join in the fun.  If you wish to add your own review to the conversation, please sign on to the link list at the end of my post.

Title: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts One and Two
Authors: J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

via Amazon

And now, our Harry Potter Summer is truly over.  With 2 million copies sold in the first weekend alone, The Cursed Child is surely the fastest selling play script of all time.  Probably most of you have already read it but for the holdouts, a quick synopsis:

The story picks up where The Deathly Hallows left off.  19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry and Ginny are at King's Cross with their three children.  The two oldest, James and Albus, are about to board the Hogwarts Express.  Albus will be starting his first year at the school and he's terrified he'll be placed in Slytherin.  The adventure that ensues is just as much Albus's as it is Harry's, plus they have quite a lot of tension to resolve in their relationship with each other. 

To say much more feels like spoiling so I'll be sparing.  We do get reacquainted with the key players in Harry's cohort.  Draco Malfoy has turned out alright and his son Scorpius... well, you'll love Scorpius.  He's Albus's best friend and he's worth the whole book.  The Cursed Child is largely a time travel narrative and as regular visitors know, I'm not usually keen on those.  That said, the writers handle it well.  We get to visit a lot of old friends and imagine several what if scenarios.  I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in the narrative path in the beginning, wishing a few things had gone differently.  But when the time travel started changing some of those elements, I was resentful.  Which maybe was the point.  Overall, it's the same whimsical, emotional and engaging tale we've come to expect from Rowling's extraordinary wizarding world.

I read one review which whined that Rowling owed us more than this.  Hog wash!  Never mind the fact that Rowling owes us nothing.  No writer in the past 50 years - probably longer - has done more to boost the publishing industry.  The story's amazing and the elegantly written stage directions leave plenty of room for the imagination.  I know Rowling has said this is it for Harry but I hope she'll be convinced to give us more sometime.  She doesn't owe it to us and maybe we don't even deserve it.  But more would be lovely.

One character in particular I'd want to see developed better is Ginny.  We get glimpses of Ginny Weasley in the earlier books but she's a quiet girl.  She has a certain nobility and she certainly loves Harry but she's largely overshadowed.  We get a little more in The Cursed Child.  She does a better job of standing up to Harry than any of the other characters do.  If Rowling ever brings us back to this world, I hope she'll give us more Ginny. 

No Neville Longbottom this time, except in passing mention.  More Neville would be good, too.  Oh, and Luna... And...

Just more please, Ms. Rowling.

Please join us and share your own review of your best read from the past month.  This month's link list is below.  I'll keep it open until the end of the day.  I'll post September's tomorrow.  Meetings are the last Friday of each month.  Next gathering is September 30th.