GibsonGirl said:
Er, here's a thought: could the reason for this be, perhaps, that you have never read a single book? I've no problem with people judging Harry Potter if they've given the books a decent chance. But to gripe about the series without having read a single book... That's rather silly, if you ask me. You're like those people who judge U2's overall quality without even listening to a whole album.
GibsonGirl said:
I guess it's different for me because I started reading them at age twelve.
But as Butterscotch says, don't judge Harry Potter based upon the first two or three books alone. They get a lot more complex the further you go.
To dislike something simply because it's popular or hyped up is just ignorant. My brother was the same way....until he was bored one summer and picked up the first few books because he had nothing to do. After book 3, he was hooked.
I'm a huge LoTR fan (pre- and post-movie). I think of it this way: LOTR is
boring as hell for the first 150 pages. Nothing worthwhile or exciting happens until they get to Rivendell---even fleeing from the Nazgul is boring with the way JRRT writes it. Those first 150 pages read like 300.
With HP, you read the first book and you think, "Yeah, that's a nice kids' book." You read the second one and more of the same, though you could pry out some bigger themes like racism, etc. out of it. You get to the third one and by the time you get to the 100-page climax and the first signs of a much deeper backstory, you're hooked. And then from the fourth on, you know that there's something much bigger going on. Seeing as how anyone who can read LoTR could probably crank out the first two books in a weekend, it's not such a horrible investment to make to at least give it a shot.
But whatever, I'm not expecting to change anyone's mind. Once it's cool to dislike something that's popular.....