Professor Snape had once quoted: ’’Fame clearly isn’t everything’’, and this was one of the first sentences that sprung in my mind as I turned shut this 800 page mammoth of a book. Released in 2003, with four mind-blowing predecessors, its no wonder that Ms. Rowling actually took 3 years to write this book. A lot of effort, evidently has gone into writing this one, but sadly it shows. So what killed the 2003’s best-seller, let’s see:
.::The Plot::.
Starting off as an immediate sequel to the Goblet of Fire, the book jets off showing a distressed and ignored Harry in No.4, Privet Drive suddenly fighting two Dementors and consequently being transferred to the headquarters (Sirius’s house) of the Order of the Phoenix. This Order of Phoenix is actually a group of individuals who completely believe Harry, along with Dumbledore, that Lord Voldemort is indeed back and are working round the clock to foil all his attempts of gaining power and followers by spreading information and awareness of his comeback. But the path isn’t full of roses, for the Ministry of Magic (lead by Cornelius Fudge) neither believes in this fact, nor does it want the wizards to go panicky with what Harry and Dumbledore have to say.
To make a sound impact, the Ministry has very successfully eyewashed all the wizarding families through Daily Prophet (the wizard newspaper) making them believe that Potter is disturbed and whatever he has to say about Lord Voldemort, is nothing but a cock-and-bull story (all this when Potter actually fought Voldemort in the last book!), besides discrediting Professor Dumbledore and his tactics as well. To further thwart the Order’s efforts of preparing against the Dark Lord, the Ministry has sent the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic, Dolores Umbridge, as the new Defence Against The Arts teacher. A sadist by nature, slowly, but very steadily she acquires the reins of Hogwarts entirely in her hands. With power in her hands, she’s out firing practically every Hogwarts professor, and spells equal doom for the students as well.
On the other hand, Potter’s hallucinations have become more real than ever. Such powerful are his visions of the Dark Lord, that he can actually feel the Dark Lord’s emotions and consequently is able to predict Ron’s dad, Arthur Weasley’s poisoning by a snake (where he actually felt he was the snake!). What do these hallucinations mean? What is Lord Voldemort upto? Will the Order of Phoenix be able to uproot Voldemort’s and his supporter’s plans, considering their serious differences with the Ministry of Magic? Read the book to find out.
.::The decrees of Karan’s analysis::.
Storytelling: *
The Order of the Phoenix is a mixed bag in terms of storytelling and narrative. It excites and bores alternately, throughout the book. Starting on the usual note (Harry being fiddled and ignored by the odious Dursleys!), hopes scale upwards as Harry hears someone apparating. But then again it goes into a slumber till Harry and Dudley are faced with two dementors. The consequent row with the Dursleys and revelation of Aunt Figg and Aunt Petunia do surprise the reader, albeit mildly.
The narrative again dips as Potter finds his way into Sirius’s house and continues dipping all through Harry’s rows with Ron and Hermoine, his hearing at Wizengamot (the wizard’s court), and his entry into Hogwarts. Though the book genuinely focuses towards the Ministry of Magic and Sirius’s house towards the start, Rowling drags and sermonises the matter too much to be of any interest at all. Even Harry’s hearing is as cliched and predictable as his row with the Dursleys, and one feels fooled to have read some 150 pages only to arrive at such a drab conclusion.
Harry’s trip to Hogwarts couldn’t have been more boring, though things start to look up with the Sorting Hat’s interesting new song and introduction of Professor Umbridge. Then again the book slows down, as Harry’s first week is pain-stakingly covered (entertaining at first, it gets on to the reader’s nerves!). Thankfully, relief again surfaces when Potter is given detentions by Umbridge (probably one of the most gut-wreching sequences where Harry writes on the parchment but the words simultaneously cut into his skin), which in my thinking remains the book’s most memorable sequences.
With Professor Umbridge around, the book clearly gains momentum, with some of the sequences like Potter himself teaching his mates Defence against the Dark Arts, giving candid interviews, talking to Sirius through fireplaces and Umbridge catching him red-handed every time all of which made for an enjoyable read. But Rowling again pads the effect with an awfully boring chapter about Hagrid’s tale of late return to Hogwarts. Even the subsequent Quidditch match fails to excite whatsoever.
The narrative again paces up as Harry predicts Arthur Weasley’s poisoning and is rushed to St.Mungo’s Hospital (Another wizard building!), and though the episode isn’t anything special, Longbottom’s revelation do tend to tug at you. The pace fastens and the plot thickens as Potter starts taking Occlumency lessons from Snape. The subsequent leaving of Dumbledore with Fawkes and Harry plunging into Snape’s Pensieve gives the book the much needed breather. In fact, coupled with Harry’s hallucinations and chimeras, the book almost takes a psycho-thriller route, but sadly the fun doesn’t last that long for the author clearly doesn’t seem to have her priorities right, as she again chunks in two mammoth chapters amidst all the action relating to Hagrid’s giant friend and O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels--the first proper wizarding exams for 15 year-olds!), which though making for a pleasant read, again disjoints the plot and appear unnecessary as a result.
Amidst all these crests and troughs of narration, however, much of the book lies finished, and the author finally tries to bring it all together in a duel between the Death Eaters and Potter in the Ministry of Magic, but sadly tries so hard that the effort shows. Probably the only alleviating factor amidst all the cliched fight was the loss of one of Order’s members (justified of all the hype, it does come across as wonderfully realised!). Even the revelation by Dumbledore in the climax (a trademark in Potter’s books!) comes across as very unconvincing and horrendously shallow. I mean, the author’s style of adding yet another shade to Potter’s scar is conceptually laughable, and as a reader I had expected a much better revelation of the ’’weapon’’ which the Dark Lord is after, but sadly, Rowling doesn’t seem to be in form here.
Characterisation:
Clearly, when there’s little to talk in terms of plot, Rowling, thankfully, indulges into better character framing. Of the regular characters, Potter’s character is being etched out wonderfully. His frequent outbursts at his mates in the beginning and at Dumbledore in the end as well as his trysts with Cho-chang (girl-friend) were typical of a teenage boy, and hence enjoyable. Hermoine and Ron do get some more footage while Hagrid irritates. In Professor Umbridge, the author takes a dig at the non-interactive education, and though she comes out in flying colours, it remains a uni-dimensional, one-book long character. Snape’s and Neville’s characters also get delved into with depth which is sure to invoke sympathy from you, while the rest of the cast retains everything they have been famous for, from book one.
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