Book Report 13: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix

Initially when I was reading this, I felt quite annoyed with Harry Potter. He was whining about being kept in the dark about what was going on, and acting like a brat where I felt that he lacked patience and basic common sense. Even through various parts of the books, his actions were infuriating. He was getting angry and jumpy at those closest to him, and thinking no one wanted to be around him, or that his friends were talking about him, etc etc. He really sounded like an ungrateful brat.

Then I remembered in the book, he is only 15/16 years old, so in a way, it makes sense. Then I reflected more on it, and realized that even adults who are older than him can act this way. I feel the author desires readers to realize that the world really isn't allow about you (as Harry tries to believe it is), and that we should not let the actions or inactions of others disturb us, distract us, or affect us. Harry would get overly trusted over what others MAY (or may not) do, and would go into fits of anger, rage, self hate, etc. This may make the reader to get angry at him, but in my opinion it also helps the reader (at least it did for me) realize that we ourselves sometimes act this idiotic, and it's best to take a step back and try to look at a situation from a broader, higher level perspective. This will allow us to realize that the situations we think are horrible may not actually be all that bad, and that not everything revolves around us and we should not only try to be more humble and kind towards others, but also understand that they have their own issues too.

Harry's immature attitude, unfortunately though, did not improve even by the end of the book. He's an extremely self-absorbed winey ungrateful brat that makes decisions without thoroughly thinking them through or listening to the advice of others, and thus, putting others at risk. Though i admit, if he wasn't so reckless, the story wouldn't be as interesting, and he IS a 15 year old, and I'm looking at it as a 35 year old, so I shouldn't be so hard.

The book itself is also quite hard to put down, as you want to continuously see what happens next. What stupid thing will Harry do next? What interesting discovery will Hermione make? What ignorant comment will Ron spit out? How will the story unfold? What new secrets are revealed?

The book, while I believe primarily written for a younger audience, is nonetheless entertaining, insightful, and enjoyable to read.

I recommend the 5th Harry Potter book, but you probably knew that already.