A Life

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Judul: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Penulis: J.K. Rowling
Penerbit: Bloomsbury
Halaman: 368 halaman
Terbitan: June 2017

Celebrate 20 years of Harry Potter magic with four special editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw … Twenty years ago these magical words and many more flowed from a young writer's pen, an orphan called Harry Potter was freed from the cupboard under the stairs – and a global phenomenon started. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has been read and loved by every new generation since. To mark the 20th anniversary of first publication, Bloomsbury is publishing four House Editions of J.K. Rowling's modern classic. These stunning editions will each feature the individual house crest on the jacket and sprayed edges in the house colours. Exciting new extra content will include fact files, profiles of favourite characters and line illustrations exclusive to that house. Available for a limited period only, these highly collectable editions will be a must-have for all Harry Potter fans in 2017.

Review

"Wait, you still love this series? After all this time?"

"Always."

Happy 20th anniversary to this great series. Rereading it brought so many memories. I also got so many different feelings from my initial reading. Now that I know the ending, I read some lines differently. Like when Aunt Petunia talked about Lily:

"Knew! Of course we knew! How could you not be, my dratted sister being what she was? Oh, she got a letter just like that and disappeared off that - that school."

[...]

"Then she met that Potter at school and they left and got married and had you, and of course I knew you'd be just the same, just as strange." (page 57-58)

When I read it back then, I thought it was there just to show how much Aunt Petunia hated Harry's mom and made readers becoming more sympathetic to Harry. But, I guess the emotion is more complicated than that, considering the relationship between the two sisters that was unfolded in later books.

The first meeting between Snape and Harry also looked different now.

"What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood? (page 146)"

What seem to be a normal question in a class turned to be something different if you understand the language of flowers.

I do have several "grown-up" attention to some parts, like: couldn't they have a better system than going through a wall in platform 9 3/4? I mean, you can't see the other side. Wouldn't that be dangerous? You might hit someone when you're crossing. Another one would be: why the heck the school sent 4 students to the Forbidden Forest as a detention? That's a dangerous place. Yes, they were with Hagrid (who later sent two students and a dog alone through a forest, looking for whatever thing that killed a unicorn), but it still didn't make sense to me.

Overall, this was still a fun ride. I still enjoy this book and want to read the entire series once again.


View all my reviews