Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
Adolescence is not an easy stage of life. I remember when I was a teenager I would often find myself having fits of anger without any reason at all. I would be pissed with people that I did not even know, I would antagonize my parents and friends just for the sake of doing it. As Harry is now a fifteen year old, we find him going through all this hormonal problems. Throw in the mixture the fact that there is a psychopath trying to kill him while no one believes what he says and, to worsen the situation, his friends have ignored him during all summer, and you have a perfect recipe for explosive behavior.tThe atmosphere of this book is, since the beginning, much more mature than in the predecessors. As in Goblet of Fire, here Harry starts being attacked by his enemies already at the beginning of the book. Because of these attacks, he is summoned to a hearing at the Ministry of Magic. So, after having passed the whole summer without a word from friends and even from Dumbledore, he is “rescued” from the Dursleys’ by a bunch of people, some of which he has never seen before. He ends up being transported to the old mansion of Sirius’ family, which is serving as headquarters to the people that want to oppose Voldemort and his followers.tHere is where I started noticing the big difference in atmosphere on this book in comparison to the previous ones. There is no staring at everything that is magical in awe anymore, there are no more long descriptions giving background to every little magical thing that pops up in the story. It is clear that Rowling is expecting everyone to know their whereabouts while reading her story already, so she focuses more on character/relationships development than in any former book.tRegarding the Black mansion, while it was fun to explore a new place, I found it particularly hard to accept that such a nice sensible person as Sirius is related to someone as nasty as Bellatrix Lestrange. It’s just… not right. tAnyway, soon enough we are led to Harry’s hearing, which allow us to see for the first time some parts of the Ministry of Magic. I actually liked the Ministry, in general, but didn’t like most people working there. Especially at Harry’s hearing, everyone was treating him harshly, even those who were supposed to support him; really sad. Here we are also introduced to one of the character who would become hated by almost everyone: Dolores Umbridge, but I will talk more about her later.tWell, after this events everyone is soon enough on their way back to Hogwarts. This is when we are introduced to one of my favorite characters ever: Luna Lovegood. I like her so much! Yes, she is lunatic, but she is so essentially good and innocent, being at the same time extremely wise, that I can’t help the feeling that we would be really good friends if she was a real person. As the story goes on, she unknowingly acts like a wall of stability in Harry’s life, even when darkness seems to be winning, and that is really sweet.tAs for the normal school affairs, there is a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, as usual, only this time it’s a woman: Dolores Umbridge. Yes, a former Ministry agent as a teacher. She soon makes it clear that she is going to teach following strict guidelines given by the Minister of Magic and no one else’s. That gradually leads some students to act rebelliously, trying to learn how to defend themselves properly on their own. When this fact comes to Umbridge’s attention, she manages to pull a few strings of her own, what makes the imperative influence that the Ministry had been imposing over Hogwarts to grow even more. Things soon get out of Dumbledore’s control, Hogwarts becomes almost like a military school. This is what makes me hate Umbridge so much; she manages to, for almost an entire book, destroy that welcoming atmosphere that made me think of Hogwarts as home, and this is unacceptable. Sooner than later the students get their little piece of revenge on her, though, and that is amusing to see.tAnyway, political conflict isn’t the biggest problem during Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts. Comparing to when he starts having very vivid nightmares and those start coming true, that is nothing. Yes, the evil lurking outside is not only outside anymore, it’s tormenting him from inside his own head. This peculiar situation leads to a few very especial lessons and impressive discoveries about Harry’s father past in Hogwarts. It’s interesting to get to know a little bit more about his parents under a different, not so friendly, perspective.tDespite his lessons against mental rape, though, Harry is not strong enough. Evil uses the window of opportunity created by his young mind to lead him and his friends into the most epic adventure in the series so far, in my opinion. Unfortunately, not everyone gets out of it unharmed and the outcome of it changes not only Harry’s life forever, but also the whole world’s. We were used to the customary pattern on the former books: Harry is with the Dursleys during the summer; at the end of the summer he would go to the Weasleys' or some other place and then to school; something serious would happen during his stay there and he and his friends would try to solve the problem. Not anymore. Not after this book. There’s no safe place any longer, not even Hogwarts.tI like this book a lot. It’s my favorite after The Prisoner of Azkaban, actually. Despite the darker tone, which is present since the beginning, it still contains some very sweet parts and hilarious scenes that made me laugh hard. My only advice would be to people be prepared to lose some favorite character here and there, for in this book Rowling starts to display some symptoms of what I call the “George R. R. Martin syndrome”. Beware. Interesting quotes that I didn't include in the review: Wit beyond measure is a man's greatest treasure. Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike. Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect. Youth can not know how age thinks and feels. But old men are guilty if they forget what it was to be young. The Last Passage(view spoiler)[ `Well…' said Moody, pushing back his bowler hat to reveal his sinisterly revolving magical eye. Uncle Vernon leapt backwards in horror and collided painfully with a luggage trolley. `Yes, I'd have to say you do, Dursley'He turned away from Uncle Vernon to survey Harry.`So, Potter… give us a shout if you need us. If we don't hear from you for three days in a row, we'll send someone along…'Aunt Petunia whimpered piteously. It could not have been plainer that she was thinking of what the neighbours would say if the't caught sight of these people marching up the garden path.`Bye, then, Potter,' said Moody, grasping Harry's shoulder for a moment with a gnarled hand.`Take care, Harry,' said Lupin quietly. `Keep in touch.'`Harry, we'll have you away from there as soon as we can,' Mrs. Weasley whispered, hugging him again.`We'll see you soon, mate,' said Ron anxiously, shaking Harry's hand.`Really soon, Harry' said Hermione earnestly. `We promise.'Harry nodded. He somehow could not find words to tell them what it meant to him, to see them all ranged there, on his side. Instead, he smiled, raised a hand in farewell, turned around and led the way out of the station towards the sunlit street, with Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley hurrying along in his wake. (hide spoiler)]
AHHHH I AM FINALLY FINISHD. *collapses in a puddle* Peoples, I usually read a book in a day, two days if it's big, three if it's super huge. THIS BOOK TOOK ME FOREVER. I know there a lot of super-keen Potter fans out there, so, um, you may not want to read this review. But! But! WAIT! The biggest thing you need to know is: I seriously love this series. I do. It's so detailed and thorough and interesting and I totally see why it's captured the world in it's wizarding claws. BUT. I didn't grow up reading it. And now? Reading it? I love a lot of things, but there are so many things that bother me, particularly about The Order of the Phoenix. THINGS THAT BOTHERED ME:+ The freaking gargantuan size. This is the most important thing to note. IT IS HUGE AND IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS BIG. The first 100-pages are numbingly boring...they cleaned house? SO WHAT. + Ron/Hermione's bickering drove me nuts. This trio of "friends" act so often NOT like friends, it just really grates on me. I know friends have their ups and downs, but Ron is downright rude. Harry is usually oblivious, but he doesn't help things much either. Of COURSE I'm Team Hermione here, and I know she gets together with Ron...but I ain't shipping it.+ The last 50-pages were so intense and interesting...WHY WERE THEY SO SHORT?? It's like the book FINALLY warmed up and got going and got exciting and -- BOOM! -- it's done now. Plus so many interest reveals just come as a Dumbledore info-dump. Um. Seriously?+ The characters, in general, drove me nuts. I love Dumbledore, don't get me wrong, but he's awfully passive. There's this whole attitude around like "Awww, well nothing TOO BAD is going badly, so let's just wait until it gets absolutely horrific before we do anything, shall we?" AND ARGHHH YOU STUIPD STUPID WIZARDS.+ And Harry's logic...I mean, lack thereof...was frustrating. Like "Omg, a teacher is physically abusing me...I won't tell! I'm a strong brave little melon!" NO YOU'RE A FREAKING IDIOT. Harry's whole mantra of just suffering in silence made me so so angry.+ Snape. Because it's a grand idea to have a teacher who abuses and bullies students because he had a crappy childhood. Solid work hiring him, Dumbledore. I HATE SNAPE, BTW.+ In general, the book's huge GARGANTUAN themes of "injustice". This one is very very much me, but social injustice and discrimination against children and adults exercising their age as a way to control/lord over younger humans -- I HATE IT WITH THE FIRE AND PASSION OF A THOUSAND SUNS. Sure, yes, it has it's place in books. It's realistic. But every time I pick up a Potter book, I just get smothered with how unjust everything is and it makes me SO ANGRY. And while there are 2 dozen things I love about these books, THAT is what makes me wait, like 9 million years between picking up volumes. There should be more balance. There should be more fighting back instead of passiveness.+ And please, someone remind me why Harry still needs to live with the Dursley's? Because I think we've established he doesn't. Another = injustice for no reason.OKAAAAY BUT YOU GUYS PROBABLY THINK I HATE HARRY POTTER NOW AND IT'S NOT TRUE.I also have a list of things I freaking loved. And at the end of the day, I do like this series. I don't "adore" it like a true Potterhead, I 'spose. But I do enjoy it.THINGS I ABSOLUTELY LOVE:+ The detail. okay, I do complain that the books are too big (they are) but I have to admit this makes the worlds SO INCREDIBLE DEEP. Like all the food details, the off-handed comments, the descriptions, the subjects. IT'S INSANELY AWESOME. It's not like reading about a bunch of kids going to school...it's like genuinely being there.+ The fact that they actually had to DO SCHOOLWORK. So often I read books about characters who are not "geniuses" but still manage to save the world AND score uber well in school without doing a scrap of homework. NO. So I love that Harry Potter makes them save the world AND do their homework. And half the time I think their homework sounds freakishy fascinating. Yes, I'm having a Hermione moment.+ HERMIONE. I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER. She is like one of the biggest reasons I love this series and would even consider rereading (seriously!! I just said that!! Even though I complain!! I'd like to try audios one day...) because she's smart and into equality and rights and I just love her, yes okay?!+...oh and McGongall. I love her too. SO SO MUCH. She does not take a single piece of crap from anyone. SHE IS AMAZING. I love how she fought Umbridge, although I think she could've done more (like stabbed Umbridge in the eye or something) and I love how she's fiercely protective of her students. She's like a super scary mum.+ The Weasleys. ALL OF THEM! Even Ginny is getting more a personality now! YAAAY. I particularly love Fred and George and I'm glad they're living their dream. (Oh, but obviously I hate Percy.) Ron is not my favourite person unfortunately, because I think he's very self-obsessed and I do find him irritating at times. BUUUUT MRS. WEASLEY IS SO FEIRCE AND WONDERFUL.+ Also Luna...although I wish she had a bigger part. Maybe she will in future books?! I love her and her whimsical attitude. She's totally fascinating.+ And Neville is amazing. I particularly love how when Harry was teaching the secret Dark Arts class how Neville was just THRIVING. He didn't feel threatened, and he had one-on-one help with a peer he likes and respect. EQUALS = HIM DOING SO WELL. YAY!! I feel so so annoyed at this book too because I feel Neville has a learning disability and everyone just ignores it. Some teachers do a bit more, but mostly he gets abused - by teachers and students alike. I knoooow stuff like that happens IRL. But we're not reading real life are we??? We're reading about a WIZARD school and I'll be damned if I don't sit here and demand things like learning disabilities should be given respect and help. I love Neville. KEEP FIGHTING NEVILLE.+ And no matter how much I complain...I actually lost track of time while reading this!! That's right! I was reading and my eyes were burning at night and I was like "OMG WHAT'S THE TIME?!" so I totally read a lot later than I would usually. A book that absorbs me is definitely a good book.SEE?! I DO LIKE IT. Mostly. (I hated Umbridge of course, but duh. Who doesn't?) Ultimately it was too big and I got a wrist sprain just holding the jolly hardback, BUT! It's intense and magical and intriguing and I want to know what happens next. Also I want to see the movies.
What do You think about Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix (2004)?
Dear Amazon,Congratulations on your recent acquisition of Goodreads. It is a good purchase, a meaningful one. It’s like buying someone else’s grandfather’s house. Or a classic car someone else rebuilt. You know it’s a quality product because a lot of folks really sunk their hearts into it. For a lot of us, it’s been a labor of love. We’ve spent years carefully cultivating this community that you were lucky enough to buy.This occasion reminds me a lot of one of my favorite books, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. This installment of the Harry Potter series holds a special place in my heart. See, I was kind of late to the HP game. I was actually one of those people who adamantly refused to read it because I felt the whole series was a waste of time. But then one day, I made a deal with a little kid. He wanted to read the series, but was intimidated. He wasn’t a strong reader- that was his problem. So I said I’d read it with him. That day, I took home Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and cracked it open. I was immediately sucked in. It was amazing. I flew through the rest of the series. This was the last one released at the time, so it was my very first true HP cliffhanger. I spent a lot of time thinking about it and what would come next.But you don’t care about that, though. You’re Amazon, not Goodreads. My irreverent, personal story has no place here anymore. We need to talk about the book. Okay, so it’s pretty much common knowledge that Hogwarts (that’s the setting of the story) is an amazing place. Young Harry goes there and finds a family in his classmates and instructors. It’s a place where he feels at home and like he’s a part of something beautiful. But in Order of the Phoenix, (view spoiler)[Dumbledore, the headmaster, gets sacked and is replaced by Dolores Umbridge, a puppet of the Ministry of Magic (hide spoiler)]
—Caris
Re-Read in December 2014 for Harry Christmas To Youok. I will start by saying that this is one of my least favorite books in the series, and that isn't because it's bad, BECAUSE IT IS DEFINITELY NOT. It's mainly due to the fact that I hate Umbridge more than words can translate, and having to read about her so much just infuriates me, rather than giving me warm fuzzies the entire time I'm reading.That being said, here are some of my thoughts on the book:-mention of Regulus Black near the beginning of this book. I've noticed particularly during this re-read that J.K. Rowling tends to mention characters a book or two before they will have any importance to the story. She seriously knew what she was doing while writing these books.-it's so weird to think that Sirius is related to Narcissa and Bellatrix! Sirius is such an amazing human, and he was born into a terrible family, which is pretty true of a lot of people. Just because you come from something/somewhere terrible, that doesn't mean you can't be different and be good.-Ron and Hermione becoming prefects is just so great. Surely there would be a better candidate in their year to be the male prefect, yet Dumbledore chose Ron. Why? Because Dumbledore knows that Ron always feels worthless in comparison to his five older brothers, and him becoming prefect was enough to make him feel like a winner at something. Dumbledore is cool like that.-Quite often I forget that St. Mungo's exists since it's not in the movies at all. Here, we get to see Neville's parents, as well as Gilderoy Lockhart (who is adorable now and not at all annoying), and I WISH THAT WAS IN THE MOVIES.-it sucks that Harry was banned from playing Quidditch this year, as I LOVE Quidditch. and Harry was so sad because of it, which made him cranky and quite insane. HOWEVER, I love that Ginny took over for him as Seeker. I feel like Ginny has grown up so much already, and it's particularly in this book that I grew to really like her. She's so much better in the books than in the movies.-In the epic fight near the end of the book, NEVILLE IS SO BADASS. If you ever think that Neville isn't brave until the last book, you are wrong. He was throwing himself at Death Eaters and Stunning the shit out of everybody. It was awesome.-As usual, lots of information was revealed in the last couple of chapters of the book. This particular book reveals A LOT of stuff that most people were probably wondering about whilst reading the other four books, as well as information that you probably didn't even think of. I love how many answers we get in this one.I THINK THAT'S IT FOR NOW. I have a lot of feelings, so I might add more later.
—Raeleen Lemay
Edit #3: 27/3/2015 I am still getting positive feedback over this and every time I read what you guys and girls have told me, my heart swells. Gosh, I am so proud of this review. Edit #2: 25\7\2014So I came across this article today, and for some reason, it made me happy!! I feel evil *evil laugh* http://mea-news.net/en/index.php/2014... Edit #1: 8\3\2014It has been four months that I posted this review. And so far I have received great feedback. Thank you everyone for yo#ur support ^^ Remember, this is not a benign cause. 6/11/2013I know that I have neglected the subject of the new Goodreads policy a lot recently, and I ought not to have done that. You see, I wasn’t very free recently, and well because I didn’t know what to either say or on what book should I post it. And then I read this book, and the rebelliousness in this book made me think that hey, this book is perfect for what I have in mind. Oh, and guess what! I am going to be aggressive. Let me tell you something maybe a lot of you people are not aware of. We, people who live in the Middle East, look up towards the west, where presumably, everyone is free to say and do whatever they want, bounded by no tradition or religious law whatsoever. But when this kind of law is forced upon everyone from the west itself, we lose hope. We lose hope that anything will be good again. And well for someone (me), who has suffered a lot because of that (Facebook only made my freedom of speech more restricted), I found a haven for myself in Goodreads, where apparently no one gives a damn whether you insult or disagree with them because well, they don’t care. And because they are mature enough to ignore any insults under the pretext that it is “your opinion”.Do you know how much I love that? I have suffered A LOT because of that. Let me tell you something about myself. I never EVER stay quiet about something that I believe to be true – even if I was wrong to many other people – and now Mister Money-Head-Of-Amazon has to ruin that for me. All right, I realized that everything that was said about the new policy was said in the utmost civilized way. But guess what! I am a teenager. I don’t give a damn about manners, and I am about to say what everyone has wanted to say for a long time. Goodreads by succumbing to the green papers have restricted my freedom of speech. In the last few years, I have been bullied, put down, humiliated, insulted, punished… just because I wanted to say what I had in mind, just because I always stand up to what I believe in. And since because ALL OF THAT HAPPENED TO ME, I turned towards Goodreads where I was surprised that no one cared about whatever I said, and always respected me when I wanted to express myself. No review of mine has been removed, but a lot of people’s reviews have been removed. Since it didn’t affect me yet, I should shut up, right? No! Just the fact that it exists is bothering me. It is like having this law around forbidding people to eat chicken, and I hate chicken, but that doesn’t mean I should keep quiet. Okay, that was a bad example, but the closest I had to the ridiculousness of what we are fighting for. No one should fight for his right to express himself freely. It is a right. We are born with that right. And no number of reviews removed is going to change that. It is not going to frighten us. It is not going to make us back out. You can remove all the reviews you want, Goodreads, but this is something I believe in. So I am fighting, even if you have to ban me. Well, according to your own policy, you can't do that. Well, you can't even remove the reviews that have been put before the declaration of that censorship but you do it anyway. So you are bunch of hypocrites. You, Goodreads managers, anyone with the IQ of a peacock can realize that what you have done is so wrong on so many levels. If I were the Goodreads manager, I would say this to the Amazon Manager when he came offering the new law “You can take your money and your pathetic ass out of my office! You cannot threaten us with money or hold it over our heads! This company has so far made you millions of money just by existing and promoting your books! More than half of our members buy regularly from your website! In fact, according to this logic, you owe us!” GR Manager slaps Amazon Manager. Jackie Shan bursts into the scene wearing nothing but a newspaper around his waist. Kung fu! Jackie kicks Amazon Manager’s head off, and his body goes around looking for its head. Meanwhile, GR Manager holds both the head and the body and throws them from the window of the headquarters. BOOM! The end. This policy is so wrong. If people like us cannot express themselves online, then where will they? I might not insult your precious little authors, Amazon Manager (in my opinion they shouldn’t be called authors if they can’t take god damn criticism. Not everyone should approve with them), but I have every god damn right to express myself freely without having to worry whether my review would be removed or not. The management even has no right to go around reading whatever we say online because well, I thought they had better things to do. It turns out I was wrong, don’t you think? Anyway, what we say online is OUR concern, not yours. You shouldn’t threaten us. You shouldn’t condemn us. Maybe to you, you are only deleting a review, but to us you are restricting our freedom. And no one really appreciates freedom but the ones who have been deprived from it. I wonder how the Goodreads Management even agreed to this. I had a lot more to say about this on my mind, but I think I have made my point quite clearly. Us, readers, and the ones who write a bit like I do, find words our strongest weapon. Back to my review about this book. THIS WAS THE WORST BOOK I HAVE READ! I have cried 50 pages straight. (view spoiler)[ why did she have to kill Sirius?WHAT DID HE EVER DO TO HER? I AM STILL CRYING YOU KNOW! (hide spoiler)]
—Nour Sharif
