Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 155192398X
Manufacturer: Raincoast Books
Average Customer Review: 
(From 2 total reviews)
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Customer Reviews
First and Second Readings by Jacob Schriftman
Writing a review on the first Harry Potter book seems superfluous, as it must surely be one of the most reviewed books in the history of literature.
I will therefore refrain (more or less) from summarizing the story, and instead compare my first reading to my recent re-reading of the book.
In my first reading, I met a boy called Harry, who was the quintessential “uncool kid.” He grew up at his aunt and uncle’s because his parents were supposedly killed in a car crash when he was a baby. That was at least what Aunt and Uncle Dursley told him. Harry was the uncool kid both at home and at school, hence constantly jumping from the frying pan into the fire. At home, “the Dursleys often spoke about Harry (…) as though he wasn’t there–or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn’t understand them, like a slug.” Their spoiled son, Dudley, also did his best to bully Harry around. And at school, “Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley’s gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley’s gang.”
Hence, when Hogwarts’ half-giant gamekeeper told Harry that he was a wizard, he could hardly believe it. And when Harry stepped through the Leaky Cauldron onto Diagon Alley, everything was new and exciting. He had not had the slightest clue that such a world existed; accordingly he saw everything through the eyes of an amazed and hungry learner.
And since I as the reader always walked by Harry’s side, I, too, had this “sense of awe.” Together with Harry, I marveled at Gringotts Bank and its goblins, the power of the magic wands, the magic broomsticks, Platform 9 ¾ and the steaming Hogwarts Express, the gigantic school castle, the meeting hall with its enchanted ceiling, the moving staircases, the “living” paintings, the ghosts, the owl post, and numerous other things.
Harry became like a two-year old toddler again who is excited about discovering the world, and as the reader I was a toddler with him. This is Fantasy at its best. The fact that J.K. Rowling made Harry an “outsider” to the world of magic is of great importance to the experience of the reader. Otherwise I would not have been nearly as astonished about the details of Mrs Rowling’s world as I was. It also prevented the technological aspects of the Harry-Potter magic from totally disenchanting her world.
Now to my re-reading of the “Philosopher’s Stone” (I still like the original British title better than the “Sorcerer’s Stone”).
I read the story again shortly after I finished the seventh book. Knowing where the story and characters are headed, many scenes now took on new significance. It was fascinating to read a particular passage and think: “Ah! Now I know why she put that in there.” I have to complement J.K. Rowling on having planned the seven books so well.
Furthermore, reading the first book from the retrospective view of the whole series also makes a difference for the moral custodians among us. If you only read the first book, you might come away thinking that Harry Potter tries to justify the means by the end a little too much. Harry’s magic is at first set into motion when he is “upset and angry”, the toffee-nosed know-it-all Hermione turns likable by lying on Harry’s behalf, and one of Harry’s chief character traits is that of a rule breaker.
Aside from the point that novels–including juvenile ones–don’t have to portray their main characters as saints, the series has, in fact, turned out to be of great moral depth. Given Harry’s final moral choices at the end of Book VII, Book I can now be seen as the beginning of a “Bildungsroman.” That is, a Coming Of Age Story in which Harry goes through all the stages of childhood and adolescence, to finally arrive at moral, social, and psychological maturity.
If that is not an ideal way of making teenagers aware of their own journey to maturity, I don’t know what is.
- Jacob Schriftman, Author of The Crack Beneath the Worlds and Other Books
PERFECT!!!!! by tom-feltons-angel
OMG! I have read this book 9 times(literally) and evrytime I jumped, laughed, and gasped in surprise evrytime! I am a HUGE Harry Potter fan and as soon as I read this book was when I relised how trully magical the world of Harry Potter is! I recomend this book to anyone - adults, children, anyone… Every word, paragraph and page is written with such care and security you wonder how that brilliant J.K. Rowling even imagined this! Quidditch is the best spot ever. Harry, Hermione and Ron show truly what best-friends are. This book is just…PERFECT!!
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Tags: bildungsroman, juvenile fantasy, magical creatures
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