Tuesday, October 9, 2012

On Harry Potter



Harry Potter has always been one of my favorite book series. It is a book that I read very young and can continue to adventure back to. The originality and the world itself has always appealed to me, and in many ways so has the simple moral compass. I believe the way the book views morality is what makes it so well adapted to the minds of children. It is easy to understand who the 'good' and the 'bad' guys are, though it does leave some characters who are ambiguous throughout the plot. That element has always made me enjoy the book, the fact that characters like Snape and the Malfoy family are essentially characters that struggle with other matters that go beyond simple explainations like whether or not they are good or bad. They concentrate on love and fear, and fear is the element that I find most interesting in the Harry Potter novels. It is always in the background, and later in the books it is the foremost feeling one gets as they read, that everyone is in constant fear and anticipation of the battle that comes at the end of the seventh book, as well as the constant battle that rages throughout the series.

On Interview with a Vampire


 Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice was a wonderful experience. It seemed to bring to life and personalize the living nightmare that is the 'vampire'. The book was a fantastic and compelling read, and I found in no time at all I had finished and desired to move on to the next novel, 'The Vampire Lestat'.
The character I found that I enjoyed the most was Claudia. Her position in life and in relation to the other characters is interesting in that she never knows quite what to make of this relationship. A little girl, who died young enough to forget her exceedingly brief human childhood, became a vampire. All she knew was killing, though she did receive some guidance from Louis. i can relate to her level of uncertainty within her life, and the constant pursuance of knowledge. I enjoyed her character the most because I believe her life had the most struggle, and that since she was created, she was doomed.