Hey ForeverBookers,
I’m sorry I haven’t been here too much this month. I read two manga, which I haven’t reviewed here, as well as "Frostheart" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," which was EXCELLENT!!! I’ve already read this second book in the Harry Potter series, over 10 years ago, but I think I appreciate it sooooo much more than I did last time, when I wasn’t really a reader.
5 Stars!!!!!
I took a break from reading Harry Potter to take part in Polarthon so that’s why it took me sooooo long to finish!
I took a break from reading Harry Potter to take part in Polarthon so that’s why it took me sooooo long to finish!
The basic premise of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” is that the chamber was opened and everyone is trying to work out who opened it...
I read "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" for a few readathons again. This time they were:
* Reading Rivalry - Book I did not get to on my TBR - I’ve been wanting to reread this from childhood for so long and now I have!
* Cardcaptor-a-thon - The Time - A book that’s been popular for a long time that you’re unsure will live up to the hype now… - Harry Potter has been popular ever since it’s release I feel but yes, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” does still live up to the hype! - (#21)
* Popsugar 2020 Reading Challenge - A book with a made up language - Parseltounge is featured in the book, which is a language a character uses to talk to snakes.
* Little Inklings Design 2020 Reading Challenge - A book that makes you laugh out loud - I was laughing at most of Ron, Fred and George’s lines throughout!
* Rainbow Reading Challenge (Little Inklings Design challenge) - Green because the cover of the edition of “...The Chamber of Secrets” I own is mainly green!
* On The Cover Challenge (Little Inklings Design challenge) - A sword - Again on the edition of the book that I own, Harry is holding a sword.
Review...
We’re of course following Harry Potter again, as he goes to his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His guardians, Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia don’t want him to go again, as they think Hogwarts is a waste of space. They don’t think Harry learns much there.
“I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!”
This is Uncle Vernon’s views of Harry’s magical abilities. He doesn’t like how Harry’s so different to him and the rest of his family. His anger is shown in the use of capital letters as well as the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence. He’s also angry because he’s got work guests coming to dinner and wants to appear a “normal” family.
“He crossed the lawn, slumped down on the garden bench and sang under his breath “Happy Birthday to me ... Happy Birthday to me ...”
No cards, no presents, and he would be spending the evening pretending not to exist. He gazed miserably into the hedge. He had never felt so lonely.”
All Harry wants is to feel loved, as is evident in the quote above. He feels himself at Hogwarts, but with the Dursleys he feels miserable. That’s until a little House Elf turns up. Dobby is that House Elf.
“Offend Dobby!” choked the elf. “Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a wizard — like an equal —”
Dobby isn’t treated well at his home, either. He’s a servant to a family. He’s clearly shocked when Harry Potter asks him to sit down like he’s a friend, rather than a servant. I liked Dobby. He could be annoying at times but by the end of “...The Chamber of Secrets,” we know why he’s scared of everyone else and of doing wrong. Dobby comes to “Privet Drive” to give Harry a warning:
“Harry Potter is valiant and bold! He has braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later ... Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts...” This is followed by,“If Harry Potter goes back to Hogwarts, he will be in mortal danger.”
This is I think, more because someone in particular doesn’t want Harry at Hogwarts, rather than anything else. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions as to who this could be...I also love how Dobby talks about himself in third person. I think that’s a funny, cute and unique quality.
“Well, I’ve got news for you, boy ... I’m locking you up ... you’re never going back to that school ... never ... and if you try and magic yourself out - they’ll expel you.”
This is Uncle Vernon at his most evil so far, I believe. He won’t let Harry go back to Hogwarts and goes as far as to lock him in his bedroom and put bars on the windows to stop him escaping. Harry is treated like a prisoner in his own house...that’s until Ron comes, with his brothers to break Harry out!
“Ron was leaning out the back of an old turquoise car, which was parked in mid-air.”
There is a no magic rule outside of Hogwarts that Ron clearly doesn’t care about as the car he’s in with his brothers is floating in mid-air. He’s come because he hasn’t heard from Harry all summer and was worried about him.
“It’s not much,” said Ron.
“It’s brilliant,” said Harry happily, thinking of Privet Drive.”
Harry likes the look of Ron’s home MUCH more than the house he stays in with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Ron doesn’t think it’s much but to Harry it is because he comes from much simpler beginnings and is treated like a prisoner where he lives, as I said above. This is followed by “He had never been in a wizard house before,” meaning that the house he lived in before Hogwarts isn’t anything compared to the Weasley house. Of course, Ron doesn’t see this as he thinks everyone lives like he does, just without the magic.
“Good lord, is it Harry Potter? Very pleased to meet you, Ron’s told us so much about —”
is how Harry is greeted by Mr Weasley, whom he hasn’t met before. Mr Weasley certainly gives off the same vibe as Ron and Fred and George in that he comes across as a funny, peculiar character, whereas Mrs Weasley balances him out by being very matter of fact.
“Your sons flew that car to Harry’s house and back last night!” shouted Mrs Weasley. “What have you got to say about that?”
“Did you really?” said Mr Weasley eagerly. “Did it go all right? I-I mean,” he faltered, as sparks flew from Mrs Weasley’s eyes, “that-that was very wrong, boys — very wrong indeed.”
We can see how different the personalities of Ron’s parents are above. Mr Weasley is all for his boys flying the car, but Mrs Weasley isn’t at all happy about it. They have very different personalities as I said, but they work well together none-the-less.
“It’s a bit small,” said Ron quickly. “Not like that room you had with the muggles. And I’m right underneath the ghoul in the attic, he’s always banging on the pipes and groaning...”
But Harry, grinning wildly, said, “This is the best house I’ve ever been in.”
Ron doesn’t like his room. He’s sort of jealous of Harry, I think. He thinks that Harry’s room was much better. Harry, of course doesn’t think that at all. He loves Ron’s house! He feels free there, and he certainly didn’t feel that with the Dursleys. “Life at the Burrow was as different as possible from life at Privet Drive,” sums up how Harry feels about life now staying with the Weasleys. “What Harry found most unusual about life at Ron’s, however, wasn’t the talking mirror or the clanking ghoul: it was the fact that everybody there seemed to like him.” Harry hasn’t felt this much love anywhere, apart from maybe at Hogwarts. He’s not used to it.
Ginny Weasley has a crush on Harry in “...the Chamber of Secrets.” This starts of as evident in, “the moment she saw Harry, Ginny accidentally knocked her porridge bowl to the floor with a loud clatter. Ginny seemed very prone to knocking things over whenever Harry entered a room.” Harry doesn’t realise this crush himself until much later in the book, in dire circumstances...
“You’ve been told to get all Lockheart’s books, too!” he said. “The new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher must be a fan — bet it’s a witch.
At this point, Fred caught his mother’s eye and quickly busied himself with the marmalade.” This is a funny moment from Fred Weasley, one of Ron’s brothers. He thinks the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is going to be a witch, who has a major crush on Gilderoy Lockhart, a famed Wizard who’s overcome many challenges. What he doesn’t know is that the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher is Lockhart himself! I didn’t really like Lockhart, if I’m being honest. He seemed very full of himself, which he’s supposed to be but as well as that he’s a lier in terms of how much of an accomplished wizard he actually is...why did I feel like this towards him? You’ll need to read for yourself...
I do LOVE Fred and George, though. They’re so funny and have great comic timing. This is evident much later in the story when Harry is usurped as the ‘Heir of Slytherin.’
“Fred and George, however found all this very funny. They went out of their way to march ahead of Harry down the corridors, shouting, “Make way for the heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through ...”
The twins want to make Harry the talk of the school because they like him and want everyone else to fear him. Not because they’re horrible, but because they want Gryffindor to be seen as significant, for once! If a Gryffindor is seen as Heir of Slytherin they’ll rule over the other houses, they think.
The main part of "...the Chamber of Secrets" is the mystery as to who opened the Chamber, and I don’t want to spoil it here but what I will say is that I remembered who it was from when I first read the book over 10 years ago but not who they were to the over arching story. I was shocked when I reread the final chapters...
Overall then, I loved "...the Chamber of Secrets," perhaps not quite as much as “...the Philosopher’s Stone” but it’s still up there as a 5 star read!!!!! It had a few slow parts, and as I said above, I didn’t love Lockhart. He was just too full of himself, which I know he’s meant to be but I didn’t feel we needed quite as much of him as there was. The characters are what makes Harry Potter so good, as well as the plot, though. The plot was a little slower than book 1, but we still have the amazing characters from "...the Philosopher’s Stone" and Harry Potter is a character driven series, rather than plot driven.
There are elements that I’ve left out of this review but A LOT happens so we’d be here forever if I summarised every event. I clearly loved it, that’s why it’s getting 5 stars from me (even with the slow parts)!
My next review will be coming soon...
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