Book Review #16 - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, by J. K. Rowling

Reason of choice

Since I started to read the Harry Potter series, I would have to read this book. For that reason and for being one of my favorites, due to the many details that the author gives us throughout the book that lead us to understand everything at the end, I chose to read this book.

Reaction to the first pages

Once more, since I knew how the story would go, I wasn’t surprised by anything but, again, remembering some little details that are only present in the books made me want to keep reading the book to look for more of them.

Summary

In the end of the first book of this series, Harry’s friends told him that they would be sending him letters but he didn’t receive any during the whole summer, which made him feel more alone than he had ever felt before. However, in a very important day for Harry’s uncle, he was visited by Dobby, a house-elf who told him not to go to Hogwarts because terrible things would be happening in there. Moreover, Harry found out that he was the responsible for him not getting any letter from his friends.

Harry told Dobby that he had to go back to Hogwarts no matter what, so Dobby ruined the meeting of Harry’s uncle, which made Harry get imprisoned in his room. Fortunately for him, the Weasleys were worried about him, because he hadn’t replied to any letter, so they went to get him in their flying car and took him into their house.

Harry stayed in Weasleys’ house until the start of the school. In the day of going to school, Harry and Ron were the last ones to cross the barrier to catch the train but they weren’t able to do so, which led them to fly to Hogwarts in Mr. Weasley’s car. When they were arriving, they lost the control of the car and they crashed into the Whomping Willow, which attacked them, breaking Ron’s wand. For that reason and for being seen by Muggles flying the car, they almost got expelled.

Harry’s punishment was to help Gilderoy Lockhart, his new Defense Against the Dark Arts’ teacher, to answer his fan mail. While he was in his detention, Harry swore he had heard a voice, while Lockhart hadn’t heard anything. Some days later, Harry heard the same voice again, but this time he was with Ron and Hermione, but they hadn’t also heard anything. In spite of that, Harry followed the voice until they found Mrs. Norris, Mr. Filch’s cat, petrified and a message on a wall.

After the attack, everyone was scared but nothing happened until the day that Harry’s arm was broken by a bludger, that he knew, later, that had been enchanted by Dobby to make him go home. Dobby also confessed that he was the responsible for not letting Harry and Ron get through the barrier to catch the train. In that night, Colin Creevey, a first-year Gryffindor and Muggle-born was attacked.

Due to the attack, Lockhart organized a duel club for the students to defend against the attacker. In there, everyone found out that Harry could talk with snakes, which led everyone to think that he was the attacker, the Heir of Slytherin, and the one who was able to control the monster inside the Chamber of Secrets.

Harry and his friends were convinced that the Heir of Slytherin was Malfoy, so they made a potion that would transform themselves into members of the Slytherin to confirm their suspicions. In the day the potion was finished, they discovered not only that Malfoy wasn’t the Heir of Slytherin but they also found out that the Chamber had been opened before.

After some time, Harry found Tom Riddle’s diary in the bathroom haunted by Moaning Myrtle, which was the place where they prepared the potion. It was completely blank but Harry felt it was hiding something and one day he tried to write something in there and it answered back. After some “talking” with the diary, it showed Harry that Hagrid was expelled because it was believed that he was the responsible for the death of the girl back when the Chamber had been opened.

Harry told this to his friends but they didn’t want to ask Hagrid about it, but Harry and Ron were forced to do it because Hermione was petrified. However, they weren’t able to ask him because he was taken into Azkaban, having only time to tell the boys to follow the spiders. They did it and went to the nest of Aragog, Hagrid’s huge spider that he had raised and that was believed to be the monster of the Chamber, but Aragog told them that he was given to Hagrid by a stranger and that the monster was the thing that the spiders feared the most.

They had troubles to run from Aragog’s nest but they did it. Some days later, they went to visit Hermione and they found in her hand a paper that made it clear that the monster was a basilisk, a giant snake that could live for many years and that was the thing the spiders feared the most. Moreover, Harry understood why Hermione had wrote “Pipes” in that page: that was the way how it moved through the castle without being seen.

In that same day, Ginny, Ron’s sister, was taken into the Chamber and the boys went to get her with Lockhart, who was trying to run away and who lost his memory due to Ron’s defective wand. In the Chamber, Harry killed the basilisk with the help of Fawkes, Dumbledore’s phoenix, and saved Ginny by destroying Tom Riddle’s diary. In the end, Harry found out that Dobby belonged to the Malfoys but he was able to free him from his slavery condition.

Highlights

In my opinion, the main highlight of this book is the ability of the author to create an amazing story around some details given throughout the book and that altogether make sense and explain everything that happened since the very beginning.

Recommendation

The highlight pointed above is the main reason why I think this book should be read. However, being this part of an amazing series, I have to say that the reading of this book is necessary to understand the whole plot of the series. I must also add that this book as a standalone isn’t that great as it is along the other books of the series.

Click here to read the Book Review of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Além dos Livros #4 - O Estado, os Subornos e Nós

“ “(…) Paguei ao meu conhecido para me dar acesso ao ministro e paguei ao ministro para me conceder o exclusivo e assinar o contrato.”

“Ou seja, precisou de olear o processo com bakshish…”

Ohannes abriu os braços, como quem expõe uma evidência.

“Meu caro, ninguém enriquece no Império Otomano sem pôr dinheiro nas mãos dos decisores e da clique que os rodeia (…)” ”

Esta passagem textual encontra-se no livro O Homem de Constantinopla, escrito por José Rodrigues dos Santos, e decidi escrever um pouco sobre ela por ser um ponto negativo que existe na maioria das nações do nosso mundo e que, com o seu fim, promover-se-ia a igualdade entre todas as pessoas, sendo necessário o mérito próprio para que alguém se conseguisse destacar.

Nesta passagem, Calouste Gulbenkian falava com o pai da sua mulher, estando este último a contar-lhe como tinha conseguido obter a sua riqueza. Ohannes, através de bakshish (subornos), tinha obtido acesso aos homens com os mais altos cargos no Império Otomano para negociar com eles e, recorrendo novamente aos subornos, assinou com eles um contrato exclusivo que em tudo o beneficiava, o inverso do que aconteceria com o Império Otomano.

Calouste Gulbenkian vivera durante a segunda metade do século XIX e a primeira do século XX, sendo que este diálogo poderia ter realmente ocorrido, tendo em conta que estamos perante uma obra de ficção, nessa altura. Podemos ver, então, que muitos dos homens ricos que existiam no Império Otomano conseguiram obter as suas fortunas através da corrupção, beneficiando eles com esses contratos, enquanto que, em simultâneo, prejudicavam o Império Otomano.

Porém, apesar de esta conversa poder ter tido lugar há mais de 100 anos, esta poderia passar-se nos dias de hoje. Indo além da componente temporal, esta conversa poderia ocorrer na Turquia, mas poderia igualmente ser tida em inúmeros outros países, entre os quais poderia estar Portugal!

O nosso País, apesar de estar inserido na União Europeia e de, atualmente, se encontrar 30 posições acima da Turquia no que diz respeito ao Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano, é fustigado por negociatas que, em variadíssimas situações, sai lesado em favor da outra parte dos contratos. Portugal, que é um País que está na moda e que atrai numerosos turistas, tem vindo a ser destruído, nomeadamente no que toca ao seu património ambiental e paisagístico.

Além disso, não são só as nossas paisagens e as nossas mais-valias ambientais que saem prejudicadas, também nós, os contribuintes, somos lesados, pois o Estado somos NÓS. Se não existissem pessoas, não existiria Estado e sempre que este sai lesado num negócio, NÓS somos, consequentemente, lesados também. Por esse motivo, TODOS temos de nos tornar cidadãos politicamente conscientes e capazes de entender todas as consequências em que Portugal, enquanto Estado, quer a nível local ou central, se envolve, pois NÓS, cidadãos e contribuintes, somos parte interessada e, se procuramos sempre o melhor possível para nós, porque não o fazemos nestes casos?

Para finalizar o texto, faço um apelo a todos para que pensem que todos fazemos parte do Estado e que, sempre que este, quer a nível nacional ou local, se envolva em algum acordo, negócio, etc., também se lembrem que fazem parte da decisão. Um país com cidadãos mais conscientes e mais informados é um país mais forte.

Clique aqui para ler a Crítica Literária à obra O Homem de Constantinopla.

Book Review #15 - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, by J. K. Rowling

Reason of choice

This series is one of my favorites of all time, both the movie adaptations and the books themselves. However, I have only read the Portuguese books back then. Now that I’ve developed my English skills, I wanted to read the original books.

Reaction to the first pages

Since I knew this series almost by heart, I was delighted to remember some details I have forgotten as the time went by and that are only present in the books. For this reason and due to liking so much this series, I have always wanted to keep reading the book.

Summary

The book begins when Harry is delivered to the Dursley’s, which raised him with their son, Dudley, who bullied Harry during all the time they lived together. One day, when Harry was getting the mail, he saw he had a letter for himself but he wasn’t fast enough to read it and their uncle confiscated it from him. More letters exactly alike that one arrived in the following days but he never managed to read one.

Due to this fact, the Dursleys and Harry left their house and went to the middle of nowhere to run away from the letters but Hagrid, the gamekeeper of Hogwarts, the school of witches and wizards, went to meet them and delivered one letter to Harry.

After that, they went to London, to Diagon Alley, where Harry bought everything he needed for his first year at Hogwarts. However, before buying anything, Hagrid and Harry went to Gringotts, the wizard’s bank, where Harry took some of the money their parents had left for him, while Hagrid took something from another vault.

After some time, Harry went to King’s Cross Station, where he met Ron Weasley and his family, who helped him to get aboard the Hogwarts Express, in the Platform 9 and 3/4. When the first-year students arrived at Hogwarts, they were placed in the four different Houses: Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Harry, Ron and Hermione, who the boys met in the train were all placed in Gryffindor, while Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle, some guys they have also met in the train but that they didn’t like, were placed in Slytherin.

Then, we are introduced to the several classes they would be having and to their teachers, being the most relevant ones Potions, taught by Snape, who hated Harry, and Transfiguration, taught by Professor McGonagall. Moreover, Harry showed incredible skills in Quidditch, being recruited as the seeker for Gryffindor, which was against the rules, since the first-year students weren’t allowed to have their own brooms.

One night, Malfoy invited Harry and Ron for a duel, which they accepted, and Hermione tried to stop them but she wasn’t able to do so. Although she didn’t want to go with them, she was forced to go since she couldn’t get back to the Gryffindor common room. However, Malfoy didn’t appear. Therefore, they understood that he tried to frame them. Fortunately for them, they weren’t seen, but, in their way back, they went straight to the 3rd floor, which was forbidden. In there they found a three-headed dog, which was guarding something but they didn’t know what was it.

Then, in Halloween, there was a troll that entered in Hogwarts and that almost killed Hermione, who was saved by Ron and Harry. To free the boys from the trouble they would be getting for running away from the other classmates, Hermione lied for them, being that the beginning of their friendship.

In Christmas, Harry and Ron would be staying at Hogwarts, trying to find who Nicholas Flamel was, since Hagrid told them that only Dumbledore and that man knew what was being guarded by Fluffy, the three-headed dog. Harry received an invisibility cloak as a Christmas gift and he used it to sneak into the restricted section of the library to search for Flamel but he wasn’t successful. In his way back, he found a room with a mirror which showed Harry and his parents. Harry was fascinated by it, which led him to decide to show it to Ron, who wasn’t able to see what Harry said he had seen. After some visits, Dumbledore caught Harry in that room and explained him that the mirror would show one's biggest desire and he also told Harry not to look again for the mirror.

After some time, Harry, Ron and Hermione found out who Flamel was and they also discovered that Fluffy was guarding the Philosopher’s Stone. Besides, Hagrid told them how to pass through Fluffy and that he had a dragon egg about to hatch. Unfortunately, he couldn’t keep it for himself, so Harry and Hermione helped Hagrid to deliver it to one of Ron’s brothers, who were working and studying dragons. However, they were caught by Professor McGonagall because Malfoy warned her that they would do it in that night, but they were caught only after delivering the dragon.

Because of that, they were sent with Hagrid to the Dark Forest, where they chased something that was killing unicorns but they weren’t able to identify it. Then, one day that Dumbledore had went to London, they thought Snape would try to steal the Stone, therefore they tricked Fluffy and they were able to go through all the challenges made by the teachers until they found out that the thief wasn’t Snape, but Professor Quirrel, who was sharing his own body with Voldemort, the man who killed Harry’s parents and that made him his scar. Harry was able to get the Stone for himself and he was able to stop Quirrel and Voldemort, being this the end of the book.

Highlights

It is a little hard to highlight something but I think the author’s ability to make almost every little detail count to the development of the story should be the greatest highlight of the book because, throughout the whole book, we get some clues about what would be happening and they are always pointed out whenever we need to remember them.

Recommendation

Obviously, since this is one of my favorite series, I must recommend it because it’s very nice to remember the Harry Potter story and because we should know how great J. K. Rowling is as a writer.

Crítica Literária #30 - A história não acaba assim, de Miguel Sousa Tavares

Razão da escolha

Apesar de já ter lido mais duas obras do autor: Rio das Flores e Equador, sobre as quais já escrevi e deixarei o link para cada uma delas no final, eu conhecia Miguel Sousa Tavares também como um comentador político e, por querer conhecer essa faceta do autor, decidi ler este livro.

Reação às primeiras páginas

Desde as primeiras crónicas que o raciocínio crítico do autor me cativou e me fez tomar a decisão de ler o livro até ao fim, pois, embora não concorde com todos os seus pontos de vista, admiro a sua coragem em escrever sobre determinados temas, tendo em conta o número de leitores que ele pode atingir.

Resumo

Sendo esta obra uma coletânea de escritos políticos redigidos pelo autor entre os anos de 2005 e 2012, o livro não tem nenhum enredo além da ordem cronológica. Portanto, no que toca a resumir este livro, há que dizer que o autor fala de diversos temas relevantes para a vida política e social de Portugal, nomeadamente a educação; a saúde; a banca, algumas obras públicas, como o Alqueva, o projeto do TGV; a privatização da TAP; a destruição de parte do património natural e ambiental Português, entre muitos outros.

Aspetos a destacar

Tal como já referi acima, admiro a coragem que o autor tem para escrever sobre certos temas, que são bastante sensíveis e que envolvem interesses capazes de corromper muitos, mas aos quais ele, aparentemente, parece resistir.

Além disso, também admiro o seu raciocínio crítico perante inúmeras situações, uma vez que consegue analisar as situações sem olhar apenas para o passado imediato nem para o presente, mas com uma visão de longo prazo, que, em muitos casos, é o que falta em muitas das decisões que envolvem o futuro e o desenvolvimento do nosso País.

Recomendação

Para quem quer ler um livro onde se encontram bons argumentos e exemplos bastante claros sobre a política nacional, esta é uma obra a não perder. Goste-se ou não dos seus pontos de vistas, concorde-se ou não, é uma boa forma de tomar conhecimento sobre certos acontecimentos e sobre certas situações, sendo que o melhor a fazer para podermos formar a nossa opinião sobre algo que não conhecemos bem é ir investigar sobre isso para que os nossos argumentos sejam fortes e dificilmente desmontáveis.

• Para ir para a Crítica Literária à obra Equador clique aqui.
• Para ir para a Crítica Literária à obra Rio das Flores, clique aqui.