Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

[rin68nyr]

Ok...I am now finished, and am ready to discuss....

Erin

[misscharlotte]

I guessed when I bought my copy and read the words stating it's "based" on the story by JKR, that she really wasn't the main author. I mean, why would JKR need help by two other people in writing a story that she'd been working on half her life? But yes, I see all three names on there together as a collaboration, and how one person turned it into play form.

I plan/HOPE to get to read it this weekend, if all is quiet. I'm dying to find out what the kid in the nest is all about.

Funny thing going to the bookstore... I came home and told my family that in my head I've already spent over a hundred more dollars on books for my wish list. HEY! I'm looking forward to Christmas. One new Harry Potter book that I must have is called: Harry Potter The Artifact Vault is $56 I wish I had that in my pocket just to spend. It has wonderful colorful pictures that looks like cut outs of everything potter. Details of all of the props used in the books as well as the movies. They are so up close and vivid. All of those Weasley items look like so much fun.

Hey guys. Do we all have The Cursed Child?

[rin68nyr]

Aug 10, 2016 10:11:29 GMT -6 rin68nyr said:

Ok...I am now finished, and am ready to discuss....

Erin

Ha ha...just realized that the emoticon above is different on different devices. I was on my PC when I posted this, and I chose the one where the two heads are sharing a secret...Now on my iPhone, I see that it's a frowny face. ITS NOT A FROWNY FACE! Don't take any meaning of what I thought of CC from that!!!!!

[misscharlotte]

LOL!!!!! No It's so funny since I just posted about this over at the head table.

Actually, when using most devices to see our site properly (devices not the PC or the laptop) you have to scroll down to the very very bottom of the page and click to view in desktop mode. Then all will look as was designed for the pc.

Proboards is getting ready to do their 6th overhaul since their beginning. One of their new things it so fix this where we ALL will see the same thing no mater what we are using to view the site. I'm getting pretty excited. BUT NO.... I never saw the frowny face at all. I'm on my laptop when I'm home most of the time. So no worries.



................

NOW.... I'm only a few pages in and thought this is pretty easy read. Much like listening to a tv show is what someone said to me. You forget that you are not reading a paragraph by paragraph story. That was my goof. A comment was made about the hat running around and students falling into their houses. It blew my mind. I had to say "WHAT?" out loud. It took me five more pages to realize THIS WAS A PLAY, because I forgot.

I like it alright so far. Then just when the story was getting good, and I was sitting up straighter in my chair, I was totally lost. I mean, in the preface for that part it DID tell us that the scenes will be rapid changing. I'm trying to get through that part now, but it's time to make dinner. Ugh.

All I ask is if someone could please tell me, are there many rapid shifting parts all throughout the book? I had to get my pencil out to draw a line between stuff to make ends of things.

Other than that.. I find it fast pace. Very interesting so far.

[fangsfan1]

Will just post a few little spoilers, will have more later.

First I just loved that Dudley sent the blanket to Harry, I've always had a soft spot for Big D.

Secondly, very interesting that Albus got sorted into Slytherin, this is what so many readers predicted would happen. One question though, why didn't Albus argue the point with the hat? What was the point in DH of Harry telling him the SH would take consider his opinion?

Also it's nice to see some good Slytherins, i.e. Albus and Scorpius, JKR always said there were lots of good ones and this proves the point-love Scorpius so far.

[fred_girl]

Yeah, I love Scorpius so much too!

[fangsfan1]

Glad to see yoi agreed Fred Girl! I liked seeing my old favorites but it was fun to have a new character to route for too.


Hermione as Minister of Magic? This surprised me but I do think she would be good in this job. Not only her brains but her compassion would be helpful. But I wonder what happened to Kingsley, had he retired by then?

[nz101nz]

I'll post a few of my thoughts too



I absolutely loved the concept of the Time Turners in POA, with the whole behind the scenes actions, however I was not expecting them to be featured in CC. I was happily surprised to see them reappear and loved how they were incorporated into the story. I love it because now re-reading GOF is going to feel different! Leave it to JKR to make an old story start to feel different. One sad part of the story I found was when Albus and Scorpius see Cedric during the Third Task and knowing he was about to die. They know they can't tell him because it will change everything for the worse. So sad!

Harry and Draco! I wanted to see Harry and Draco become somewhat amicable and despite a duel (which was a lovely nod to their past) I think they got there in the end.

The concept of the alternate realities hands down excited me the most. I absolutely loved reading about them and really really hope there's Pottermore info released on these realities. I loved that Albus and Scorpius were able to talk to Snape and then tell Harry afterwards.

Hermione as Minister I thought was a great addition to the story. She's certainly capable of it, and it shows just how far the wizarding community has come from it's pureblood days. Odds are Kingsley retired I think.

While this script differs in style from the books (it is after all a modern play), I believe the story follows naturally from the end of JKR's story.

Lastly, Voldemort having a child! This was something I don't think many of us considered. I thought his legacy was done after DH, and was shocked (in a good way) to see a descendant of him make an appearance.

And the blanket message, such a clever idea!

[nz101nz]

Will post a few more thoughts later on

[rin68nyr]

Okay...so since we're discussing it...



I enjoyed the story. It was fun to be in that world again!

BUT I see it as a stand alone story...an enjoyable fan-fic.

...I have a hard time accepting it as canon.

1) Hermione...never ever would she be NEEDING a man in order to be happy..she was so bitter in the storyline where she and Ron were not together, and it's not who she is.

2) I can't see Lord Voldemort ever having a child.
-He was incapable of being intimate in any way, shape, or form.
-He would not have needed or wanted to have an heir at the time Delphi would have been born...he had at least 2 horcruxes by then, knew he would live forever, and would not have wanted anyone who might have claim to his "throne."

I also thought that the characters we grew to know and love were shallow versions of themselves.

So, there you have it...I enjoyed it for what it was, but I'll stick to the original series for my canon.

Erin

[Duddahs]

OK, Duddahs is going to throw his 2 knuts into the witch pot, for what ever that is worth.

Duddahs had an initial reaction that he could not seem to shake from the very beginning of the book. Had to convince myself to read the Cursed Child for a second time, after having digested it and being left with a sort of ill feeling in my tummy.

Sorry to say, Duddahs was not only not impressed with the story line, he actually disliked how most of the characters were portrayed. What truly left a bad taste in Duddahs beak was the way that Dumbledore was used, how poorly Snape was portrayed, how shallow the characters were as Erin had previously pointed out.

The language used was simply incorrect for the characters we have grown to know and love. The characters; Albus and Scorpious simply would not speak in the manner they were written. They were too adult in their delivery, too devoid of any real emotion or understanding of what they were saying. Duddahs simply could not sink his teeth into the characters, did not really find much to admire in ANY of them.

Harry really was not correct from the get go. He became wishy washy, almost devoid of common sense. Ginny was there but seemed to be more of a bully than someone who the real Harry Potter could or would ever have fallen for. Please do not even get me started on Hermione, for Merlins sake, Hermione is a strong character, probably even stronger than Harry Potter himself at times and this book made her out to be a glorified paper pusher type. Ron was not funny in any fashion. Ron is all character, sort of a loyal puppy who simply does not realize it is not in his best interest to pee in the house. He was just a mess here.

Now Draco, they made him seem as if he had had a lobotomy! Come on already, Draco wishing he had friends? Even if he thought of this later in life, he would not have envied Harry Potters problems in spite of the fact that he was not a friend to Harry.

OK, I completely agree that the whole Bellatrix love Voldemort thing was just way too out of character. They would never have hooked up the way he was acting. She on the other hand would have loved nothing more but Duddahs simply can not make that one work.

The whole time turner situation seemed contrived, forced and to be blunt, foolish. The blanket gift, another really out there idea that just would not have worked in the real Harry Potter world. OK, one character that Duddahs thinks might have been slightly used to her real creation could have been Petunia but again, shallow as a puddle on a hot summer day. It simply had no "SPLASH!"

Duddahs was constantly being left feeling uncomfortable with some of the innuendo's that were being purposely and selectively disguised as descriptions. The oddity in hugging between the Albus and Scorpious, it was uncomfortable with the misleading situations it sort of leads one to imagine might or might not be implied. It has nothing to do with being for or against the possibility of the depth of their relationship, it was more uncomfortable that it seemed as if it were being forced upon us without any reasoning as to why. It just made me feel sort of voyeuristic and not in a positive way. Duddahs also did not appreciate the innuendo late in the book about the older woman possibly hooking up with an minor. Even worse still was the suggestion of a teacher and a minor. It is just something I do not believe in JKR's heart of hearts would ever have forced into one of the Harry Potter stories on her own.

Duddahs did come away with the distinct impression that too much of the book had some hallmarks of the less than positive relationship JKR had with her own father and the possible feelings of despair she may have had at the time she was raising her first child on her own. OK, Duddahs gets how bringing ones personal experiences to characters can help make them real for the author and reader alike, but like I said, it was all too forced, too fabricated, simply not to the level of background and character depth that we would have expected from the real creator of the Harry Potter world.

It was simply not magic, it was a bunch of places, things, words strewn around a room with no real reason or planning for them to be anything more than that, objects, words, places that we already know or have experienced. The book asks us to suspend what we already know and trust, to throw it all away and believe that just because time has passed that everyone and everything has simply lost it's charm, their child like joy and wonder. The story simply was missing that for Duddahs. It was joyless and no matter how much Duddahs tried to convince himself otherwise, he was left wishing he had not read the book for it left a bad taste in his mouth upon a memory, a time, a dream and a love for what Duddahs still hopes is out there for all of us. To be young, free of worry, to be able to leave our daily lives for a little while and explore, to dream, to challenge and be challenged to love, and yes dislike but to have someone to truly root for, to wish we were either them or their friend. To share in those victories as much as sharing in their failures.

[Duddahs]

One more thing, Duddahs almost forgot one of the phrases that really pushed his buttons in a bad way.

"Moldy Voldy"

Come on! Can you say bad Fanfic? Really?

[misscharlotte]

OK.... I went ahead and read each of your spoiler comments. My life this past month has really been turned upside down on it's ear so I still have not had the chance to really sit down to read the book.

From ALL of the comments made so far, I know now how I will read this book... that will be as a fanfiction NOT CANON. There were things mentioned as happening that JKR was once asked many years ago in interviews that would NEVER happen. This leads me to believe that even though her name is added up there as one of the authors, I'll bet she had little to do with the writing. I'll bet she might have given the other authors a peek into what she already had as canon in her head as to what happened in the future and (only since I'm seeing that time turners were mentioned in the above posts) in the behind the scenes of the GOF book it's self.

I'm ok with reading fanfiction as long as I reading with that in mind. Most people have their own view after they read the original series that is all in their own hearts. It will be different depending upon when and what age and what was going on in their own lives at that time.

I know I've said it before, I'm still hoping to get to read it some this week.

[nz101nz]

I've been trying to think of a way to summarize the style of CC, but am not having too much success. I guess you could say CC is "Harry Potter fit into a modern play mould".

I'm wondering how different CC would be if it was written as a HP-like novel but followed the same plot(s). Surely we would see more character/plot developments and things along those lines? This is why I've been mostly talking about the plot and storyline details of CC, since I think the nature of it being a play together with the types of characters in it, result in biased and incomplete character developments. It's easy to see that some scenes and lines were tailored to a play-like format and I think you just have to put that aside as a reader coming from the HP series. I think we all knew that the format would be different, but perhaps not to this extent. I think one of the concepts that hurt CC is that it introduced so many new ideas and new versions of characters, but was not able to explore them fully. As for a CC novel though, I don't think it's a possibility. Perhaps a movie at some point to right the "wrong"?

I'm partway through rereading CC right now. I think the only way to potentially make fans consider CC canon is to release a film about it. Actually, it wouldn't surprise me if WB decided to make a movie based on CC, but in a traditional Harry Potter like format. I don't think we'll see it soon though, as WB is preoccupied with Fantastic Beasts, but at some point I hope.

Overall, I think CC has unsettled fans a little bit, that's for sure. They'll want compensation for it, whether in book or movie form. I am personally hoping for a movie that goes deep into the characters of Albus and Scorpius and adds to our previous versions of the old HP characters. The time turner plot line has potential for something great in a movie format, although it is tethered to more far-fetched plots (i.e. Voldemort's child).

Perhaps CC was a raw teaser of what's to come, perhaps to be expanded on and developed further by something else?

[misscharlotte]

Ok, I've decided since I'm on my first time through, that I might pop in here every now and then to make comments as I go.

I last left off on page 22 and picked up there. Now I'm on page 69.

What I think is so funny.... We have GPS on our cars. It really brings down the insurance cost as well. Also, helps with our daughter when she's out late or traveling far away alone. The company we use is through our Verison phone company, it's called DELPHI. Spelled exactly like that.



I thought Harry's scar vanished when Voldemort was destroyed? If it was not mentioned at the end of DH, I'm nearly positive JKR answered this in a later interview. Maybe I'm remembering wrong. Oh well.

I'm still having a hard time keeping track of what year it is, but at least for the time being, we are staying put in one year.

Back to the book.

ps. NZ I'll read your last post in a bit.

[misscharlotte]

OK I've just finished reading the book. So many things to comment but none really bad.

The cover sort of throws me. Ever since this thread was started, I wanted to know WHO the cursed child was AND what's up with the nest and the wings.



I THINK the wings are the Augurey's. Turned out, for some reason I always imagined that bird to be as yellow as a canary's. Still, I can take it with black feathers. I could have remembered wrongly from the Fantastic Beasts book. Then where was the nest in the story? Did I miss something somewhere? Maybe I need to go look at the tattoo again. Maybe it's there.

I'm still a bit lost as to whom the cursed child was. Maybe Delphi is all I can come up with. Was she considered cursed just because she was born? I don't get it. I do recall Draco saying his wife's ancestor was cursed, but that can't be who the title was meant for.

I thought I had mentioned this in my earlier post about JKR interviews completely saying Voldemort would never have any children. He didn't want to have someone who might compete with him. Plus she said that's why he chose to use Horcrux. If he were to live forever as he planned, she said he would not need to have any children. This is why I don't think JKR had as much input on the storyline as people might think. She had to read and approve the final draft, but I think her mind is more on the movie she's working on currently. Also, this book could be a bone she was throwing the fans who won't give up asking for more Harry... even timeline changes for the past as well as the fans wanting more of his children's story to be explored. Just my guess, that's all.

As for the whole, I think it was better that I wasn't able to find the time to read the book for my first time until after I was able to read all of your posts here. I was able to read it from a different frame of mind. I definitely won't view this book as canon at all. Too many discrepancies from the original seven. Still, that's ok with me. No fanfiction is totally in sync with the original ones. To me, that's the beauty in fanfiction... it's all from a different fan's point of view in expanding upon the original story. I actually was able to enjoy the read. Yes, I agree with other comments made here that there were times the characters were not in character that lines up with the original books either. Oh well.

Oh yeah, after I was able to get things in the beginning to level out.... what year it was for the boys, I found the read a pretty easy format to read. This is cool.

[misscharlotte]

Eek. I was actually, just thinking that I'm glad or hope they won't make a movie version of it. I kind of think you are right NZ, that the WB have their hands full with the Fantastic Beasts movie. That I will take seriously.

I saw this 'play' as being a fun adventure. I only wonder now if they never intended for it to be considered canon, but just something different to read. I think there's too many discrepancies to fix to the point they would have to rewrite much of it. I just now looked it up, I thought that Harry's scar was not there at the end of DH, but it was.

Here's something for us to consider... Since I am a huge Star Trek fan, there were many episodes where they went into alternate universes or different time lines. (They never were any of my favorite episodes no matter what ST series they were from.) Still, I did understand that in those alternate universes, it did make sense in a psychological way, that what happens in an individual's past molds the personalities they will eventually have today. During this read, I was able to keep each of those time lines with different personalities separate. They made sense even though I didn't like them all that much. But even in the main timeline, the characters didn't match the original seven books.

Yeah, I'm not taking this book seriously, but I will say it was a fun read.

Edited to add: I hope they don't make a part two of this either. I mean there were holes left unresolved. Why were the werewolves all underground and what happened to the giants? That sort of hole?

[Duddahs]

The Broadway New York cast has been announced.

Soon, we shall see it soon. Hopefully it will translate better to stage than it did to the page.

[Duddahs]

OK, Duddahs was not happy wiyh the book Cursed Child but he will be seeing the two parts on Broadway in a week plus. It has received excellent reviews so Duddahs hopes he can put aside his thoughts on the written version and become a fan of the acted version.

We shall see, talons crossed.

[rin68nyr]

I've been torn about seeing it. Maybe something to do this summer... I'll wait for your review. As a story in and of itself, it's not terrible.. just can't reconcile it with the original series.

Erin