Vintage Book Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (1997) by J.K. Rowling
I first met Harry Potter in the summer of 1999. A trilogy of Harry Potter books was given to me that summer by a dear friend of mine, when I stayed with her family in Norfolk, England. Entranced from the get-go, I never looked back. I have dutifully pre-ordered every subsequent installment, rereading all the previous books before the next sequel was due. So, yeah, I have read and reread these books many, many times during the past 18 years.
RELATED: Great Expectations (2012) – A Great Adaptation for Harry Potter Fans
And this year, two decades after its initial publication, I had the pleasure of sharing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (aka Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone) with my own son, who is now tearing through the series, loving it. Although he does wonder sometimes why Harry does never seem to have a quiet year at Hogwarts.
Love as powerful as your mother’s for you leaves its own mark. Not a scar, no visible sign … to have been loved so deeply, even though the person who loved us is gone, will give us some protection for ever. It is in your very skin.
RELATED: Ten Literary Men That Make Me Swoon
Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived
Harry Potter is an orphan, friendless, living with his fuddy-duddy relatives, the Dursleys, who treat him very poorly, very poorly indeed. His aunt and uncle spoil extravagantly their son Dudley, with Harry only getting scraps of Dudley’s broken leftovers. Harry has no recollection of his parents. He’s got a strange lightning-shaped scar on his forehead. And sometimes weird things occur in his presence, inexplicable things, which inevitably enrage his guardians. And then one day, nearing his eleventh birthday, Harry gets a letter that changes his life forever.
RELATED: Paranormal Public Review – A ‘Harry Potter’ Paranormal Romance
You see, Harry Potter, unbeknownst to even himself, is a wizard, a very famous wizard, renowned for banishing, possibly killing, the evil sorcerer Lord Voldemort a decade ago. It’s a feat of which he has no recollection, but it has made him a celebrity in the wizarding world. And there is a wizarding world, a world of magic hidden to the Muggle world (the non-magical realm, which is to say this reviewer’s reality), and the whole magical world opens its doors to Harry with that letter. He is to start at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He is to learn magic, make friends, fly on broomsticks, become a wizard.
Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.
Thus, begins the education of Harry Potter at Hogwarts. The magical realm is, well, magical, with many fantastic realities, animals, candies, creatures, music. At school, he is befriended by a ginger-haired Ron Weasley, who stems from a large family and feels generally unremarkable and overlooked. Hermione Granger, a goody-two-shoes know-it-all, daughter of non-magical dentists, eventually becomes a friend. This little trio ends up on an adventure to protect the philosopher’s stone – a stone that grants immortality – from the evil that is seeking it.
RELATED: Second Time Lucky in Love – Ten Literary Couples Who (Eventually) Find True Love
I won’t say any more.
The truth – it is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.
A Modern-Day Classic for Good Reason
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – and the world it introduced and the series it ignited and the movies it inspired – is a modern-day classic and for good reason. It’s riveting and relatable and fun and funny. J.K. Rowling’s writing is vivid and evocative, with many great characters, fantastic descriptions of the fantastical, not to mention many beautiful, thoughtful and quoteworthy passages on love and truth, on evil and goodness. In this, her first book, readers often compare her to Roald Dahl, which is certainly not a bad thing.
RELATED: From Jane Eyre to Harry Potter: 75 of the Greatest Books Written By Women
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is a beautiful book and still a fresh, engaging read twenty years on. And I suspect that it will continue to find new readers in the decades to come.
So butterbeers up and cheers to Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling for twenty years of magic!
RELATED: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – A Nostalgic Trip Back to Hogwarts
Content Note: There are some thrillingly intense scenes, but nothing decidedly disturbing or inappropriate for the young (or older!) reader.
Adaptation Recommendation: The films completed to huge success. First released in 2001, the last film in this eight-film series came out a decade later in 2011. The young actors playing our adventuresome trio, Daniel Radcliffe (Harry), Rupert Grint (Ron) and Emma Watson (Hermione), aged with their characters, became superstars and teen idols, and have since moved on and grown into other things. The series has been hugely successful, and a return to the magical wizarding realm has begun with a spin-off prequel, penned by J.K. Rowling, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It is the first in a new five-film series, which hit theatres last year.
RELATED: Are Prequels Necessary? On the Value of Prequels
Where to Read: Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone is available for sale at bookstores near you or on Amazon
OVERALL RATING
“The stuff that dreams are made of.”
ARE YOU A ROMANCE FAN? FOLLOW THE SILVER PETTICOAT REVIEW:
Our romance-themed entertainment site is on a mission to help you find the best period dramas, romance movies, TV shows, and books. Other topics include Jane Austen, Classic Hollywood, TV Couples, Fairy Tales, Romantic Living, Romanticism, and more. We’re damsels not in distress fighting for the all-new optimistic Romantic Revolution. Join us and subscribe. For more information, see our About, Old-Fashioned Romance 101, Modern Romanticism 101, and Romantic Living 101.
Has it really been 20 years? :O I don’t hear much about the controversy these days, but I remember feeling subversive when I read it, because churches like mine were full of “Harry Potter teaches kids to be witches!” nonsense. But it was all fun to read–well, except for the depressing bits. One of these days I hope to read through it again. 🙂
I know — when I realized that two decades had gone by, I just wondered where the time had gone! And I guess Harry Potter became so phenomenally successful, so mainstream, that the initial controversies surrounding it died down. They couldn’t stop this juggernaut…There were and are, anyways, other, more pertinent things to rant about in this world than the boy who lived (-: And I never really understood the backlash — it seemed to me that the ranters never even had read it. Because if they had, they would see that it was a wonderful story, full of growth and love and friendships and higher power and trying to do what is right. There are strong religious themes running through this work…I avoided seeing the movies for years because I didn’t want them to ruin my own visions of the books (-: The books are still great!