Poudelivre

As most people my age, I've read Harry Potter for years. But now that I am a little older I've come to a frightening realization. I’ve always thought that I could go back to the books and reread them again and again and they’ll be as good now as they were the first time I read them. But during Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone I noticed how I’ve grown and maybe even grown away from the story.

Now, don’t take this as a “I’m too old for this” or a “I won’t read this books ever again” because neither is true. Well, not really, at least. I read the fifth novel, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, this summer and it sat perfectly well with me. But this first novel, Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone, felt too small for me. For the first time I realized that while the story is timeless, I am growing.

In this, the first part of Harry Potter's journey to meet and hopefully defeat the evil wizard Lord Voldemort, Harry’s story starts, not in the wizard world, but in a very normal neighborhood in Surrey, England. Orphaned boy Harry lives with his aunt, uncle and cousin but after turning eleven and finding out that he’s a wizard he starts attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It isn’t until then that he finds out the truth about his parent’s death, the truth about the lightning shaped scar on his forehead and the truth about who he really is. After befriending Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry sets out to investigate the castle they live in and to keep an eye on that strange potion teacher who seems to be after something hidden somewhere inside the school.

I noticed more than once that the language was too childish for me and the overall feeling the book gave me was more irritation then actual interest. I’ve both read it before, more than once, as well as seen the movie, so it wasn’t a surprise what lay in store for Harry and his friends. Despite that I found the book, not bad, but certainly not quite for me anymore. It is, with a heavy heart, that I realized that I have outgrown the earlier parts of Harry’s story. I’m sure I will return to it in the future nonetheless, but it will be a while before I pick up the novel again.