Here from the Snitch. I think your point about expectations is a good one. It seems that some people wanted a prescriptive tale of good and evil but what JKR has dished out is something rather more chaotic. The disappointment tends to get taken out on JKR and Dumbledore!
What gets me most about the HP books is … how much more there is to them than is at first apparent. JKR is actually trying to pull off something quite complicated. HP is a school story, a mystery thriller, a fantasy, a comedy with a strong element of satire, and an alchemical work, to name just five. There is tragedy and horror there too. HP’s roots are in myth and it’s reach extends to existentialism. In comparison a lot of the criticism made in fandom seems merely narrow, blinkered - and so bloody po-faced! If HP has a message then it seems to me it’s about what it is to be human. There’s no hope of understanding good and evil – or love for that matter - if there isn’t first an understanding (and acceptance) of humanity in all its messiness, from self-sacrifice to practical jokes via lying and brawling and snogging.
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What gets me most about the HP books is … how much more there is to them than is at first apparent. JKR is actually trying to pull off something quite complicated. HP is a school story, a mystery thriller, a fantasy, a comedy with a strong element of satire, and an alchemical work, to name just five. There is tragedy and horror there too. HP’s roots are in myth and it’s reach extends to existentialism. In comparison a lot of the criticism made in fandom seems merely narrow, blinkered - and so bloody po-faced! If HP has a message then it seems to me it’s about what it is to be human. There’s no hope of understanding good and evil – or love for that matter - if there isn’t first an understanding (and acceptance) of humanity in all its messiness, from self-sacrifice to practical jokes via lying and brawling and snogging.