Real or Fake?
So is it the real thing or not? Usually the easiest way to tell is to check the writing style, but with the translations into and out of french that's nearly impossible to do. But the writing style itself gave me no reasons to doubt it. I have the Harry Potter books in french, and this excerpt seemed to be in basically the same style. The biggest thing speaking against this excerpt is that nobody else seems to have it. As several people have pointed out, it's highly unlikely that an obscure french site has such an explosive excerpt but nobody else has heard anything about it. All the e-mail I've received so far is against it. So I'm now forced to rule that the thing is a fake. It's a rather good one, though. Not convinced? Read on for my thoughts as well as some of the comments that have been sent to me:
Reasons I Think It's Fake:
* The sheer number of owls. Seven in the first several pages (Dumbledore's, Hermione's, Hagrid's, Ron's, Professor McGonagall's, Harry's, and Sirius's)? And two postscripts. It seems to me overly excessive. Not impossible, but unlikely enough to make me question the authenticity.
* Also, the amount of new things we learn in the first few pages seems to me to be odd. Hermione is a prefect, she went to visit Viktor, Harry is the Quidditch captain, all things we expected to happen. And Dumbledore is calling together the Order, and Miss Figg is a witch. It's a lot of exciting news, and I would've thought it would've been spaced out a bit more. Once again, not impossible, but a tad odd.
* The two identical bags of stones. Both Hagrid and Hermione send him magical stones? It's repetitive, and I would think she'd show more creativity. It's possible that she's preparing for some big stone development in the plot which will require Harry to have a bunch of different magical stones, but at least the carrying cases could be different. It shows a lack of creativity which Rowling has certainly never shown before.
* We start our narration of Harry with a dream. She used this device last time, so it seems that the use of it here implies someone trying to copy her style, as opposed to J. K. Rowling herself writing. Once again, you'd think she'd show a little more creativity.
* We don't spend very much time at all learning about Dudley. The newest development with him seems like something she'd do, but you'd think she'd spend a little more time with it. If only to break up the tumult of owls a bit.
* Pigwidgeon was able to carry a bunch of Mrs. Weasley's cakes? He's a pipsqueak of an owl. He usually needs a lot of help for such a feat. Of course, this could be a mistake in translation. Not quite sure.
* Isn't Harry's room on the second story? How did a cat get up there? I admit at this point I'm kind of stretching. I just want to be sure to catch anything and everything that might hint that this isn't real. Becuase I'm inclined to believe it, but I don't want to get my hopes up about certain things and then have them dashed.
Reasons other people have e-mailed me:
Matt:
* I thought that Hagrid or someone else said that the giants would be in the mountains. Why would giants be living in a forest? On the same note, why would ragons be in a forest. We saw how Norbert was with his fire-breathing, if dragons were in a forest, I highly doubt that there would be any forest left. Next, if the stones are used to much, then why don't giants use them to live as normal sized humans?
* McGonagall says "It is thus my obligation to name new members" and all she names is Harry as Captain. Then later in the letter, she says that he needs to pick the new Keeper.
Asia:
* Rowling has said that the Quidditch captain won't be who we expect, that Mrs. Figg and Arabella Figg are the same person, and that book 5 will be business
as usual... As I see it, business as usual is starting the book out on Harry's birthday, as she does with CoS and PoA.
Diarmaid:
* Even taking into account that it has been translated from French, the sheer number of adjectives (see "his eyes appeared concerned, anxious..." in 1st line) used betrays Rowling's tremendous ability for simplicity, an ability that makes her work universally appealing.
*If Rowling uses metaphor or simile, it is always quirky and original, but lines like "the squeaks of the feather resounded like deaf complaints" are tired, burdensome and completely unoriginal.
* We are given far too much information in a few paragraphs. It reads like a clumsy attempt to write an "extract", in that makes reference to virtually every character in the series to keep everyone happy.
Thanks to those who have sent in their thoughts so far! And now, on to:
Reasons It's A Good Fake, At Least:
* All my predictions are coming true! I know that's not a very sound reason to believe in it, but hey. I guess another way to put this is that the things I expected to happen, based on what I thought J. K. Rowling would do, are happening. But the predictions are pretty widespread, and the fact that all the big predictions come out in such a short excerpt could actually imply that it's actually the work of somebody else's wishful thinking. I don't know.
* Dumbledore's letter. The hints we get about things to come, especially. The reasons he has to stay with his family, which we basically know already, and the new but not entirely unexpected point that there's some point at which Harry Potter must stay alive, or else... My thoughts on this, mainly based on what my Uncle Bruce has hypothesized, is that Professor Trelawney once made a prophesy about some point at which only Harry Potter's life can stop Voldemort. Hm! I'm going to take a stab at the entire prophecy here. But this is an idea that really seems true to Rowling.
* The multiplication of the letter into eleven copies. Very J. K. Rolwing.
*The behavior of Fawkes the pheonix is also very familiar.
* The interruptions of the letters with Harry's thoughts. She's done this before, and it could be a copycat kind of thing, but in most attempts to replicate Rowling's style this isn't done.
* The styles of the letters are very convincing. The voices change with the speakers, which is a difficult thing to master, and they seem pretty true to their characters.
* In general, the mixture of the old, the expected, and the entirely new is pretty convincing. I'm almost entirely willing to buy that this is truly an excerpt from book five. If not, the author is at least very skilled. And I've heard that the book is finished, and they're trying to get it released around the same time as the second movie is due to come out (November 15th). So the timing is about right for a release of an excerpt. Then again, it is a bit early for the sheer number of revelations. If this is the real thing, then the number of things we'll learn from the book will have to be immense, for this to be merely a teaser. Which is what I would expect with this book, and we've certainly heard that we'll be learning about all sorts of stuff, from more about Lily to why some people become ghosts to more about Ravenclaw, and beyond. Whether this thing is real or not, I'm excited for the next book to come out! It's been so long!
So what do you think? Got any opinions either way? Anything I missed? Any news on the book release date? Found this in the original English somewhere? Anything! E-mail Me!
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