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Tuesday, August 9, 2016 > HALEAM
A brief captivator
While the plot is amazingly
done, readers will be left
wanting for more.
By S. SHAMALA
Harry Potter and The Cursed Child,
Play by J. K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and
John Tiffany ( Little, Brown Book
Group)
BEING a Harry Potter fan since I was 14,
I have never been let down by J.K Rowling.
Her meticulously crafted wizarding world,
bizarre plot twists and detailed charac-
ter-development have always left me, and I
daresay all Potter-heads, craving for
more.
Avid readers are so used to her intense
detailing of every single thing that existed
in that alternate world - from the history of
the creatures mentioned such as the For-
bidden Forest occupants like the Centaurs
to the Gringotts Bank’s goblins, to magical
establishments such as the Ministry of
Magic and the legendary Hogwarts - that it
was expected of her. Which could have
led to some being left high and dry with
her latest addition - Harry Potter and The
Cursed Child.
But to be absolutely fair, this particular
one is supposed to be a script book, not
the regular over-400-page-thick page-turn-
er. It is the print version of a play, hence
meant to be acted out rather than read.
Therefore, to compare it with her former
books can be unfair.
However, while the pacing of the plot
is, without doubt, done marvelously well -
fast and captivating enough, some may
feel (me included) the lack of details a bit
of a turn-off.
The book opens with Harry, with his
wife Ginny at King’s Cross sending off
their sons James and Albus to Hogwarts.
While James is already a senior there,
Albus is only starting his first year, hence
his first trip to the magical school.
Albus is quite worried, which is quite
common among first years, and he seeks
reassurance from Harry that he will be
placed in Slytherin, the house where usu-
ally Dark Magic wizards thrive.
Harry consoles his little boy, who was
being teased by his elder brother, that he
can always negotiate with the Sorting Hat,
just like how Harry himself did.
Albus befriends Draco Malfoy’s (Harry’s
former nemesis) son Scorpius, and as he
feared is placed in the House of Slytherin.
Now, the progress of Albus from Year
One to Year Three was done within few
pages, that is disappointing for fans who
would have loved to know in detail of
events that occur every single year he
was in Hogwarts, just like how Rowling did
to Harry’s character.
To put it simply, people who had the
pleasure of watching Harry slowly grow
from The Philosopher’s Stone to The
Deathly Hallows will be utterly frustrated to
see Albus ‘grows up’ so fast.
Now, of course, if Rowling had ever
intended to do similar stories on Albus
Harry Potter-style, she would not have
written this particular script book; instead
she would have made another fortune with
a separate series for Albus.
Still, for stubborn Potter-philes, she
could have done more. Also, the rumour
that supposedly surrounded Scorpius is,
to me, shocking, especially for a younger
reader. (Read the book).
While I immensely enjoyed reading
about the grown-up characters such as
Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger (who is
the Minister of Magic of the generation) as
well as Draco Malfoy (although not as
much), there are fewer people (under-
standably, it is a play) mentioned in this
script book, rendering it less colourful than
the other books.
For those who enjoy the entry of new
faces, you will be happy to know that one,
who is closely associated to the Dark Lord
(Voldemort), is brought into this latest and
last story in the Harry Potter series; a
character that nobody knew existed but
seamlessly and cleverly threaded into the
narrative by the writer, a trademark of
Rowling’s masterpieces and a quality that
has always wowed her fans.
Also, for those who haven’t read, a
small spoiler; the Time Turner is again a
crucial constant in this particular script
book.
Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is
definitely a one-of-a-kind read, which can
even reach out to those outside the book
lovers’ sphere, however be prepared to
finish the book earlier than you’d like to.
The Bright Edge Of The World by
Eowyn Ivey (Tinder Press, £16.99)
Eowyn Ivey’s second novel returns to
the wilds of Alaska with a story of ex-
ploration.
It’s 1885 and Colonel Allen Forrester is
in uncharted territory along the Wolverine
River.
He traverses great distances with a
small band of men and a large dose of
adventure – involving scant provisions,
scary snowstorms and uneasy encounters
with shamans and mythic beasts.
Back at home in their Vancouver army
barracks, his smart, resourceful, imagina-
tive wife Sophie is torn between sadness
at her thwarted plan to accompany her
husband on his mission and joy at finding
herself pregnant.
As Forrester encounters a new world,
Sophie is forced on her own voyage of
discovery.
She miscarries and, in an attempt to
assuage her grief, turns to photography to
capture her tumultuous feelings.
Their parallel stories are told in a series
of journal entries, letters and reports.
They have been sent to the modern-day
curator of the Alpine Historical Museum by
Forrester’s elderly great-nephew Walter,
who is eager to share his fascination with
their story with the wider world.
Ivey neatly counterpoints Forrester’s
wild adventures with the more interior ex-
citements of Sophie’s photographic dis-
coveries.
The revelations come piecemeal from
Allen and Sophie’s paper trail of events,
which is a beautifully lyrical way to tell a
story that revels in the depths of human
emotion and the wonder of the natural
world.
Love In Central America by Clancy
Martin (Harvill Secker, £12.99)
This painful, caustically funny novel
opens with a hurricane, but narrator Brett
makes it on to the last flight to Cancún and
reaches the luxury hotel belonging to her
and her husband Paul.
There, the floor-to-ceiling windows with
their long views of the ocean showcase
waves that were “huge and confused”. It’s
an apt metaphor for the emotional storm
that Brett is about to unleash.
Happily married to sensible Paul, Brett
reluctantly meets up with his banker only
to find him tall, “beautifully shaped” and
with a seam of inviting recklessness that
upends Brett’s good intentions. In the blink
of an eye, she is in bed with Eduard.
Spurred on by the revelation that his
girlfriend didn’t like sex, she’s “determined
to make an impression” and finds herself
embarking on a hotel-hopping affair. It’s
not long before things go from bad to
worse, as Paul learns about the affair,
former alcoholic Brett starts drinking again
and the intense attraction between her and
Eduard is replaced by drunken desper-
ation.
Martin’s chapters are short, sharp
shocks, an electrifying illustration of a bad
romance, supercharged with breakneck
dissolution.
As Brett drinks more and more, she
recalls old habits – the sneaking of double
vodkas (“easy on the soda”) on trips to the
bathroom, blackouts, the terrible, violent
encounters, the suicide attempts and how
“the secret drinker keeps her lover drunk…
With a drunk lover you can drink all night
long”.
Eithne Farry
VERDICT:4/5
Worldly wise: Lessons in love and life