Book Review – J. K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”
Last week I finished reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in the Harry Potter series.
Year two begins with Harry still at home during summer break and more miserable than ever with his cousin, aunt and uncle, the Dursleys. Despite them being terrified by Harry’s magic abilities, they keep him on a short leash and have him busy with housework the moment he steps out of line.
Harry’s magical adventure begins before leaving for Diagon Alley for school supplies or Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. On the day of Uncle Vernon’s big meeting with business clients, Dobby the house elf and servant to a magical family, warns Harry not to return to Hogwarts for terrible things may happen to him. While trying to get more information out of him, Dobby causes chaos during the Dursleys’ dinner party and Harry takes the blame. Uncle Vernon’s punishment for Harry is locking him in his bedroom (complete with barring the windows), forbidding him from attending school at Hogwarts.
Fortunately for Harry, Ron Weasley and his older brothers, Fred and George, appear one night in Mr. Weasley’s magically enchanted flying car, and Harry is rescued from his bedroom prison. They all fly away to the Weasley’s magical home and Harry spends the last few weeks of summer break living with them.
When the Weasleys leave for Diagon Alley, Harry learns about traveling via Floo powder. His trip doesn’t go as expected and Harry finds himself on the wrong side of town. Luckily, Hagrid appears and leads Harry to the more familiar part of Diagon Alley, meeting up with the Weasleys and Hermione Granger. In the book store is where the Gryffindor group meets Gilderoy Lockhart, a proud teller of personal tales, fan of Harry Potter, and the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts.
Not long after the trip to Diagon Alley it’s time to head to Hogwarts, though when it’s time for Harry and Ron to make the passage to Platform 9-3/4, the magical barrier has been suddenly sealed. Harry and Ron decide to borrow Mr. Weasley’s flying car and fly it to Hogwarts, keeping track of the train and following it to the school. The car experiences some problems and the boys make a crash landing into a Whomping Willow tree. Unfortunately for them, the tree tries to attack Harry and Ron, making them run for cover from its swinging branches.
Year Two at Hogwarts involve a new set of challenges for Harry and his friends. From dealing with Draco Malfoy now being the seeker on Slytherin’s Quidditch team, to first year Colin Creevey and his constant taking of pictures, to an ominous note written on the wall warning students about the Chamber of Secrets.
The first victim of the Chamber of Secrets is Filch’s cat, Mrs. Norris. Over the course of the year several students are also attacked and left in a petrified state including Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Nearly Headless Nick, Penelope Clearwater, and Hermione Granger. It’s up to Harry and Ron to discover who is responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets, stop the attacks, and clear Hagrid’s good name.
As a whole this story was fairly entertaining and felt like it had a smoother flow than Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. It was an easy read, and with a little bit of free time each day, it doesn’t take long to finish reading the story.
The movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets did a fairly good job of keeping pace with the book, although most of the scenes were quite abbreviated, and some parts and characters were outright omitted. For example, it would have been fun seeing Harry and Ron de-gnome the Weasley’s garden, the ghost party thrown by Nearly Headless Nick, more of the incredible arrogance of Gilderoy Lockhart, or more scenes with the Percy Weasley, Nearly Headless Nick, and even Filch. How about adding scenes with Peeves the Poltergeist?
But the Quiddich match in the movie was great, and in my opinion Harry’s fight with the basilisk was much better in the movie. It felt like the book rushed the ending and took away Harry’s epic win over the massive snake.
As a whole, both the Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets book and movie are a lot of fun. Just let your imagination run wild and you’ll have a great time with it, whether you’re an adult or child.
And don’t read the books out of order! 😉
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These reviews and much more are available at my other website, Chamber of Reviews!