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<blockquote data-quote="F5" data-source="post: 2727189" data-attributes="member: 4607">The thing that helped me &quot;get&quot; the Harry Potter books more than anything else is the fact that they are written for kids.&nbsp; The first book, especially, had a very Roald Dahl kind of feel to it (Wille Wonka, James and the Giant Peach, etc).&nbsp; It's a little dark, a little absurd, and the kids seem to have it more together than the adults.&nbsp; An interesting aspect to the books is the implications they make about the wider &quot;Wizarding World&quot;...a parallel, secret British Government, an implied Caste system, stuff that is not necessary to think about to get the plot, but makes them a little more interesting to an older reader.&nbsp; You never really see the grown-up wizards' world beyond just glimpses (you see more of it as the series goes on), which is a lot like a kid sees the real world...you know that your parents go off to work, and pay taxes and vote in elections and whatnot, but don't really experience it directly until you;re out of school.&nbsp; There are different levels to the books, that you might not get as much from the movies.But first and foremost, rememeber that they're kids' books.&nbsp; You'll have to get past slapstick action scenes and booger jokes to get to the meat of the books.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="F5, post: 2727189, member: 4607"] The thing that helped me "get" the Harry Potter books more than anything else is the fact that they are written for kids. The first book, especially, had a very Roald Dahl kind of feel to it (Wille Wonka, James and the Giant Peach, etc). It's a little dark, a little absurd, and the kids seem to have it more together than the adults. An interesting aspect to the books is the implications they make about the wider "Wizarding World"...a parallel, secret British Government, an implied Caste system, stuff that is not necessary to think about to get the plot, but makes them a little more interesting to an older reader. You never really see the grown-up wizards' world beyond just glimpses (you see more of it as the series goes on), which is a lot like a kid sees the real world...you know that your parents go off to work, and pay taxes and vote in elections and whatnot, but don't really experience it directly until you;re out of school. There are different levels to the books, that you might not get as much from the movies. But first and foremost, rememeber that they're kids' books. You'll have to get past slapstick action scenes and booger jokes to get to the meat of the books. [/QUOTE]

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