What the heck, might as well talk about the Harry Potter book for a minute. It takes my mind off the terrible problems of the day and you can probably only find reviews in 3,000,005 other places on the Web.

So I’ll start off by saying that this one really doesn’t take your mind off the problems of the day. Worried about violence in the streets and the loss of children’s innocence? Try a scene early on where one boy smashes his foot down on face of another while he has him paralyzed. Worried about terrorism? Well, then talk of an evil lord who recruits young people to commit murder is just the thing. Tired of the wearying effects of airport security, homeland security and any other kind? Then you’ll want to contemplate the changing world of Potter’s sixteenth year:

Diagon Alley had changed. The colorful, glittering window displays … were lost to view, hidden behind the large Ministry of Magic posters that had been pasted over them. Most of these somber purple posters carried blown-up versions of the security advice on the Ministry pamphlets that had been sent out over the summer… Harry noticed that many of the people who passed them had the same harried, anxious look as Mrs. Weasley, and that nobody was stopping to talk anymore; the shoppers stayed together in their own tightly knit groups, moving intently about their business.

Is this a bad thing? I guess I can’t really decide. It makes the books seem more relevant, surely, but I’m sorry, I could’ve used a bit more escapism. Oh well, maybe that’s just me. J.K. Rowling started taking this dark turn several books ago when a child died. It seems to be her intent to add more and more violence, betrayal, murder, malice and evil from here on out. One hardly knows how the poor little world of Harry Potter can take much more of this. It all must be leading up to a big fight in the eighth book, which is supposed to be her last.

But by that time will there be anything the least appealing or satisfying about reading these books? I’m afraid that I read this one just because I didn’t want to miss out. I think I’ll read the next two more out an even more grudging sense of obligation.

In short, if you haven’t read any of the books, don’t start with this one. On top of the joyless, airless feel of it, it is so completely riddled with back-story references that I think it wouldn’t be comprehensible. If you’ve read the others, you know you’ll read this and the next two. So it’s a bit of a simple decision really, and there’s not too much point really in complaining about the direction these have taken. Heck, you know you want to stick it out and see Harry squish Voldemoort once and for all.