{"id":4644,"date":"2016-08-07T23:47:10","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T05:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=4644"},"modified":"2016-08-07T23:47:10","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T05:47:10","slug":"review-harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-parts-one-and-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2016\/08\/review-harry-potter-and-the-cursed-child-parts-one-and-two.html","title":{"rendered":"Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Harry<\/a>
\n Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two<\/a> by J.K. Rowling<\/a>
\n My rating: 4 of 5 stars<\/a><\/p>\n

A fun read for those who crave the nostalgia of the original Harry Potter<\/em> novels. But don’t expect much more than that in terms of significant creativity or mind-blowing plot twists. <\/p>\n

This isn’t a novel. It’s a screenplay that’s been published in book-form. Open up the book and you will find that settings are succinctly spelled out, there are stage instructions, and each character is listed with his\/her dialogue. No back stories, no exposition, no clever punny geography lessons. <\/p>\n

Because this is a screen play, you’ll hear that the reviews of the West End production are fantastic. You’ll read about how death-eaters will emerge from the aisles and audience, for example. I’m sure those visuals will be wonderful to experience in person.<\/p>\n

As for the story itself, there’s a lot of back-and-forth in time and settings, and really, only those who are familiar with the original 7 novels are going to truly understand and appreciate what’s going on. For example, there will be mention of the Triwizard Tournament from the mid-1990s, and numerous scenes (due to time travel) where the Beauxbatons Academy female students’ cheers are half-hearted compared to those from Durmstrang’s. I feel that only those who have read Goblet of Fire<\/em> will fully understand the irony and humor of those scenes.<\/p>\n

The relationship that Harry has with his middle son Albus is worth exploring more deeply, but as a screenplay this will be difficult. You will only know what the stage directions and dialogue tell you, compared to how a novelization might present the story: filled with glimpses into Harry’s and
Albus’s inner conflicts about whether their relationship has a future or not.<\/p>\n

However, if you take a step back and just enjoy the story, this is a fun, fast summer read. I read it in 5 days, my sons will probably read it in 1-2 weeks each.<\/p>\n

View all my reviews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two by J.K. Rowling My rating: 4 of 5 stars A fun read for those who crave the nostalgia of the original Harry Potter novels. But don’t expect much more than that in terms of significant creativity or mind-blowing plot twists. This isn’t a novel. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-1cU","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4004,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/11\/review-miss-peregrines-home-for-peculiar-children.html","url_meta":{"origin":4644,"position":0},"title":"Review: Miss Peregrine\u2019s Home for Peculiar Children","date":"27 November 15","format":false,"excerpt":"Miss Peregrine\u2019s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs My rating: 4 of 5 stars A fun read, which I think would be especially exciting for Rigg's intended YA audience. However, I didn't give it 5 stars because I saw numerous parallels to other stories I've read over the years.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1524,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/11\/reluctant-reader-no-more.html","url_meta":{"origin":4644,"position":1},"title":"Reluctant Reader…No More!","date":"15 November 12","format":false,"excerpt":"This post is about Jacob. Some folks know -- some folks don't -- that Jacob has been our more reluctant reader ever since he learned to read. His little brother plows through books pretty quickly, while Jacob reads more slowly and more deliberately. Jacob had been sticking to book series\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"books\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/IMG_4708-1024x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3938,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2015\/08\/co-discoveries-45-denver-comic-con.html","url_meta":{"origin":4644,"position":2},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 45: Denver Comic Con","date":"25 August 15","format":false,"excerpt":"My family had the chance to attend Denver Comic Con* this past Memorial Day weekend with\u00a0family press passes I obtained through my association with GeekMom, a $150 value. This fact that the organization offered complimentary admission to our entire family is a testament to what a family-friendly experience this particular\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animaniacs\"","img":{"alt_text":"The Colorado Convention Center is Denver is famous for the giant blue bear peering inside. ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/DSC_0255-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1563,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/12\/my-bespectacled-baby.html","url_meta":{"origin":4644,"position":3},"title":"My Bespectacled Baby","date":"04 December 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Today Timmy got his first pair of glasses. We knew this was coming for a long time. He's like his father in so many ways: appearance, his comedic nature, and many other \"youngest child\" traits.\u00a0It took three visits to the eye doctor this year to get everything right, Timmy would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"kids\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/photo-7-768x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1493,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/11\/halloween-2012.html","url_meta":{"origin":4644,"position":4},"title":"Halloween 2012","date":"12 November 12","format":false,"excerpt":"It was the saddest thing, not being home for my boys' Halloween. I did my best to decorate the house -- complete with a fresh batch of tree ghosts -- but was away by the time my sons had their school Halloween parties, and other Halloween events (such as Jacob's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"cosplay\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/IMG_4796-765x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1436,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/09\/happy-birthday-jacob-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":4644,"position":5},"title":"Happy Birthday Jacob!","date":"21 September 12","format":false,"excerpt":"Jacob turned 10 years old earlier this month. We had a small birthday party for him at the house, and Jacob enjoyed playing with some of his birthday gifts. Thanks to everyone to recognized his birthday with nice gifts, and thanks to those who took time out of their busy\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"birthdays\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/DSC_0608-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4644"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4644"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4645,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4644\/revisions\/4645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}