Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
by J.K. Rowling
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Book Reviews of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Book 4)
Book Review: We're not in Kansas anymore
Summary: 5 Stars
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire greatly surpasses J.K. Rowling's other novels not only in physical girth, but also in literary value. This fourth installment of Harry's journey through Hogwarts is unlike the three volumes preceding it, and serves as the perfect transition to the three books that follow it. While Harry's first few years at the wizarding school were fraught with confrontations with the Dark Arts and filled with a plethora of evil villains to be conquered, Harry always managed to vanquish his opponents and restore order to the school before classes ended in June. Goblet of Fire shows a darker side of Harry's world, one where good does not necessarily trounce evil, and one where uncertainty is prevalent. The themes in this novel show the reader that times are changing in Harry's world, possibly for the worse. Rowling uses both the tragedy of Cedric Diggory's death and the controversy over Harry's entry into the Tri-Wizard Tournament to show that good actions do not always lead to fair results.
Cedric Diggory's actions do not seem to have any bearing on what happens to him in the story. As described by Rowling, Cedric is a typical high school idol. He is good looking, athletic, and a prefect at Hogwarts - all signs point to great success for him in the future. He is even chosen by the Goblet of Fire to be the Hogwarts representative in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and although Harry is also chosen to represent the school, the students all openly support Cedric. Despite this vast list of positive qualities, Cedric is killed tragically toward the end of Goblet of Fire. When Harry and Cedric find themselves unexpectedly in the company of the newly revived Voldemort, the Dark Lord extinguishes Cedric's life without a second thought. "From far away, high above [Harry's] head, he heard a high, cold voice say, "Kill the spare"... Cedric was lying spread-eagled on the ground beside him. He was dead," (Rowling, 638). The entirety of Cedric's assassination encompasses barely a paragraph of the book's 700-plus pages. Cedric's potential, his personal worth, and his undeniable innocence mean nothing to Voldemort. This sort of mindless killing is all too prevalent in today's society. It would be a difficult task to try to find a news show or newspaper that didn't have some story about a person being tragically killed for seemingly no reason. The inclusion of Cedric's heartbreaking death proves that even in Harry's world, no one can escape the whims of fate. Dumbledore was sure to acknowledge this at the end of the year banquet: "Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff House...He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not," (Rowling, 721-2). By showing how someone as great as Cedric could be killed in an instant, Rowling accomplished two things: she was able to show in graphic, emotional detail how evil Voldemort's killing can be, and she was able to convey to her audience that the books to come are not going to be as neat and tidy as the first three have been. No longer is Harry going to be able to triumph over evil successfully before the Hogwarts Express takes off in June. Additionally, it can no longer be an accepted truth that good will be able to destroy evil as easily as Harry has been able to vanquish his foes. Goblet of Fire is a valuable resource, proving that more innocent lives are sure to be lost in the volumes to come.
Much like Cedric, Harry Potter is overall a well respected member of the Hogwarts community. Throughout Harry's time at Hogwarts, there has always been animosity between himself and the Slytherin house. Aside from Malfoy and his cronies, however, Harry is generally respected by the remainder of the student body, and even revered during certain times of great triumph, such as when Harry catches the snitch in a game of Quiditch, or is able to score some last minute points which tip the Gryffindors into victory in the race for the house cup. However, Harry's popularity plummets in the fourth installment of the series. When Harry's name is shockingly chosen by the Goblet of Fire, nearly the entirety of the school turns on him, claiming that Harry has tainted the glory that belongs to Cedric Diggory, the other Hogwarts champion chosen by the Goblet and the "rightful" one in the eyes of the students. This situation shows a common societal tendency that is not evident in Rowling's other books. Through Harry's first three adventures, he seems to easily ride on the coattails of his victory over Voldemort as an infant. As an 11 year-old name his name remains infamous, and from the moment he is introduced to the wizarding world, Harry has had no significant social qualms with his peers. Yet, Rowling shows through the societal trials he experiences in Goblet of Fire how popularity can change in an instant. Harry has done nothing wrong; he has committed no crime. He didn't even enter his own name into the Goblet. Through some power greater than his own, Harry has been thrust into a dangerous situation, one that he would rather not be in, and is also being shunned by the entire school. "Support Cedric Diggory - the real Hogwarts champion - Potter Stinks," (Rowling, 297-8) appears on buttons worn by many students. These cruel attacks on Harry's entrance into the Tri-Wizard Tournament do not take into account the situation at all. The pins are a perfect example of adolescent cruelty and narrow-minded thinking. It doesn't matter to Harry's classmates that he never wanted to be involved in the tournament and would be more than happy to back down if he could; the students forget instantly that they all used to be friends with Harry, and that he is a good guy who would never do something to hurt any of them; it matters not that the day before the names were drawn no one but certain members of the Slytherin house had ever had a problem with Harry. Rowling shows the brutal reality of high school society, and how personal worth does not always translate into peer popularity. This is something most people experience personally before they graduate, and seeing a character like Harry, who is a celebrated hero for the majority of his life, tumbling down the social ladder brings a whole new level of realism to his story.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the perfect bridge between the first three books in the series and the last three. Rowling uses these harsh situations to prepare the reader for the remainder of Harry's story, which is undoubtedly going to be a bumpy ride. There is no happy ending to be found on page 734; in fact, there is hardly an ending at all to this book. The final page is more of a literary comma than a period, signifying not the end of a story, but rather merely an introduction to the much larger story to come.
Book Review: The Fastest 735 Pages I Have Ever Read
Summary: 5 Stars
Normally with a book this long readers like myself cannot even get close to the end before saying, "Enough already, get to the point." This book, however, was different. The fourth installment of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was full of danger and deceit lurking around every adventurous corner. While this book was the longest of the books so far it was jam-packed with excitement and character development. By the end of this book I was not thinking about the seven hundred and thirty-five pages I had just finished reading, nor about the eight hundred and seventy pages in the next book, I just wanted to get back to Hogwarts for Harry Potter's fifth year.
While at school during his fourth year, Harry sees and hears things he never thought he would and this makes for a thrilling addition to the series. Harry's summer ends with his attendance of the exciting Quidditch World Cup with the Weasley family. No sooner does the game end than the Death Eaters begin attacking muggles and muggle-born wizards and the dark mark of Lord Voldemort is conjured by an unknown person in the woods with the use of Harry's missing wand. As soon as he returns to school, the danger continues to get closer to Harry. The Tri-Wizard tournament is to be held at Hogwarts and although an age restriction has been placed on the Goblet that will emit the champion's names, someone who has it out for Harry has managed to get his name entered and it is unfortunately chosen by the goblet.
Later in the book, while Harry waits alone in Dumbledore's office to speak with him he sees and hears more of the unexpected. He discovers a Pensieve in which he accidentally finds himself in one of Dumbledore's memories of the Death Eater trials. At first, Harry had not known what was going on or where he was but after a few scenes Dumbledore had returned to his office and pulled Harry back into the present time explaining the phenomena he had just experienced. Whilst in the memory he had heard startling news about Neville Longbottom's parents. Dumbledore further explains that Neville's parents are currently living in an asylum because they had the Cruciatus curse placed on them some time ago and afterward were never quite the same.
The most shocking information and what stood out most to me was the information Harry learns later in the book when faced once again by Lord Voldemort. The Tri-Wizard cup was at the inner most part of the maze used for the third task in the tournament. The first wizard to reach this cup was to be the champion. Harry and Cedric, who had decided to both grab the handles at the same time, quickly realized that it was actually a portkey which transported both of the champions to a cemetery that Voldemort's muggle father now called home. While there, Lord Voldemort summons the Death Eaters at the touch of the dark mark on Peter Pettigrew's arm and Harry soon discovers the identities of some of the Dark Lord's most loyal followers. Because the identities of the Death Eaters are always so mysterious and up until this point we can only put together our sneaking suspicions, this information quickly becomes very satisfying.
The most satisfying aspect of the book however has to be that of the character development. Readers will notice that this book introduces many new and intriguing characters such as Rita Skeeter, the annoying reporter for the Daily Prophet who just cannot seem to leave well enough alone--or for that matter tell the truth in her reports, and Professor Mad-Eye Moody, the paranoid and seemingly insane ex-Auror who is introduced as Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and who keeps a strangely protective watch over Harry. More importantly readers will notice a marked difference in the approach Rowling makes toward her characters in this installment of the series.
The Weasley's get a lot more attention in this book than in the series thus far. Fred and George get more text in this book whereas in the others they were just backdrop characters and readers finally get to meet Charlie and Bill the eldest of the Weasley bunch. Because Harry is busy through most of the book worrying about the Tri-Wizard Tournament, we also get to see more of Ron than before. In this book we watch him struggle with two different issues in an effort for Rowling to show his growth through puberty.
Ron's first inner struggle is that of Harry's constant overshadowing of him. Having been the youngest of the Weasley boys, Ron felt like the runt of the bunch all his life and then it just so happens that his best friend at Hogwarts, on top of being the second most famous name in the wizarding world next to You-Know-Who, was now strangely the fourth champion in this year's Tri-Wizard Tournament. Ron's second inner struggle is that of the tension between Hermione and himself. When Hermione gets asked to the Yule Ball by none other than Ron's hero, the international Quidditch star and Tri-Wizard champion representing Durmstrang, Viktor Krum, Ron feels crushed and is flooded with feelings of jealousy. Hermione expressed to Ron that next time he needed a date he would be better off asking her first before someone else had gotten the chance. This character tension is quite another reason to look forward to the upcoming books in the series.
In addition, Hermione was busy in the library for much of the book researching for her activist group, Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Hermione is seen for the first time in this book to have outside interests; although she quickly enlists Harry and Ron for membership, this is something that Hermione has developed on her own reflective of the direction of her character growth.
Whereas the other Harry Potter books in the series had up until this point ended on a rather positive note, this one surprisingly did not. Rowling managed to break the patterns readers may have thought they would find in this book. In the end, because Harry narrowly escapes Lord Voldemort instead of sending him back into hiding, it makes the reader want to run right out for the fifth book even quicker. In my opinion, this book could have been the make or break of a reader's interest in the series; but between the sheer horror and finality of Cedric Diggory's death and the awful foreboding that comes with the rebirth of Lord Voldemort, Rowling's fifth Harry Potter book in the series promises to be even more surprising than the fourth.
Book Review: Spellbound and waiting for more...
Summary: 5 Stars
Spot any child ranging from the age of 8-80 sporting a grin of satisfaction with a near constant bulge in their breast pocket, and I'd lay money on the nose they've discovered Harry Potter! The justly applauded author, JK Rowling with a delicious sense of adventure wrought by a playful imagination has already skipped through 4 volumes delving with us by ingenuous invitation into many sensitive life issues in her locus mundi of a school for wizards. Let's look at Harry - a little boy through whose character she deftly reaches out to children who have the experience of not being appreciated or feel estranged from the families in which they live. He can be accurately described as lacking nurture within the domestic situation in which we initially find him, sharing a sub-urban house with sub-zero affection from his aunt and uncle and their grotesque son Dudley ("Dudders" as he's `wazzumly' known by his shriek of a mother). Forced to exist in a cupboard in their house, subjected on a regular basis to the family's histrionic and impassioned put-downs of his natural parents, the death of whom has orphaned him into his present circumstances, things look pretty grim for little Harry. We observe nevertheless his determined if slightly framed form somehow maintaining its grip on life in spite of his pristine aunt's viewing him as her receptacle for scraps, while the ghastly Dudders force-fed by mummy's infatuation founders of course on to colossal proportions.
In spite of these tough beginnings it becomes gradually and comically revealed however, that Harry Potter is a pretty special little boy and the specialness in him radiates out until it's unmissable to a few other talented people, who when the time is right facilitate the changes to bring his qualities the support they need and his destiny starts to unfold.
Prevalent throughout the book is the theme that even though we all have special qualities, in the world of the 'muggles' (humans who have no connection with magic or imagination), our special qualities might well be not related to. Through the world of wizardry, Harry expressing discomfort rather than arrogance about his personal recognition from knowing too the pain inside being the "famous" Harry Potter, slowly gains life experience and a sense of self-empowerment, which in order to meet his destiny he must embrace fully.
As the books progress the author gets even stronger at presenting unpredictable but plausible turns in the plot, which certainly satisfy adult readers and children alike. The "owls are certainly not what they seem", to borrow a Twin Peaks metaphor, and there are certainly plenty of owls flapping excitedly here.
Within the context of wizardry she explores quite centrally the inhumanity and suffering that develops from the divisive judgements used by one group within society towards another. Implicitly critical and illustrating of the snares within characters enmeshed in these choices, without proselytising or polemic she allows the reader's own sense of compassion and fairness to assess the issues. A point of pivotal significance being the fascistic persecution by the dark lord's supporters of the half-breed children who come from mixed muggle/wizard background polluting their concept of the 'pureblood' aesthetic.
We smile with affection as Hermione, Harry's earnest and affectionately pilloried swottish best girlfriend, starts to take up with zeal the banner against slavery with her campaign for the freedom of house elves. She establishes an organisation called "SPEW" in this cause. The book also explores the value and enduring qualities of friendship. The feelings which live on beyond the pitfalls like jealousy and such which may rock friendship for a time, but which are eventually and gratefully overwhelmed by its loving bond.
Hogwarts (Harry's wizard school world) definitely accepts that all human life is there. The problems of humanity are clearly demonstrated and explored using the device of a 'forest of Arden' perspective to encourage the reader to actually take a reasonably searching look at themself. The dark lord and his supporters are balanced by the wonderful Albus Dumbledore who makes the crucial point to one Cornelius Fudge (Fudge by name and a 'fudger' of the truth by nature): "You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognise that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!" It is this clarity that makes Dumbledore the one adult wizard feared by the dark lord.
So, Harry goes on growing up and the more his qualities proceed to develop and shine, the more goodness he attracts to himself at his times of need. Also goodness then starts to radiate further from him spreading its contagion equally to those he comes into contact with.
In short it's a lovely developing story, just made for bringing the best out in folks - big kids and little kids alike.
I would quite like to discuss it with a 'little' kid and see how they find it compared to my 'big' kid perspective. Some parents have expressed concerns that the books have an unsuitability for children. While I accept that a child's psychology should necessarily be shielded from certain things in life, one can never change or hide the fact that a child is indeed living life. Children are not immune to the reality they are perceiving and experiencing in the big world - painful issues within their own families, death, killing, injustice, hatred, fear and separation. When addressed in a novel aimed at reaching them and explored in the context of there being also counter forces present which offer choice, I think that affords a child a place of safety, and is a responsible and supportive way of helping them have a rounded perspective of both the light and darker sides of life.
JK Rowling does all this with delightful metaphor and has written a damn fine commercial best-seller series to-boot(!) ...and have I tempted you to read it...?
Book Review: From excellent to sublimeness
Summary: 5 Stars
This fourth volume makes you hope there will be many more. By far, so far, the best, and the thickest. The book is packed with events and a tremendous level of creativity and imagination. At the same time the references to the previous volumes are still numerous, giving to this new episode a perfect continuity in the story.The first element that jumps out is the fact that Harry Potter has been growing in age from one volume to the next, and in this volume he really has his age, thirteen. This is the mark of a very good writer who is able to follow the maturity or the maturation of the characters, so that the story is realistic. Never in the four volumes, and particularly in this volume, are the characters older than they should be. Hermione discovers social consciousness and gets interested in the fate of elves, as well as she discovers the difference between friendship and love. Ron Weasley discovers the need to believe his friends and the first pangs of love or sexual awareness. Harry Potter opens his eyes to the necessity to assume his responsibilities by learning what he needs to accomplish his tasks and the sense of honor and human solidarity even within a competition in which he tries, and he is not the only one, to remain human, with his challengers or co-competitors, instead of being an unsensitive and selfish winning machine. This is done with great subtlety and delicacy. Fred and George Weasley are older and they discover the need to have a social and economic position in society that brings in an income based on a creative project for the whole community : this is known as business in any society.
The second element is that the confrontation between Potter and Voldemort finally comes to a direct face-to-face one-on-one duel whose stake is life or death for Harry Potter as well as life or death for his direct friends and the whole community. The battle leaves the level of individuals to reach the level of society, a real universal value, a cosmological dimension. And in this progressively built up, and non-final because undecisive as for the life of death of Voldemort himself, frontal shock, the writer shows a level of imagination that has no limits. She uses older elements in an unforeseen or at least partially unpredictable way, and she adds new elements that are totally undeductable from the previous volumes. Suspense is absolute and never, at this level, loosened or weakened.
The third element is The widening of the national and ethnic scope of the book. The author introduces a competition that brings into the picture two schools from abroad : one from France and another one from eastern and central Europe. Hence there is a play on the particular « dialects » of those foreigners in their use of English, a play on food variations, on clothing variations, on transportation variations, etc. This is supposed to widen the scope of the students’ consciousness and awareness of the differences that exist between and among humans to bring out a wider accepting of national and international cooperation. But she also widens the scope by introducing several other communities, particularly some that are traditionally rejected by wizards and witches on the basis or pure prejudice, that is to say racism : merpeople, elves, goblins (a little), giants (only a beginning). The aim is always to show that cooperation between different ethnic groups is necessary to give the future some stability and predictability.
The fourth element has to do with political power and its abuses. Power for the sake of power (Lord Voldemort), or for the sake of stability (The Minister of Magic, Fudge), or for the sake of lawfulness (that always covers some unlawful element and some inhuman attitudes to impose the law), or for the sake of personal privileges (like the power to show off, to get publicity, to bet and gamble) leads to abuse and cecity, at least shortsightedness, the incapability to see how the future will change and warp those principles or objectives, those ambitions, those values : to be a real leader you have to keep in mind the unification of your people and the wider longer aims of human life, of social life, of history. Lord Voldemort and his followers find themselves on the wrong side of history, just the same as the Minister of Magic who only wants to protect what has achieved, which is the past, and to prolong it into the future. This idea that the future needs moral commitment and the accepting of change is essential in this book. There is a real mirror in the book that gives us a picture of our own society that uses democracy in order to capture power in the name of change and progress, and then defend it in the name of stability. Any political leader is led to conservativeness, I am even inclined to saying conservation.
We thus wait for the next volume that will have to deal with the fight against the revived Lord Voldemort and also with some fundamental issues that have not yet been solved : love and its outcome, the fate of Harry’s godfather, the need of justice and to avoid injustice or to repair cases of injustice, when injustice occors, etc. We can trust the writer to bring in new elements that will constantly feed the mill of suspense and imagination.
Book Review: Drink Deeply from the Goblet of Fire!
Summary: 5 Stars
_Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire_ gripped me from the opening scene at the Riddle House (like so many of Rowling's creations, very aptly named) to the end-of-year parting at King's Cross Station. Though the book's length may give rise to caution among those wary of sequels, J.K. Rowling has by no means succumbed to the diarrhea of the pen too often found in writers of multiple bestsellers. Like the previous three Harry books, "The Goblet of Fire" is well paced and tautly structured. It really does require all 734 pages of the American edition to tell the whole intricate story, or rather, as much of the story as the author will reveal at this time. In book four, Rowling (intentionally or not) gives a nod to many questions large and small posed by her fans. We learn who does the cooking and cleaning at Hogwarts, what happened to Neville Longbottom's parents, how to pronounce "Hermione," where other schools of magic may be found, and what Dumbledore can really be like when he's angry. We learn more about Hagrid, the Malfoys, and Snape (one of the most interesting developments is a hint that Snape's relationship with Harry may undergo a change for the better in the future). Along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione, we learn of hexes and curses and defenses against the Dark Arts. And always, Rowling manages to weave together the least details and most seemingly unrelated subplots into a whole that is cohesive, uncontrived, and satisfying - though leaving the reader wanting much more. At about page 600 I found myself very sorry that there were only 100-some pages to go, because I knew that this would be all I would have until book five. I haven't felt that way about a book since hearing Sam Gamgee say "Well, I'm back," and wishing I could keep following him, Frodo, and their friends through more adventures in Middle-earth.
The much-discussed first forays into romance for the leading characters are lightly and deftly handled, and while important are certainly not a main focus of the book. The effect of the romance subplots is to show how Harry, Ron, and Hermione are growing up and beginning to see themselves and one another in new ways. Along with romantic yearnings, they begin to exhibit other changes: Ron becomes edgier and more outspoken, Hermione learns to shrug off ridicule and be less rule-bound, and Harry continues to develop the bravery and valor of his parents - and of his House's founder, Godric Gryffindor.
Harry's biggest challenges so far, not surprisingly, come in this book. Instead of flying in Quidditch matches, he is involved in an important year-long event that has temporarily superseded Quidditch at Hogwarts. The challenges he overcomes in the course of this event form the core of the book. Woven into the story are Lord Voldemort and his servants, and their attempts to bring He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named back to full life and power. Mysterious disappearances and even a death or two in "The Goblet of Fire" have, as in any good mystery story, more than one plausible suspect; and, as with any good mystery story, the solution ultimately eluded my several attempts at deductive reasoning - though the clues are present.
Death casts a shadow over book four, particularly in the final chapters, where the usually boisterous end-of-year banquet is quite somber and the conclusion of the special year-long event is robbed of its triumph. But as Rowling told The Times, "if you really are honestly going to examine evil actions then you have a moral obligation not to fudge the issue." Her handling of murder in this book is sensitive and not, I think, likely to engender nightmares in young readers; as Rowling promised, it is "upsetting but not damaging."
I can't say the book was completely perfect. Some minor flaws exist: Harry innocently poses a question to which he should well know the answer from a previous book; he convenient overlooks a recently-learned spell that could easily resolve a certain difficulty; he witnesses a magical effect in which the results come somewhat out of order. In addition to noting these minor errors, I was a bit dissatisfied with the way the ending of the year-long event was handled - I would have liked a bit more pomp and ceremony and a bit more official attention to the tragedy of the death that occurs. However, I can see why Rowling ends the year at Hogwarts on a quieter note than usual. One very good result of this is that Harry is given time and space to recover from his ordeals, which is a refreshing change from the usual adventure series in which the hero bounces from crisis to crisis with no time to absorb, reflect, or grieve.
Time and re-reading will certainly offer me new perspectives on "The Goblet of Fire." But meanwhile, I'm glad to say that this is an excellent addition to the Harry Potter stories and one I will certainly read again and again - while waiting eagerly for book five! I highly recommend this book and the preceding three to any child or adult who enjoys great fantasy, mystery, and adventure.