Mumsnet Talk

went into town at 4pm after work, thinking 'shame, they'll all be gone' only to find that every shop had them discounted - a tenner in Waterstones! HMV had piles of them and I gave in and bought one in Tescos for £9 - what happened there then?

Because she' shite?

I am waiting for the film

oh, maybe that's it... just wondered - never read harry Potter but assumed that everyone would buy this?

Because it's not Harry Potter!!

I think they read the reviews and thought "Naaaah........"

Have you seen the way she represents vernacular speech? <hoots>

Having read the reviews I think it's definately one to get from the library!

never read harry Potter but assumed that everyone would buy this?

Are you she?

The over-hype about this is incredible - on the front of the Times it says 'Rowling to revive the novel?'

I only ever bought Harry potter book discounted. I never buy hardbacks only paperback but I didn't realise she had a new book out.

Because hp was very badly written. Good plot, but she should have got someone else to write it.

I'm sure her adult one will be just as bad.

Oh, and because she gives money to the labour party. I will not be buying anything else of hers if she's just going to give my cash to them.

Aren't all big blockbuster books heavily "discounted" when published? I'm sure my Nigellas/Jamies/Hugh FW cookbooks are all "half price" when first released .... is it not just a publishing thing?

Because hp was very badly written. Good plot, but she should have got someone else to write it.

Why do you say that?

Because that's what I think. Every time I have re read them I notice bits that are not very good.

In the first book, the bit where Hermione has to work out which vial Harry should drink is very weak. Throughout the books there are weak parts.

On the strength of the writing I really believe the books would not have been a success. The plot is excellent though.

I loved HP and won't hear a bad word against it. So there.

New releases by popular authors are always discounted. Harry Potter was always half price in the first week, especially in the Supermarkets. Same with CDs and DVDs. They use them as loss leaders.

Harry Potter is easy to read with a good plot and some fab comic moments. It's not great literature, it's not exceptional. The first Harry Potter book is the book any clever, literate woman could write. The rest of the series and the global success is down to a lot of luck and some bloody good marketing. JKR is a sharp, bright woman. In the latter HP books and I suspect in this one, she has been chronically over-indulged by her editors and publishers. I'm sure this isn't a bad book but I doubt it's an original one or one that you'd want to take to a desert island. Still anything's better than bloody Kate Atkinson or the Time Travellers awful Wife.

It just doesn't sound like a book I want to read or even have on my shelves ...

Oh Suzy.

How I envy you with Pratchett, Tolkien and Wynne Jones as yet undiscovered!

I agree 100% with NorthernLurker

I quite like Kate Atkinson!

I don't quite agree that any clever literate woman could write Harry Potter. There are too many imitations out there now that haven't just not had the hype, they're also not as good.
I don't think she's as many times better than everyone else as her fabulous wealth compared to the pittance most writers earn would suggest, but I think HP was a cracking first novel though I agree the later ones weren't tight enough.
Of course she was lucky too - she was there just at the moment when all the publishers were getting tired of gritty realism and wanted magic. A few years earlier and they might have not it a look in.

not given it a look in, I should have put

Gosh, interesting thoughts here; didn't think of the loss leaders thing. - just v surprised that this morning it was all 'wwoo, were opening early' and tonight just piles of rejected little hardbacks. Will read with interest.

Amazon charge more for pre-orders then on publication day the price shoots down.