Why did Harry Potter become so popular?

[KindergartenKop]

I'm not a huge fan personally, but I think they're quite well written. I'm not sure they deserve all the hype though. So why did they become so popular?

I think people are getting overly defensive about all this.

Yes it was a children's series of books, the first two at the very least.

I read the first one in my 30s.. I was a community midwife and my colleague was reading book 1 to her daughter. I read it on her recommendation and loved it. Read them all eventually and am still reading them today. My autistic teen listens to them on audiobook every single night.... and yes that wears thin after a while.

But each to their own and I know they are not other peoples taste at all. Live and let live, they no doubt love other stuff which might leave me cold...such is life.

I think some people are being way too over critical about the grammar and language used, although it did appeal to adults too, it was written as a children's book- the complexity reflects that. I enjoyed reading the books as they came out as it was a world you could immerse yourself in. It wasn't just a series of events, but I found the descriptions I could smell, see and feel what their world was like; the traditions, the history and everything else I loved reading about and wanted to know more. I am an avid reader but I don't think even as an adult any other series has gripped me so much.

I think some people are being way too over critical about the grammar and language used, although it did appeal to adults too, it was written as a children's book- the complexity reflects that

I agree. The books are exciting stories. I doubt that JKR intended them to be pieces of classical literature. As a PP pointed out, Proust it ain't (not that I have read any Proust).

@Pythonista

I think it's just a little sad that grown adults adore children's books, that's all.

Why is it sad? I also love the northern lights books and have a number of collections of fairy tales.

The books were definitely not low key when they came out, as an adult of 28 with no children I can attest that they were massive, and I read them and enjoyed them.

I do think that by the fourth JK's editors could only see £££ because they needed some serious slashing, but the films were also coming out by then so no one was going to raise their hand.

@Fetarabbit

I think some people are being way too over critical about the grammar and language used, although it did appeal to adults too, it was written as a children's book- the complexity reflects that. I enjoyed reading the books as they came out as it was a world you could immerse yourself in. It wasn't just a series of events, but I found the descriptions I could smell, see and feel what their world was like; the traditions, the history and everything else I loved reading about and wanted to know more. I am an avid reader but I don't think even as an adult any other series has gripped me so much.

She has a real knack for describing a multi-sensory experience without going on and on. Nothing at all wrong with her grammar either. And repetition and relaxed prose in children's books is probably a plus.

@TheLeadbetterLife

J K Rowling may not write the best prose, but she is absolutely brilliant at telling thrilling, page turning stories. She also writes characters extremely well. You can instantly see and hear everyone, they leap off the page and you end up really caring what happens to them. She also expresses emotions in a really truthful, relatable way.

Many people can write "better" than she can, in one sense, but few have the gifts she has that make people want to keep reading.

Very well put.

offyougotwantychops

Not a definitive answer but JKR writes in a simplistic way that appeals to a lot of people. She doesn't have the tendency to overcomplicate descriptions of backgrounds or areas. (at least in the first books)

They are brilliant. Well written and engaging.

@careerconcerns1999 No the books were popular before the films.. and thats why the films were so anticipated.

I think it was lucky timing and op said about a new boarding school genre.

The only reason I everreadthem was because a friend who worked in a London bookshop in 98 sent me a copy for my birthday saying this is what all the adults are pretending not to read in the tube. I read it in an afternoon and thought that was a nice story and when the next one came out I picked up a copy, signed incidentally.

After that the Zeitgeist hit and everyone was reading them so I carried on when I could pick them up as cheap paperbacks. I enjoyed them and now I've had kids I enjoyed reading them again although the second complete read through the series earlier this year did have me skipping through a lot of the prose

One other thing I meant to say was that as the darkness increased, it meant people didn't age out of them (just as well with some of the gaps towards the end!).

I started reading the Charlie Bone series at about the same age as I started reading Harry Potter. It's another magical boarding school series, and I loved it — in fact, until I was 13/14, I probably read the CB books that were out more than I did HP. But as the series went on, it didn't become more grown up in the way HP did. I haven't particularly worried that I never finished the series.

@CareerConcerns1999

Because they got picked up and turned into a movie. The books were low key before the movie. Movie one dropped and boom suddenly everyone wanted to read the books.

There was a long long gap between book 4 and 5, and then subsequent ones. This also creates a hype.

That's categorically untrue.

I was 11 when the first book came out. I was given it as a present, read it in about a day and was gagging for more. Within a year it had become a phenomenon and there were articles about adults secretly reading it etc. The first film came out about 2/3 years later.

The first book came out in 97
The first film in 01.

Madly popular across the world, don't forget, so it must be the stories themselves.

He's Garry Potter in Russia.

@youvegottenminuteslynn

"are you always this negative, dismissive and supercilious about anything that is incredibly popular? Do you look down your nose at other populist music/books/films?"

Actually no. I resisted watching GoT for years but got into it, read the books etc, and that was fairly popular.

You resisted it... why actively resists it? Just because it was popular? Such a strange way to approach things.

Guaranteed that @Pythonista was equally scathing about GOT before they got into it. Just hates popular culture until they find out its actually quite good. There's no way they didn't hear about GOT until the 5th season - it was Everywhere.

I didn't say I hadn't heard of it FFS. I was kind of aware of it but hadn't taken too much notice.

See my quote:

I was aware of it before that but by the time I decided to find out if I liked it, season 5 was out on DVD.

I then caught up with it by halfway through season 6.

so no, I didn't "hate it" before I saw it.

Do you always struggle with comprehension? Perhaps you should read something a bit more involved?

and yes I know you will now claim to have read every literary classic before you were 5

I was an adult when I started reading Harry Potter and as an parent, sharing great books with my children is one of my greatest joys. When they got old enough to read on their own or finish books we started together.. I carried on reading some of them myself. I am in a book rut now and kind of wish I had some great children's story to get stuck in to!! Off to choose something awesome for our half term road trip..

As a PP pointed out, Proust it ain't (not that I have read any Proust).

I have read Proust (although in translation, not the original French) and although it is absolutely wonderful, that blogger definitely wouldn't approve of those long, meandering sentences. They should give it to him to be improved, think of what he could have produced if only he'd been clever enough to have all those ideas.

Isn't it really the ideas behind great books that makes them great?

@ChateauMargaux

I was an adult when I started reading Harry Potter and as an parent, sharing great books with my children is one of my greatest joys. When they got old enough to read on their own or finish books we started together.. I carried on reading some of them myself. I am in a book rut now and kind of wish I had some great children's story to get stuck in to!! Off to choose something awesome for our half term road trip..

Have you read: Holes The Silver Sword Wolves of Willoughby Chase Blackhearts in Battersea The Thief Lord The Time Travellers trilogy

all brilliant children's books to get lost in.

@Pythonista

I think it's just a little sad that grown adults adore children's books, that's all.

Why? What's wrong with children's books?

I do like Harry Potter and have re-read them many times. Her plotting is great fun and I like the funny bits. I was really sad Fred and George in the films weren't as funny as they are in the books. I do agree with @HettySunshine there are a few 'tics' in the writing that are small, but once you notice them, they are a bit grating. Mine is 'he said, simply' or 'she said, simply'. She likes that.

But I think that's one of the things that make them very readable for children who aren't otherwise confident readers, so I can certainly live with it.

@ChateauMargaux

I was an adult when I started reading Harry Potter and as an parent, sharing great books with my children is one of my greatest joys. When they got old enough to read on their own or finish books we started together.. I carried on reading some of them myself. I am in a book rut now and kind of wish I had some great children's story to get stuck in to!! Off to choose something awesome for our half term road trip..

Lemony Snickett Laura Ingalls Wilder Philip Pullman