Rereading Harry Potter as an adult and finding it difficult

[Dasisr]

Obsessed with Harry Potter as a teenager but finding it a difficult read as an adult. How badly he is treated by the Dursleys. How deprived of love he was and in later books how he was kept away from his friends/family. All the death of loved ones he had to witness. Honestly finding it tough to get through. AIBU or anyone else the same?

I don't struggle with it because i know its not a real life story 🙄

Gosh wait until you get to the bit where Voldemort tries to kill him.

It’s triggering for you OP. I understand.

I have serious concerns about safeguarding at Hogwarts. Is there a magical Ofsted?

Do you struggle with all fictional books or just this one?

I struggled with reading it to the kids because it is so clumsily written.

There's a TikTok account where someone pretends to be a health and safety inspector visiting Hogwarts

I forget the name but he's very good!

I thought about this while watching Matilda. And also the safeguarding issue. Why did no one call Ofsted or maybe more appropriately, the police? The kids must have mentioned chokey to their parents??

Never read Oliver Twist.

What other books have you read as an adult? Have you never read books where bad things happen to people?

I wouldn’t recommend you try A Little Life.

I think it's a bit odd that you're getting bothered by a book, when this, and worse, is happening all over the country to children in real life. Maybe real life issues have not crossed your radar before and this is just now a catalyst for giving you a heart for children in similar situations. Perhaps you might want to look at volunteering for a charity or at a children's centre? You could even go all out and look at fostering. If rereading HP has sparked something inside you this could be the start of a great opportunity to actively be a positive change in a child's life.

He is treated badly by his family because he is a Horcrux, if they treated him well it would be a massive plot hole for the later books.

Most children in books are neglected and left to fend for themselves, you can't go off and capture smugglers in your secret castle on an island you've rowed to (Famous 5, I think its been decades since I read it) with mummy and daddy following you about reminding you to wear your sun hat and lotion.

The way in which JK Rowling writes about overweight people aswell 🙄

they are either evil - Dudley , Vernon etc

or a bit dim- Neville

He is treated badly by his family because he is a Horcrux, if they treated him well it would be a massive plot hole for the later books

🤯

I won’t hear a word against JK. She is an angel.

This! They are really badly written on the second read. Also, The Casual Vacancy is terrible. I couldn't even finish it and this is from a person who finished Victoria Beckham's "autobiography ". 😳

@Notbeinfunnehbut I think there is a lot in the books that she wouldn't include if she wrote them now but were very typical of the pre-Internet, pre inclusiveness of the 90s. You've only got to watch some other 90s shows like Seinfeld, Married With Children, Friends to see how different the world is and that most episodes would never be made now. Overweight people were far less common when the books were written than they are today

I still love rereading/rewatching Harry Potter but DS7 finds the Dursleys way more upsetting than any of the monster/Voldermort bits.

oh yes friends is terrible the whole Monica thing is awful & will and Grace is non stop fatphobia really

it’s indicative of a different time and the diversity or lack Therof would bother me more on reading,

I loved The Casual Vacancy! I thought it nailed the teen characters.

He is treated badly by his family because he is a Horcrux, if they treated him well it would be a massive plot hole for the later books.

I don't know that's right, otherwise wouldn't he also be treated badly by everyone at Hogwarts? And it's well established the Dursleys hate and fear the Potters / wizards and magic in general before they ever meet Harry.

@Notbeinfunnehbut

Bit of a generalisation there, she also writes about Molly Weasley as overweight, however is one of the kindest characters in the book.

Neville has one of the biggest back stories in the book about why he’s a bit clumsy and goes on to be very brave and becomes a professor.

Neville is also described as brave and loyal.

Professor Sprout and Molly Weasley are both also described as overweight and are both lovely characters.

This is such a lazy take, and not at all accurate. The Dursley males are fat because they are gluttons; overfed by Petunia as a token of her love. Nothing is too much for her beloved Vernon and Dudley. Harry, on the other hand, is left with just crumbs.

And, as others have said, Neville is a much loved character and one that JKR does flesh out in more detail than most.

Also, the biggest baddies in the series (Draco, Bellatrix, and, of course, Voldemort) aren’t fat at all.

Silly thing to say.

Op, avoid Bambi