Summary from GoodReads:
The Dursleys were so mean and hideous that summer that all Harry Potter wanted was to get back to the Hogwarts Schools of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But just as he’s packing his bags, Harry receives a warning from a strange, impish creature named Dobby who says that if Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts, disaster will strike.
And strike it does. For in Harry’s second year at Hogwarts, fresh torments and horrors arise, including an outrageously stuck-up new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart; a spirit named Moaning Myrtle who haunts the girls’ bathroom; and the unwanted attention of Ron Weasley’s younger sister, Ginny.
But each of these seem minor annoyances when the real trouble begins, and someone—or something—starts turning Hogwarts students to stone. Could it be Draco Malfoy, a more poisonous rival than ever? Could it possibly be Hagrid, whose mysterious past is finally told? Or could it be the one everyone at Hogwarts most suspects . . . Harry Potter himself?
Book & Movie Review:
For the longest time, I believed Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to be my least favorite of the Harry Potter books – but I think this book has edged its way up.
Now, granted, there are parts I really enjoy. I love getting to know Ginny Weasley, I love the introduction of Dobby, I can never get enough of the Dursley’s…but I think it’s Gilderoy Lockhart that is just a little too over the top for me.
Granted – the movie makes him more bearable, because it puts a face to the horribly pompous person that he is, but overall I find myself increasingly annoyed by his presence in every single important scene and, much like the teachers at Hogwarts, wish he’d just prove himself or get out of the way.
There’s a lot that’s revealed in this second book, which is a good reason in and of itself to not discount it (Harry and the parseltongue explanation), but in spite of all the good, it’s just one of my least favorite books.
Now.. here is where I am going to be a bit odd – because it’s actually one of my favorite of the movies. Don’t ask me to explain it, but Lockheart doesn’t annoy me nearly as much on screen as he does on paper. Make sense? No? Don’t worry, I’m confused by it too.
As always, there are small discrepancies between the book and the movie, but nothing horribly out of place (except.. why oh why wouldn’t you put Peeves in the movies?!). At least the book is on the shorter side of all the books in this series, so while re-reading I don’t have to spend too much time being annoyed by Lockheart.
By the way, I much prefer the movie Moaning Myrtle to the book one as well – because the movie one DOES annoy me and the book one doesn’t. I don’t make sense, I know.
Great review of Chamber of Secrets! It is my least favorite book in the series and also my least favorite movie although like you, I don’t mind Kenneth Branagh’s version of Gilderoy Lockhart and I like Shirley Henderson as Moaning Myrtle. I remember reading book two after really liking Philosopher’s Stone and thinking “Am I going to keep going with this series?”. Then I read Prisoner of Azkaban (which I loved because of the unexpected twist) and by Goblet of Fire I was hooked (even with the annoying SPEW). I kind of feel about Chamber of Secrets the way I do about Tolkien’s The Two Towers: it is necessary to get us to the end of the journey.
Exactly – I had that same thought when I finished the book (although I admit to liking it more then than I do now), and I’m glad I kept going.. but it’s the weakest of the lot, in my opinion.