I can see it clearly, the moment reality set in and I began to cope with my childhood's most beloved story: Harry Potter, coming to a close. "Post-Potter Depression" sunk in as I grappled with the fact, I would never return to another midnight book release, or watch the smoke filled Warner Brothers trademark flash, ephemerally, across the screen.
My favorite world ending was unsettling yet simultaneously satisfying. As I turned the last page of the epilogue in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" I felt comfort envisioning Harry, Ron and Hermione standing on platform 9 and 3/4, waving their children off to their first year at Hogwarts. J.K Rowling created a symbolistic beginning to her end.
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Now, for the first time in nine years, Potter fans have remembered the anticipation of purchasing the newest Harry Potter installment. They're locking themselves in their rooms, yet again, for the sole purpose of reading and re-reading every page, experiencing the world of Hogwarts one last time.
However, what would happen if when you opened the door, re-entering the muggle world, you didn't feel satisfied? That is what many Harry Potter fans are finding after putting down, "Cursed Child."
It seems as though, in the attempt to give fans one last goodbye to Harry, the most cherished aspects of the story have been lost.
One example of disappointment being, J.K Rowling herself did not write "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." The eighth installment was a collaboration, co-authored by John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, with Rowling's supervision and approval. The world of Hogwarts felt, to fans, like a bond between Rowling and Harry, the presence of two new authors feels, almost invasive.
The book is also written in script format, "Cursed Child" was written as a play which debuted at The Palace Theatre in London. In a play, emotions are provided by the content of the lines and the manner in which they are delivered by the actors. Many fans are attached to the limited third person point of view, provided by Rowling, in which fans experience all of Harry's thoughts and feelings. The connection readers had with Harry in previous books is unreachable in "Cursed Child." Making it feel as though our last moments with Harry truly were left with "Deathly Hallows."
Not only are fans displeased with the formatting and co-authorization of the newest installment, but many aspects of the plot feel inauthentic. Time turners, which are last seen in, "Prisoner of Azkaban" make an appearance in "Cursed Child." However, their original function has changed. Instead of the characters going back in time, and attempting to avoid their past selves, they enter into a different timeline entirely, one where their past selves never existed. There is no longer one reality in which the characters coexist, but many different realities. This would've been impossible in "Prisoner of Azkaban" because of the concept that there is one reality and every decision made in that reality affects the future.
Reflecting on "Cursed Child" Harry Potter feels farther away than usual. The only thing worse than no Hogwarts at all, is a Hogwarts that doesn't tug on the heartstrings of our childhood. Needless to say the goodbye J.K Rowling provided her fans has left readers dissatisfied. Many fans feel as though Rowling owes them one last book. A book that allows readers to enter the mind of Harry Potter, and apparate from the muggle world, for a final farewell.
