A Potterhead's Reaction To 'The Cursed Child' | The Odyssey Online
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A Potterhead's Reaction To 'The Cursed Child'

Not the 19 years later I was hoping for.

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A Potterhead's Reaction To 'The Cursed Child'

I am a self-proclaimed huge "Harry Potter" fan. I've read all of the books many times over, watched all of the movies, taken any sorting hat quiz I've ever come across (I will forever be a Ravenclaw), hopped on the Pottermore bandwagon, seen "A Very Potter Musical/ Sequel," and been to the Wizarding World in Universal. Heck, one time I even wrote a "Harry Potter" fan fiction. I love the "Harry Potter" series, the entire Wizarding World and what the "Harry Potter" story teaches us about growing up and dealing with real life. So, when "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" came out July 31 at 12:01 a.m. I was in the checkout line just itching to go home curl up in a blanket and lose myself in the Wizarding World once again.

To be honest I was slightly disappointed in "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." But, I completely understand that a play script isn't going to read like a typical "Harry Potter" novel.

Most critics of the play itself have loved it and said very good things whereas critics of the written out script have been less than impressed with its translation into text.

Kelly Lawler from USA Today stated, "Reading the script is an incomplete experience... it takes a little too long for 'Cursed Child' to draw a reader in. The stage directions, though cheeky and fun at points, are overly vague, leaving much to be desired in descriptions of setting and action scenes. Without actors behind them, unestablished characters feel flat and underdeveloped."

While I found this true it's hard for me to take critiques like this so seriously because we have to remember this is not another "Harry Potter" novel. It's a script. It's wasn't really meant to be read by your typical bookworm. It was meant to be acted out on a stage with a little improvisation and some awesome special effects. It's not the whole story. Reading a script takes a lot more imagination than your typical novel and J.K. Rowling didn't spell it all out for us this time.

So I'm not here to critique or question the not-so-novel "Harry Potter" script itself but rather its story line as a whole.

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD.

I'm not a huge fan of the play's story to be honest. A friend of mine put it perfectly when he sarcastically said, "Say what you will about 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child,' but I'm just impressed someone was able to create a story by putting all seven 'Harry Potter' books in a blender."

That's exactly what the "Cursed Child" felt like to me. It seemed to take a bunch of elements from the seven "Harry Potter" novels mix them all up and then paste them back together again 19 years later. Or at least, a mix between a messed up "Harry Potter" jigsaw and a far-fetched fan theory from a long lost Reddit feed.

I mean, all of the sudden Voldemort has a daughter, Scorpius Malfoy has no backbone, and a rumor about a time turner has "ruined his life," Albus Potter takes after his father from book five and lets his teen angst control everything, the trolley witch is psycho and Harry Potter isn't the greatest father. All things that seem a little far-fetched, like they're part of a wild "Harry Potter" Tumblr post or a crazy fan fiction.

Maybe it's the logic in me that can't get over the whole Voldemort had a child part of it all. I mean if he doesn't even have a nose who's to say he's got his reproductive parts? And Harry Potter being a bit of a controlling and not-so-understanding father just doesn't sit well with me. One of his most notable qualities in the "Harry Potter" novels is his compassion and empathy for others yet he can't even get over his own pride to understand his son? That just doesn't make sense. Not to mention young Harry never really had a consistent father figure in his life so I feel like it would be of utmost priority to him to be an excellent father to his own children.

I will always love what J.K. Rowling has done with the "Harry Potter" universe. There are so many life lessons and so much to learn from not only Harry Potter's story but her own story as well. I just wasn't a huge fan of "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child." I am very glad that I read it and would love to see the play as I'm sure it's amazing on stage. Regardless of how I felt about this story, "Harry Potter" will always have a special place on my bookshelf. Perhaps I just needed to do a better job forgetting the Harry Potter and crew that I'd grown up with and my own ideas of what the next generation families would be like before reading the "Cursed Child." Ten years is a long time to speculate but maybe I should have treated "Cursed Child" more like a prequel and less like the sequel I was hoping for.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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