Snape, Snape, Severus Snape

I read 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' today. I'm seeing the film tomorrow morning, and although I'd claimed that I had no time to read it, and that it might be fun to watch the film first (and therefore enjoy it as a film, without knowing all the twists and turns beforehand), a whole host of youtube reviews was enough to change my mind. The conclusion seems to be that the film, despite some of the best acting and most stylish directing in the franchise, leaves out a number of fairly crucial plot elements (such as the explanation of horcruxes), and continues to not allow room for much character develepment. Slightly worried that I might get to the film only to not understand it, I plunged into the book with a day to go.

As it was, it really didn't take me long to read. All credit to J. K Rowling - it was a really gripping novel, I havn't read like that for a long time. I think it may be my favourite so far - I know a lot of people see it as a 'filler' book without much going on until the last few chapters, but I like it when there's a bit more space to enjoy Hogwarts for the wonderful place that it is, and to watch all those teenage personalities clash and change. It was great to see Draco become a more complex character, and it's got to the point when all the 'minor' Hogwarts students seem to be real people too. Dumbledore was as mysterious, charming and heart-breaking as ever. And I continue to be totally fascinated by Tom Riddle. My favourite part of the series is probably the Voldermort back-story, and I still have a strong attachment to the 'Chamber of Secrets' (even the film), so I've been excited about this one ever since I heard what it was about. If J.K. ever does more spin-offs some extra Tom Riddle would be much appreciated, thank you. Her writing style also seems a world away from the first novel - I'd always seen her as a fantastic storyteller, but perhaps not a great writer, but I loved the way she wrote this book.

Then, of course, there was Snape. Here it is probably best to explain that I have a complicated relationship with the Harry Potter series. I went to the type of faith school where one or two teachers were strongly against the books and that meant that very few of us read them - as a phenomena it largely passed us by. We were aware that a lot of people were talking about them, but Hogwarts hysteria didn't grip our school like it did almost every other. I didn't pick up the first book, therefore, until my youngest brother and sister (then nine, now thirteen) became obsessed with them. I'm struggling to remember if I saw the first few films before the books or afterwards - I think it was all roughly in the same couple of months. And I really like them. But having missed out on them at the age when they would have been really influential, because I'm the type of girl who does get swept up into these worlds, and because I'm from the generation who grew up at the same time that Harry, Ron and Hermione did, it's always been a little bittersweet for me. I've never had that level of devotion to them, I've always started reading the novel knowing 90% of what was going to happen, and the people I see in my head as I read are the actors in the films.

Which makes analysing characters like Snape in this book so difficult. I love Snape. He is probably my favaourite character. But I worry that a lot of this is because he is played by Alan Rickman in the films, and I love Alan Rickman. I'm also concerned that a lot of how I felt in this book was affected by how much I knew about the next one. I liked Snape in HPB, I felt his pain, sympathised with his predicament, and found myself increasingly frustrated at Harry for being totally oblivious. But for readers at the time, those who had queued up all night to get the book on its day of release, who then read it within 24 hours, did they feel like this? J.K. seems to spell it out, but does she really? Would I have found it 'obvious' from the first chapter if I didn't already know how it all ends? Would I, like Harry, have felt furious and betrayed by Snape? I wonder. Oh the confusion of The Girl Who Got Left Behind. :)