Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne

The Eighth Story. Nineteen Years Later.

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London’s West End on July 30, 2016.

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.

While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

REVIEW

"I don't care what you did or who you saved, you are a constant curse on my family..."

I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked up Harry Potter and the Curse Child, but I certainly wasn't expecting this. Going into the story, I knew absolutely nothing about what was going to happen. I knew nothing of what the story contained and I'm glad about that. I didn't want any kind of spoilers going into it. I wanted to be able to form my own opinions of the story. The only thing I knew was that it was in script form. Even so, it was still a bit of a disappointment that it wasn't a full Harry Potter book. I really think I wouldn't enjoyed it so much more.

However, the story is true to the nature of the Harry Potter world. Lots of magic, darkness, wit, and silly moments. You can still feel the love of friendship and doing what is right even though it isn't the easiest path. I loved being inside of the wizarding world again. I enjoyed seeing Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny as adults and parents, especially now that I am one. The story was a pretty crazy ride, to say the least. I wasn't expecting things to happen the way they did and even now I feel like I need more answers, another story to fill in the gaps. Questions were answered, but I feel like I need more details that the script didn't give me. I was also surprised to find myself liking a Malfoy, because I've always found the Malfoys to be people that I despised. Scorpius however is a likable character, whereas I found myself really not liking Albus that much. I'm wondering if that was done purposefully, to turn the tables a bit. 

The relationship between Harry and Albus is a complicated one. They are very different from each other and rarely get along. Especially after Albus becomes friends with someone who Harry doesn't see fit to be friends with. There is a lot of miscommunication between the two and ultimately leads to some pretty eventful circumstances, mostly bad.

Overall, I enjoyed the storyline. I loved being back inside of this world. I would honestly read hundreds upon hundreds of books about Harry Potter and his ancestors and the world he lives in if they were available to me. However, I felt that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was lacking in some areas, probably due to the fact that it was indeed a script and I'm used to full on details about the world building, and what's going on inside the characters minds. I missed that aspect of the wizarding world. I feel like it would have had a much stronger impact on me than the script did. It is a wonderful story though. Don't let the fact that it is in script form deter you from reading it.

RATING

AUTHORS

About J.K. Rowling

Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly. Read more about J.K. Rowling.

About John Tiffany 

John Tiffany trained at Glasgow University gaining an MA in Theatre and Classics. He was Literary Director for the Traverse Theatre, Associate Director for Paines Plough and a founding Associate Director for the National Theatre of Scotland. He is currently an Associate Director for the Royal Court Theatre. During 2010-11 John was a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University.
Read more about John Tiffany.

About Jack Thorne

Jack Thorne (born 6 December 1978) is an English screenwriter and playwright.

Born in Bristol, England, he has written for radio, theatre and film, most notably on the TV shows Skins, Cast-offs, This Is England '86, This Is England '88, This Is England '90, The Fades, The Last Panthers and the feature film The Scouting Book for Boys. He currently lives in London.