Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, #1)

by J.K. Rowling

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

This is a strange way to start a book, esp middle grade - gives off movie vibes.

Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache.

Vernon Dusley intro & fatphobic commentary

Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.

Petunia Dursley intro

our story starts,

Interesting narration

Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.

So much of this is iconic

There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn’t a map in sight.

clutching a large doughnut in a bag,

she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn’t blame her – if he’d had a sister like that

He hurried to his car and set off home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn’t approve of imagination.

‘Well, I just thought … maybe … it was something to do with … you know … her lot.’

How the hell did she convince him magic was real in the first place???

How very wrong he was.

Are all the books like this?

Nothing like this man had ever been seen in Privet Drive. He was tall, thin and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak which swept the ground and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man’s name was Albus Dumbledore.

Dumbledore intro

He flicked it open, held it up in the air and clicked it.

‘Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall.’ He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.

Prof Mcgonagall intro

Shooting stars down in Kent – I’ll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense.’

‘We’ve had precious little to celebrate for eleven years.’

People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight,

???

‘Voldemort had powers I will never have.’

You know what everyone’s saying? About why he’s disappeared? About what finally stopped him?’

‘Lily and James … I can’t believe it … I didn’t want to believe it … Oh, Albus …’

It's sad that this is how she finds out that 2 of her ex-students are dead

‘It’s – it’s true?’ faltered Professor McGonagall. ‘After all he’s done … all the people he’s killed … he couldn’t kill a little boy?

‘I’ve come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They’re the only family he has left now.’

‘It’s the best place for him,’ said Dumbledore firmly. ‘His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he’s older. I’ve written them a letter.’

"I've written them a letter." Fuck you, Dumbledore

He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of dustbin lids and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins.

Hagrid intro

‘Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir,’ said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorbike as he spoke. ‘Young Sirius Black lent it me. I’ve got him, sir.’

‘No, sir – house was almost destroyed but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin’ around.

He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.

Thats it. I love him.

an’ poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles

The relationship between the magical community & muggles is very interesting. I wish we got to explore it more.

He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry’s blankets and then came back to the other two.

The fact that all 3 of them were okay with leaving a baby on a doorstep all night says a lot about them & how they'll do whatever Dumbledore says.

He clicked it once and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street.

No one stayed? They all left a baby on a doorstep ALONE at night and were okay with that??? Mcgonogal was there all day but couldnt stay to make sure he didnt get stepped on in the morning or pooped on by birds???

One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours’ time by Mrs Dursley’s scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley … He couldn’t know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: ‘To Harry Potter – the boy who lived!’

Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-coloured bobble hats – but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large, blond boy riding his first bicycle,

Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

Makes a lot of sense why Harry wasn't spooked about the spiders in book 2

Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise

Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.

Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there.

Mrs Figg intro

On the other hand, he’d got into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley’s gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry’s surprise as anyone else’s, there he was sitting on the chimney.

It's interesting to me that none of the teachers ever contacted the police or child protective services when it's obvious that he's being bullied by Duddley & abused by The Dursleys.

‘I know,’ Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn’t sure the snake could hear him. ‘It must be really annoying.’

Okay but legit who just starts talking to a snake???

‘Out of the way, you,’ he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.

I forgot how physically abusive Dudley is...

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, ‘Go – cupboard – stay – no meals,’ before he collapsed into a chair and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.

Can you imagine how differently this series would have been if The Dursleys had been kind to Harry?

a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.

He couldn’t remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.

Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley.

So the wizarding world kept tabs on him and could identify him in public, but no one thought to help him?

The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.

At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley’s gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley’s gang.

Not one single adult ever tried to help him???

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started

but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot,

This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.

I know this was the 90s but who just lets a 10 yr old boy wander around alone?

‘No thanks,’ said Harry. ‘The poor toilet’s never had anything as horrible as your head down it – it might be sick.’ Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he’d said.

A classic

The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in grey water. ‘What’s this?’ he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question. ‘Your new school uniform,’ she said.