Radhika Mukherji
Disclaimer: Being a writer is terribly hard. I suggest the reader to take my criticism in a comic light. Don’t listen to me. Read the play for what it is. I am just overwhelmed at the moment. Happy reading!
Summer of 2007 was memorable. That summer was dedicated to JK Rowling and her magical world. There was no end to the discussions. I was reduced to tears when the otherwise cruel Snape’s secret was out. His patronus was the same as Lily’s. ‘After all this time?’ was answered by ‘Always.’ That’s all it took to melt my stone like heart.
Harry Potter had defeated the Dark Lord and there was finally a happily ever after. The wizarding world and the muggle community could rest in peace. Good had triumphed on evil. We could all sleep well. Harry had grown up and now it was my turn.
Fast forward to 2016.
I don’t really know how to be an adult. All I know is that I am one. Young adult fiction is out of bounds for me now. It’s time to read the grown-up books. But I couldn’t contain myself when Rowling released her Cursed Child.
Childhood was back. Comfort was back in life. Harry had grown up and he could give me pointers on how to do it. I started reading the book as soon as I laid my hands on it. The black hardcover felt like home.
I had been warned previously that the book was a disappointment. But how can Rowling go wrong, right? It took me just 4 hours to get done with the play. The fifth hour saw me pondering.
I was definitely going to the wrong person for advice on how to be an adult. I didn’t recognise Harry. Hermione is a person easily swayed by a kiss. And Ron…well poor Ron has no part but to crack jokes here and there. Rowling did you happen to forget that there is no Harry and Hermione without Ron? Or did you just make up their friendship to make us kids feel good about our peers.
Sibling love doesn’t exist in the story. Where are James and Lily Potter when their brother needs them the most? It’s not like they are sitting in a boarding school in Hawaii? They are both in Hogwarts for God’s sake.
Since when did Dumbledore become such a weepy person? His portrait seems to pour out more tears than the Niagara falls in one day.
Let me not come to the racism in the play. I might just punch the playwrights. Since Panju is a proper noun, the next possible names of people from around the region should be Gujju and Mallu. Lesson to aspiring writers- you don’t need to research anymore, as long as there is a diversity factor in the story.
Rowling doesn’t seem to remember her characters. If she had, the story would be utterly different. The book is a recap of what happened in the past 7 books and then some.
Oh and Voldemort is a joke (the man without a nose), as is his lineage.
Why Rowling? Why did you do this to my childhood and to the way I look at the wizarding world?
Sigh. Looks like the grown up books are what I need to turn to now.
