Blog Post #1 - Expectations

I like this particular quote from Wolfgang Iser. It's true; the more you read, the more you think. To me, the more you think, the more possibilities there are for what may happen. Truly reading a book is to get involved and lose yourself in the text. By putting yourself in the main characters' shoes, you start to see a whole realm of possibilities. When I first read Harry Potter, I didn't know it was part of a series. I had no expectations of furthering the story I was reading. The first book doesn't set you up to need sequencing books either, in my opinion. There are an extreme amount of foreshadowing clues, but if you don't know where to look for them they're easily overlooked. The first book took awhile to get started, explaining all the background history of magic and their world. However, the best part about it was we weren't immersed into the world at first. Instead, we were introduced to it at the same time as Harry, making the experience less dramatic. JK Rowling makes the magic world seem so everyday, as if it could possibly exist in the actual world, and you let yourself believe it. The second book continues on the same story path, and nobody denies wanting to know what's going to happen. Voldemort was introduced, and you're stuck craving for more at the end of The Sorcerer's Stone. She raised an expectation of this monsterous being vs rookie wizard in a lifelong duel. Who would win? Not only did she raise the bar for herself in the upcoming novels, but she also promised the readers it would be worth reading 6 more books & thousands of pages. At the end of the second book, you learn a little more about the wizarding world and Voldemort. Her books sequentially unravel more about the mysteries she lured you in with. My expectations were met with not only the 2 first books, but the rest of the series as well. It's important to note that an open mind is needed throughout the journey of these 7 books. Yeah, it's weird people love this made up world so much. But to me, it's the brilliance of JK Rowlings writing that brought me in. This is something I'll have to wait to write about til after the entire series is read though, not to give anything away! All in all, an expectation was raised from the first chapter of the first book. Starting out with an ordinary boy with a less than average life, promising something extraordinary is going to happen to him if you just keep reading.