Reread: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
This summer, I’ve decided to finally reread the Harry Potter series. I’ve reread most of the books a few times, but this will be my first time reading the whole series, beginning to end, since the 7th book came out. After each book I’ll to do a quick post highlighting things that stood out to me in that reread. It’ll be my own little Harry Potter reading challenge :) Note: There will most definitely be series-wide spoilers in these posts.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is my least favourite book in the series, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have me glue to its pages until the wee hours. Again, I was amazed by Rowling’s attention to small details that become important later on in the series. In Chambers she starts dishing out some of Tom Riddle/Voldemort’s history. We find out that Tom was an orphan who had a witch mother and muggle father, all of which become important in book 6 when Harry and Dumbledore begin their Voldemort research. And Tom Riddle’s diary! A horcrux before anyone knew what horcruxes were, Rowling gives us a hint at the lengths Voldemort was willing to go to in order to keep himself, or at least his memory, alive.
As Jenny pointed out, the vanishing cabinet is cleverly mentioned for the first time in Chambers. After her tip, I was on the lookout for Filch’s grumblings about it being broken. But now I have another question. At the beginning of the book when Harry accidently winds up in Borgin & Burkes, he quickly hides in a large black cabinet when Mr. Malfoy and Draco enter the store. Is this the second cabinet that the Death Eaters use to sneak into Hogwarts in book 6? On one hand, Rowling doesn’t throw details in carelessly. But on the other – why didn’t Harry vanish when he hid in it? Something to ponder.
Now off to Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban where, in my opinion, the series really starts to pick up!
Related:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
YA Reading Challenge 11/12
I think it was the vanishing cabinet in Borgin and Burkes, but I think maybe he didn’t vanish because they were broken…and as I wrote that sentence I felt like a complete dork!
I don’t remember – was the one at Borgin & Burkes also broken? Or was it that the connection between the two was somehow broken? The one at Hogwards didn’t break until later on in the book, after Harry hid in the B&B cabinet.
Yay for HP dorkness :)
Geek Disclaimer:
I think one cabinet broken is enough, because then he would have no place reaper.
I thought you probably had to do something to the cabinet to make it vanish you and reappear you someplace else. Or is it just an Indian-in-the-Cupboard situation, where all you have to do is close the door and open it again?
This one is probably my second least favorite. Love the rereads, though!
How fun to reread the HP books! I really need to do that soon, as my memory of its details is weakening… help! I would never be able to crack this mysterious case of the vanishing cabinet!
i adore the HP series and have read the first few books too many times to count. i love the idea of reading the series back-to-back-to-back…
now that school’s out, i’ve got nothing but my beach chair, sunny skies, a blue ocean, and TIME. :)
Jenny – Makes sense that you would have to do something to make it vanish you. I have some memory of Fred and/or George stuffing a member of the Slytherin Quidditch team into the broken Hogwarts cabinet in a later book, and it took a while for him to show up again (in a toilet I’m thinking?). Or am I getting that event confused with the Room of Requirement?
Heather – Now I’m curious, which one is your least favourite?
kay – This vanishing cabinet business is starting drive me nuts! I feel like I need to rush through the next few books to get myself some answers ;) But yes, you should definitely reread them!
nat – Yessss these make such great summer reads! I’m alternating the Harry Potter books with new books, but having them as every other book still feels like I’m reading them back to back. I love that the details are fresh when I start the next book, but sometimes they’re too fresh that I have to skip over some of the passages that summarize previous books.
I love how the books foreshadow and I am so over the top impressed with Rowling. Every tie I talk about her and the books I gush!
Also my least favorite book, but still i remember not putting down when i read it, and that is saying a lot!