For me, Sirius suffered two fatal blows in the like-him-or-don't sweeps, I think. Neither of them were his fault, but they've pretty much sealed the deal.
1) I have an instant aversion to characters who are primarily presented to the readers as having suffered. Anyone who's introduced right after having gone through something horrible sets off my alarms for bad writing. While Sirius doesn't fall into the category of "like him/her not because he/she has any sort of discernable personality, but because of the child abuse/rape/torture/etc. suffered in the past," it's a kneejerk reaction that's very hard to get over. JK's suffering because of bad experiences with other authors, which isn't terribly fair, but.
2) PoA is my least favorite of the novels. In part, that's so because I just never connected to the action (I'm not sure why, really), but also because one of the primary plots was set off by one of my least favorite scenes in any of the novels. If a teacher brings a deadly animal into a classroom of 13 year olds and doesn't pay attention, and — SHOCK — a 13 year old boy shows off and gets hurt, it is the teacher's fault. Kids that age are stupid. While it wasn't Buckbeak's fault, certainly, Hagrid should have been out of his ass for the rest of the series. (Um, I really dislike Hagrid and how his idiocy is constantly excused. Yes.) So, Sirius' introduction to the world happened during a book that I wasn't incredibly fond of, which isn't the best way to land in someone's heart.
However, Hagrid is the only character I hate, and Ron and Sirius are the only other characters I'm not really fond of. Even Umbridge and Fudge I appreciate for the roles they play. So, JK's got infinitely more affection from me on that count than Mutant Enemy. :)
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Date: 2004-07-20 03:22 pm (UTC)1) I have an instant aversion to characters who are primarily presented to the readers as having suffered. Anyone who's introduced right after having gone through something horrible sets off my alarms for bad writing. While Sirius doesn't fall into the category of "like him/her not because he/she has any sort of discernable personality, but because of the child abuse/rape/torture/etc. suffered in the past," it's a kneejerk reaction that's very hard to get over. JK's suffering because of bad experiences with other authors, which isn't terribly fair, but.
2) PoA is my least favorite of the novels. In part, that's so because I just never connected to the action (I'm not sure why, really), but also because one of the primary plots was set off by one of my least favorite scenes in any of the novels. If a teacher brings a deadly animal into a classroom of 13 year olds and doesn't pay attention, and — SHOCK — a 13 year old boy shows off and gets hurt, it is the teacher's fault. Kids that age are stupid. While it wasn't Buckbeak's fault, certainly, Hagrid should have been out of his ass for the rest of the series. (Um, I really dislike Hagrid and how his idiocy is constantly excused. Yes.) So, Sirius' introduction to the world happened during a book that I wasn't incredibly fond of, which isn't the best way to land in someone's heart.
However, Hagrid is the only character I hate, and Ron and Sirius are the only other characters I'm not really fond of. Even Umbridge and Fudge I appreciate for the roles they play. So, JK's got infinitely more affection from me on that count than Mutant Enemy. :)