Customer Reviews

J. K. Rowling: The Wizard Behind Harry Potter

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Marc Shapiro takes just over 100 pages to say what many authors have said much better in biographical information recounted in magazine articles. The facts are bungled in details from the books which makes me question the facts about J. K. Rowling's life. Were those bungled as well?

Clearly the book went to press prior to the time when the name of the Fourth Harry Potter Book was officially released because it refers to that book in it's working title. However the last couple of chapters report "facts" about J. K. Rowling's life that take place as late as the last quarter of the year 2000.

Overall, save your time and money for more worthwhile reading...

I didn't get why this book was written at all. The author associated everything about her life with Harry Potter. I was going to do a report about her but then I couldn't find many important facts about her life. The facts that were in the book were all jumbled up and unorganized. Half of the magazine articles written about Ms. Rowling are better than this. It's not very helpful with report either. Don't spend your the time reading or purchasing this book. It's a waste of time and money. Go read the Harry Potter series instead.

Although the book was highly informative, it did not tell much more than what was already said in many interviews. Due to the fact that it was not an official biography he simply took the sources interviews and turned them into a book. I did not feel that the book was worth spending time reading. I also felt that the author was a little confused with some of the details in the books when he stated that owls run banks (although this may be a difference in the British and U.S. versions, the books say that goblins run Gringotts) he also states a few incoorect names. All in all the book is good for someone who has never read a single interview with J.K. Rowling. Don't expect any big shocking secrets no more has been revealed than the interview with scholastic and a few British magazines.

This book is not at all what i had in mind when i purchased it. In reading the first ten pages it was clear that the book was poorly researched, there where errors in the names of the charactors, like when the author said that Harry was in love with Cho Chan, when it should be Cho Chang. There were other mistakes such as saying that Harry's world was full of creatures like crookshanks, reffering to it as a species when it is really Hermione's cat. Overall this was not a very satisfying book and I recomend waiting for a authorized biography.

I bought J. K. Rowling: the Wizard behind Harry Potter hoping for a book that would tell me a little bit more about the life of J. K. (Joanne Kathleen) Rowling. However, I did not find it here.

Marc Shapiro, the author of this unauthorized biography, seemed to point every part of Rowling's life to Harry. He didn't bother to go into detail about Rowling's childhood friends, just mentioned them to point out that Rowling had gotten the idea for Harry's name from theirs. Though he did go into great detail about Rowling's writing habits, as well as the publishing deals she recieved, he left out the other part of her life- the life without Harry.

There is so much of Rowling's life that was left out in this biography, because there was no relevance to the books that made her famous. Though the book was informative, it was not at all what I had hoped. I think that the author should rethink his approach to biographies. This was supposed to be a story about Rowling's life, not about Rowling's writing.

The author can't even be bothered to correct Rowling's birthdate in this "revised and updated" edition!!! It's a *biography* and he doesn't even have the subject's birthdate correct. Sean Smith's biography of Rowling is far superior. This one shouldn't even be on the market, and I can't fathom why large chains are stocking it.

Unfortunate but true - the author clearly has not read the Harry Potter books themselves. The "writing" itself is painfully stilted and gives the strong impression that scant facts have been surrounded by stock "fantasy" adjectives and adverbs and then bluntly tacked onto a generic "bio" outline.

I'd heard that this wasn't a great bio but while waiting for the Half-Blood Prince I broke down and bought it anyhow thinking "Just how bad could it be?" The answer is "very." I urge you not to make the same mistake. However many times you've read the books themselves you'd be much better off reading them again than reading this.

This book is shockingly bad. It is appallingly written, has very little content, many errors, and is highly repetitive. By the author's own admission, it is merely a collection of facts gathered from published articles and interviews, and official and unofficial web sites; in other words, Marc Shapiro has found an easy way to make easy money, by gathering public information (and not very much of it) in a short, unsatisfactory book riddled with errors (Knight's Cross Station in London? There is no such place, in reality or Rowling's fiction.) If you really want to know as much about JK Rowling as you can, this book is perhaps easier than your own internet research, but do not expect to discover anything new or surprising, do not expect to enjoy the read, and bear in mind that Joanne Rowling has not validated a single word in the book.

When I had gotten this book, I was excitied on the prospects of getting to know J.K. Rowling's life better. Her childhood, motherhood, and other things interesting in her life besides Harry Potter. However what I got was not at all what I wanted...actrully exactly the opposite. Though it did have some parts on her childhood the things were very vague and gave you hardly any information. Half of this book was on Harry, and practically a lot of info in this book everybody already knows. It seems all J.K. ever really accomplished in her life were the Harry Potter books. The only reason I gave this book 2 stars is because it was informative on what J.K. is going to name her future Harry Potter books and some plot lines to number 5.

While this book gave me a better idea of the life of J.K. Rowling I was very disappointed with Marc Shapiro's writing. The whole time I was reading I found myself wondering if Shapiro had actually read the Harry Potter books. A devoted fan of the Harry POtter series I noticed right away the many mistakes Shapiro made while talking about the books themselves. A note of advice DO NOT spend money on this book!!! Get it from the library if you want to read it. It isnt worth even the few dollars you may spend on it!