
Goblet of Fire marks a pretty significant shift in the Harry Potter series. For one, there’s the fact the book is about three times the length. There’s also a noticeable departure from the cosiness of the first three books; by Goblet of Fire, J.K.’s bringing us into some pretty dark territory.
But most significant of all, of course, is the fact that Book 4 is when we finally learn how to pronounce Hermione’s name.
OK non-UK people, confess: was this the first time you learned how to pronounce Hermione? #SiriusReaders pic.twitter.com/Bz8mqGymNg
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 11, 2016
@eggplantblog YES ABSOLUTELY, and very embarrassed to say so!!!!!!!
— diana weasley (@itsdianakelly) March 11, 2016
@eggplantblog Haha it’s not just non-UK people! Until this bit of the book I thought it was pronounced Her-me-own.
— jemima short (@jemimashort) March 11, 2016
@eggplantblog YES. It wasn't til the films came out and it became socially unacceptable to get it wrong that I actually admitted defeat.
— jemima short (@jemimashort) March 11, 2016
@eggplantblog to be honest, and I know this makes no sense, but I pronounced it “Her-moyn” 😖 #siriusreaders
— Sammy Nickalls (@sammynickalls) March 11, 2016
@eggplantblog my parents read these books out loud to me and my brother and this was the moment we realized we’d all been horribly wrong 😱😱😱
— Erika W. Smith (@erikawynn) March 11, 2016
I’m feeling pretty smug about myself here, because I knew how to pronounce Hermione’s name all along (I had a Hermione in my class at school) — and I had also been pronouncing Voldemort without the “t” for a few years before this revelation suddenly hit the mainstream. So there.
But that’s the last time you’ll catch me being smug today. When I went to my parents’ house this weekend, my dad suggested that I hadn’t eaten quite enough humble pie for having made such a song and dance in the past about not liking Harry Potter, considering that I talked about practically nothing else all weekend. So yeah, I take it all back. I’m a Potterhead now.
And Goblet of Fire might just be the best in the series so far. The majority of our #SiriusReaders tweets this time round consisted of us quoting and screenshotting our favourite parts — which turned out to be basically all of it.
"The Riddles all appeared to be in perfect health – apart from the fact that they were all dead." #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 6, 2016
"MILK MY SNAKE."
"But Master…it's a snake. Reptiles can't–"
"MILK. MY SNAKE."#siriusreaders pic.twitter.com/2LCEQfZwdb— Sammy Nickalls (@sammynickalls) March 4, 2016
BEST PART OF THE SERIES. #SiriusReaders pic.twitter.com/x3KaBWyG9P
— roslyn (@rozzybox) March 4, 2016
Gets me every time #siriusreaders pic.twitter.com/3LPSrVSfdq
— Sammy Nickalls (@sammynickalls) March 7, 2016
Honestly this whole chapter makes me lol every time #siriusreaders pic.twitter.com/xHkRMXWtRM
— Sammy Nickalls (@sammynickalls) March 7, 2016
The Goblet of Fire is the best part of both HP formats tbh #SiriusReaders pic.twitter.com/zwBhyINb1q
— roslyn (@rozzybox) March 5, 2016
My favourite line in the whole series #SiriusReaders pic.twitter.com/n33jowHB6X
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 10, 2016
But while I did love it, I seriously struggled not to spend my whole reading experience wallowing in misery — because J.K. made this book way too sad.
This first chapter's just the story of a lonely misunderstood old man who's bullied by a whole village and then dies. Cheery. #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 6, 2016
Ron standing there in his "too-small pyjamas" after a fight with Harry is just TOO TRAGIC #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 10, 2016
I'm too sad thinking of Dumbledore being all excited to treat his school to a tournament #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 12, 2016
As ever, much of the book was really relatable. Considering it’s about a magical world full of witches, wizards and dragons, that’s pretty impressive.
Love the shade J.K.'s throwing at the Daily Mail – of COURSE Mr Dursley would read it #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 6, 2016
Hermione is really relatable this book #SiriusReaders pic.twitter.com/Ucd0iRrVjt
— roslyn (@rozzybox) March 6, 2016
Everyone's reaction to SPEW is even more irritating now I've seen the Internet's reaction to feminism #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 7, 2016
The students not applauding Mad-Eye Moody because he looks weird is a little too Jenny-Beavan-at-the-Oscars for my liking #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 7, 2016
We did notice that the books are a little too gendered and heteronormative at points…
Don't listen to the Ministry, Archie! Rock that flowery nightgown! Bust those gender roles! #siriusreaders pic.twitter.com/0oGASbySxI
— Sammy Nickalls (@sammynickalls) March 6, 2016
The Veelas' powers are very heteronormative #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 6, 2016
…which is a complaint that I don’t think is going to go away. J.K. has been very vocal about Hogwarts being a safe space for LGBTQIA+ individuals, which is great, but I’d like to have seen a bit more evidence of this. The only known gay character (as far as I’m aware) is Dumbledore, whose sexuality is never actually addressed within the books, and who J.K. later revealed to be asexual. Considering gayness is often equated in popular culture with singledom/a lack of sexual prowess (just think how many times you’ve seen a punchline revolving around a perpetually single character’s friends and family having assumed they were gay just because they’d never seen them with a partner), this just plays into a disappointingly frequent misrepresentation of both gayness and asexuality.
My other complaint is much more minor — but why all the fathers and sons with the same name, J.K.?!
That's twice in this book I've been totally thrown off by fathers and sons having the same name this is a stupid tradition #SiriusReaders
— Emma Oulton (@eggplantblog) March 12, 2016
This is a fairly rare tradition in the UK anyway (with the exception of old British monarchs, I usually think of this as a very American thing to do), so I’m not sure why she needed to confuse me twice in the same book by throwing in extra Tom Riddles and Barty Crouches that weren’t the ones I thought they were.
OK, got my grumbling out of the way — and back to my favourite tweet from Goblet of Fire.
This is the whole series. #SiriusReaders pic.twitter.com/ihafmE3fwO
— roslyn (@rozzybox) February 28, 2016
And oh hey, I set up a YouTube channel to document all my bookish thoughts! In this video, I wonder why there isn’t more sex at Hogwarts…
If you’re down with the teens, you should follow me on Snapchat (eggplantvlog) and catch all my ramblings on the fly.
Don’t forget to follow along with #SiriusReaders on Twitter, and see you on the other side of Order of the Phoenix!