Amazon.ca:Customer reviews: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Book 1

Top positive review

What an adventure

Reviewed in Canada on August 7, 2018

The first story where the world meets Harry Potter. This was the 3rd time reading the story after many years. There were so many things that I picked up in the story that I did not pick up the first time through! Haggrid’s motorcycle was Sirus’s? What an adventure. From the very first chapter J K R leads you into the wizard world. For those of you reading this series for the first time, I am jealous. Enjoy

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Diane

Not as advertised.

Reviewed in Canada on January 19, 2020

Product was not at all as described. Was advertised as a very good paperback copy and instead I received something more along the lines of acceptable. The pages are very yellowed, there is a coffee or tea stain on the bottom corner of all of the pages and on the top of the cover by the spine is a sticky residue that has collected dirt and other debris.

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From Canada

Raywattie Khelawan

it was ok

Reviewed in Canada on September 2, 2013

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I liked the book but there were lots of marks on it. There were tea stains and orange pop and it looked like it was falling apart.

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Agnes

Disappointed

Reviewed in Canada on January 15, 2018

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The book came crooked

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Andrew L

Not the biggest Harry Potter fan

Reviewed in Canada on May 12, 2020

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Author: J.K. Rowling

Before I even begin this review, I am letting everyone know that it wasn’t written by someone who is obsessed with Harry Potter. I am not the type of person that tells people the house I’ve been sorted into, if you want to know you can ask. If you don’t want to read a review by someone who just likes the books and isn’t talking about them every two minutes then it’s best if you leave now.

Harry Potter’s life is miserable. His parents are dead and he’s stuck with his heartless relatives, who force him to live in a tiny closet under the stairs. But his fortune changes when he receives a letter that tells him the truth about himself: he’s a wizard. A mysterious visitor rescues him from his relatives and takes him to his new home, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Now I never said I hated Harry Potter, in fact I remember them being pretty good, but I don’t remember them being very special.

Yeah, I would get each of the books as soon as I could after they came out, and yeah I would read them as fast as I could, but I don’t remember anything really sticking with me when I read them.

I even gave them all a second read through a few years ago, and honestly liked them a little less, I think because of all the hype that has been put on them for years.

Rowling has done a marvelous job at creating a world that has kept millions of people around the world interested in and engaging with, but I am not one of those people.

Unknown

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone was our first peek into the magical world, and honestly I wasn’t too disappointed. We got to explore the world as Harry did, learning most things for the first time just like Harry did too.

Being a boy right around the same age as Harry, I was amazed by all the magic, and I can remember having ‘Harry Potter’ fights with my cousin when we were kids.

There are two things about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone that bother me though.

The first is that it seems sort of rushed. I know it’s a relatively short book, and Rowling’s writing style is a faster paced one, but it seems like a lot more could have been hashed out in order to have readers better understand and enjoy this new magical world they had discovered.

My second problem is that Harry is just a boy being introduced to the magical world for the first time. I get that he’s the protagonist and eventually we find out is the chosen one and all that, but he’s an 11-year-old boy who is going up against a freaking dark lord!

Yeah, sure, Voldemort isn’t at full power, and yeah Harry beats him with luck more than anything (which happens again and again and bothers me), but Dumbledore seems to have all the answers and should be able to help Harry out, or at least have someone else do it, but barely lifts a finger to do so until book six.

I get that the protagonist needs to be the one to save the day and all that crap, but I find there is a difference between the protagonist winning on luck/skill/allies/masters his powers and the protagonist winning just because he has too.

It annoys me that Harry isn’t an exceptional wizard at all. He’s not smart, he’s lazy, and doesn’t really show much promise as a great wizard like Dumbledore, but constantly gets lucky with beating Voldemort every school year.

And yeah don’t give me that friendship is true strength crap either because I wouldn’t call the trio a friendship. More like one guy who constantly depends on the other two just to survive most days.

Rant aside, I did really like the house point system that was introduced in the book, which we don’t see as often as the books go on. I thought it was a cool little mechanism to learn about the do’s and don’ts of Hogwarts, and was a nice little victory for the main characters, even if Dumbledore cheated and gave them the win for free.

I did also enjoy that the book follows the school year. It seems kind of cliché that all of the books only take place during the school year, but it’s a nice little touch, and it makes sense if you think about it. I mean yeah, the school year takes up a majority of the year, but at the same time it’s when Harry adopts his magical life. When Harry is home for the summer he basically becomes a muggle again, living an especially miserable life.

I hope you guys made it this far, and I am sorry that I’m not more of a fan. I did enjoy the books, I’ll never deny that, I just don’t understand the hype that everyone holds the books up to.

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Sylo

"What's a Christian to do With Harry Potter?"

Reviewed in Canada on December 14, 2001

Yes I borrowed that title from the book of the same name.
I hope this will not be edited for comments OTHER than a review on the book because I feel many other things have been attached to this book that concern parents of different faith's. Caught up in curiosity of all the hype, a few weeks after it's release I went (to my mother's objection) to see The film based on this book. In curiosity of where the film lacked I turned to read the novel of the same name. Where did I find myself after checking it out for myself? Like all things that attract children Harry Potter is filled with ALL the things Children love. Magic, Fantasy, Courageous boy/girl characters, and a villian that is scary but you know he'll get it in the end. Its a formula that Rowling just couldn't fail with. Its why this book series is so popular.
These books are MEANT for children. So my complaints about them being a bit Juvenile at times, is not valid, I'm just an adult looking at it from my point of view. My mother hasn't read or seen the movie and she thinks its all witch craft poisoning young minds. I was quick to remind her that she let me watch GhostBusters when I was very young, and other movies of the Supernatural and weird. And I turned out (so far) a well adjusted, Good hearted Christian.
There are far worse things in this world left to poison the minds of children. (Music, Tv, Movies) Harry Potter is just a witch hunt so we can blame all thats wrong on whats popular at the time. Harry Potter's first book was, to me, lacking alot of emotional depth, which I also felt the movie lacked aswell. There is lots to fill the senses but very little that touches the heart. My hopes, in continuing the series, is to find the heart I know it can develope. I have picked up the second book, already feeling more for the characters, and this odd little boy we call Harry.
Its written very simplisticly, and get's to the point very quickly. These books are not for any kids younger then ten, because Children should have a good sense of whats make believe and whats real to read these books. Its not so much for YOUNGER kids but for the pre-teen crowd. It is dark at times, and thats an added bonus for us older readers.
Where will these stories take Harry?, as I continue the series with every book. I am honestly intrigued, and I think you will be too.
So what are Christian's to do about all this? Make it known that REAL witch craft is not fun or to be dealed with. But don't burn poor harry at the stake, for the mistakes of others. Fantasy can be fun, as long as it stays a fantasy.

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Brian Almquist

The Philoceror's Stone!

Reviewed in Canada on January 18, 2002

Informed that I HAD to read this book before venturing to see it's onscreen translation, I'm one of the many hordes that must have just reading about Harry for the first time in late 2001.
Unfortunately, I've also read more thoughtful fantasy, and more intense British "public" school stories. For all of it's bang, this first book in the series seems a little thin, though allowances maybe should be made for all the time spent establishing the characters and the setting. Still, Harry is charming, and the characters surrounding him are extremely appealing, so their is obviously huge potential existing in the remaining books.
Harry, himself, is a clever creation. He's not that original an idea, not even in his appearance, but he provides a perfect view into Hogwarts School. Like us, he never knew such a wondrous place could possibly exist. Everything needs to be explained to him, and, lucky us, we get to listen in. The other appeal in Harry is that he turns our world on its head. Slight and bespectacled, he's a veritable superstar - a natural - at the wizard world's athletic pastime, Quidditch, a game that captures the best and worst of modern sporting (fast-paced flying broom and ball game with elements of soccer, and scoring even weirder than cricket).
Prior to his new academic life, Harry lived a nightmarish existence amidst bourgeois plenty. Harry's got too much pluck to let us know how miserable he is, but when the world of wizardry aggressively invites him in, it almost seems like the remainder of the book is mere wish fulfillment. The Muggles here most clearly resemble Roald Dahl grotesques, which makes it almost disappointing when Harry gets whisked off to the Chocolate Facto-- er, the Wizard's school.
Hogwarts threatens to be a sticky-sweet paradise, but Harry's friends and rivals, along with the school's faculty and staff, flesh everything out nicely. While author J. K. Rowling borrows relentlessly from all sorts of fantastic traditions to populate and decorate Hogwarts' halls and surroundings, she does it all with a deft spin to keep Harry Potter's world from being one giant, cheesy pastiche. And even though Rowling seems to rely a bit on the Dumbledore ex machina to resolve the House Competition at the end, the conclusion to the mystery occupying the final third of the book is very satisfying. It is easy to see why her readers repeatedly return for more doses of Harry's world.
Viva Ravenclaw!

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Jason Baer

Wizards and Broomsticks and Trolls (Oh My)

Reviewed in Canada on May 1, 2001

When I was younger you couldn't find me without a fantasy or a sci-fi novel in hand. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone marks my long-anticipated return to this genre. I must say, it was not all that I had hoped for. It is possible that as I have grown older I have lost some of my appreciation for these works of fantasy, but I do not think that is the problem. Rather, I think that J.K. Rowling has taken a great idea but done only a fair job of carrying it through. No doubt, the story is fun and exciting, and I credit Rowling for not patronizing her young readers all that much... she gives them proper credit and allows them to puzzle some of the secrets out for themselves. However, I grew up on the fantasy books of C.S. Lewis, Peirs Anthony, Lloyd Alexander, and the grandfather of the fantasy genre: J.R.R. Tolkien. I feel as though these authors did better jobs of creating unique fantasy universes... Rowling gives her readers all the old standys: flying broomsticks, magic wands, etc. Granted, Rowling has a more difficult task in staking out new ground in the fanstasy world than her predecessors had, but I would have preferred something a little more atypical. Of course I understand why these books are so popular: unlike a book like 'The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe,' the Harry Potter books are about a young wizard who attends a wizardry school, and by including the typical school elements (the school bully, the unfair teacher, playground antics, the girl who always has to get an A on her tests, etc.) Rowling gives her young school-going readers something to identify with. Of course the story moves quickly and is written quite cleanly, and that doesn't hurt either.

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Fairportfan

Slow Start, Improves Immensely; I'll Buy More

Reviewed in Canada on August 23, 2000

Well, i just finished the first "Harry Potter" book.
I find it interesting that, among all of the honours it's won, listed on the back cover, there is no mention of the Newbery Medal or Newbery Honorable Mention status -- they ARE still awarding the Newbery for outstanding children's/YA fiction, aren't they?
I was a bit worried at first, actually holding the book in my hand and reading the blurbs, to find it compared by more than one blurb to the children's books of Roald Dahl (e.g., "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" or "James and the Giant Peach").
I happens that i abhominate the children's books of Roald Dahl.
And, at first, it looked as if the blurbs were right -- it was just as twee and arch and coy as Dahl and came across as just as aware of its own cleverness. ((In Dahl's case this reads like a smarmy condecension to the Dear Little Kiddies' Limited Comprehension; in the case of this book it seemed like a First-Time Author trying to be Clever because That's What Kiddies Like...))
And the opening pages, in which she demonstrated her arch inventiveness with such strokes as "Muggles" to mean non-magician humans, and described Harry's home life with his uncle and aunt and cousin in such over-the-top whimsical terms that i almost got seasick reading them, almost put me off the book entirely.
But i persevered and finally got to Chapter Four, in which Harry finds out just who and what he is and his dead parents were and receives his invitation to attend Hogwarts School, the premier school of magic in the World. From there on it's a pretty straightforward Term story, except that the main subject at THIS school is Magic. Harry makes friends, makes enemies, becomes a star on his House's Quidditch team and deduces that one of the Masters is Up To No Good and Must Be Thwarted.
I sort of wonder if the author didn't experience the Mimieux Effect -- i read that when George Pal began filming "The Time Machine", Yvette Mimieux was ((actually)) slightly underage and had never acted in movies before. By the time they finished making the film, they had to go back and reshoot several of her early scenes, because she'd learnt so much about acting in the course of the shoot -- since i understand she is a young single mother who began writing this on scraps of paper in London(?) coffeehouses.
However, Harry and his friends are fun in the Term sequences, and the quest he and two others undertake is sufficiently interesting that it carried me straight along to the end and left me deciding i WILL read the next one -- even if the quest's working-out DID remind me of quest-fantasy computer game...
For those who have read the books of DIana Wynne Jones -- particularly the "Chrestomanci" books, which have similar themes to the "Harry Potter" books, the comparison between Jones and Rowling is natural; i would definitely recommend Jones's books to anyone who has enjoyed the "Harry Potter" volumes.
A point of irritation is that the American publisher apparently feels that those of us in the USA are not sufficiently intelligent or well-educated to understand some things, and has made changes in the text for the US edition -- up to and including changing the title; the "real" title is "...and the Philosopher's Stone". I strongly suspect that there have been changes in the text as well in this book and in "Chamber of Secrets"... i haven't read the other two to check yet.

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Alexander Suraev

I expected to like the book but...

Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2000

I am a fan of children literature, know a lot about children books illustrators and even draw comics for my 7-year old son. Reading about Harry Potter phenomenon - millions copies are sold, Spielberg wants to direct, etc - I was preparing myself for something really exceptional. I open the book with an anticipating smile and...
Mrs.Rowling is a good mother. She had to provide for her child by every means. And she succeded brilliantly - the transformation of a struggling single mom from Edinburgh into the third best paid woman in Britain is very spectacular.
The problem is the product she sells is not very nourishing. It's a fast food in disguise.
Mrs. Rowling took the most appealing to the common public ingredients to make the chewable version of the Great Late Children Literature.
1) The Cinderella story - Someone who is treated unfairly is finally made aware if his\her powers and gets the ticket to the new wonderful life. That's the very appealing notion - a lot of us think we get much less than we deserve.
2) There is a different, much more exciting world above, below or parallel to ours. Yes, life seems dull sometimes, no pain-no gain principle is buggering and we all ready for a quick dramatic crossover.
3)The author invites you to the club. You'll get a lot of "in" things to enjoy and recognize the other initiated by. You are a part of the brotherhood now. The rest are Muggles.
There are more components but these 3 are the most important.
You can argue that these are the chief ingredients of vast majority of children literature. That's right. Now imagine a master chef cooking the delightful meal with the expertly selected products. And an overworked housewife having a try at that fancy recipe from a glossy exotic cuisine cookbook. You'll get the picture.
J.K.Rowling's prose is utterly amateurish. Characterisation is very inferior. Harry's evil adoptive father is fat and has no neck. Harry's abusive step-brother is fat and has no neck. There are no changes, no nuances in baddies and gooddies behavior - everything is in the same vein. Children love integrity in character but Mrs. Rowling's creations are so one-dimensional! I do not think that well-invented and memorable people are for adult books only and kids have to contend with cardboard cutouts.
Many readers think that Mrs.Rowling is blessed with the incredibly powerful imagination - a lot of "magical things" is happening. But mostly these tricks are emloyed when the author suspects that the readers attention span is nearing the end. Then a chair begins to dance, the pack of earwax-tasting candy (how funny!)is produced and Quidditch game is scheduled.
The prose is very repetitive. As a good housekeeper Mrs.Rowling does not want to use things only once - the situations repeat themselves ad nauseam, many objects and happenings are recycled.
Trolls, dragons, centaurs, wizards - everything is borrowed. There is a lot more blood and death - that's J.K.Rowlings respectful nod in the direction of our childrens obsession with the gory computer games.
I've read youngsters reviews of T.H.Whites books in Amazon. -" Boring, way too many details, boring, too long, boring..." - These delightful books are only the tip of the Arthurian iceberg, there are centuries-old tradition behind them. Alice In Wonderland is a work of genius but it's becoming less and less accessible to our children.
I do not want my son to think that Harry Potter is the only face of todays children literature. Despite all the hype these books will find their real place in the hierarchy.
Everyone likes Coke and BigMac but not because these are the culinary masterpieces.
NOTICE: I ask Harry Potter's young fans to wait for a couple years with their reaction to that review.

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David J. Loftus

Just delightful

Reviewed in Canada on March 20, 2000

Some fifty weeks on the NY Times Bestseller list, a movie in the works, and raves from the press and the gallery. What could I possibly add?
Just the testimony of a snooty 40-year-old who knows next to nothing about the fantasy genre and rarely reads bestselling fiction. I have fond memories of the Oz books, and loved _The Hobbit_ once upon a time, but I have never read Lewis's Narnia series or heard of Alexander's Prydains and Susan Cooper's books. The only fantasy I keep with me is Ray Bradbury's _Something Wicked This Way Comes_, which I adore (and I suppose Timothy Findley's incredible _Not Wanted On the Voyage_ and Bulgakov's _The Master and Margarita_ qualify, although they are clearly for grownups). Of late I have been reading nonfiction books about consciousness and memory, _Gotham_, Elizabeth Wurtzel, and _The Intuitionist_.
The first time I heard of Harry Potter was at a party in August 1999 when a fellow Harvard alum told me he and his wife were reading the books to each other. It sounded mildly interesting. A month or two later, the name was everywhere, and I turned up my nose at it. If EVERYBODY was reading it, there couldn't be that much to it. (I made the same minor error in years past with _Helter Skelter_ and _The World According To Garp_, which turned out to be better than I expected when I finally got to them, but not THAT great.) When I heard Christian fundamentalists were attacking the books for "encouraging witchcraft and sorcery," however, I decided it was my civic duty to read them. (Why isn't anyone protesting "the torture of animals" -- blowing up a salamander with fireworks, petrifying a cat -- in book two, by the way? Just kidding.)
I found this book delightful. I read it aloud to my wife, and she read some to me when my voice got tired. The characters are imaginative, the plot suitably gripping, and there is plenty of humor -- broad and subtle -- to reach you wherever your sensibility resides. Give it three stars for grownups and four or five for kids. If the Potter books get lots of children to read, more power to 'em. I don't remember taking Tolkien or Oz or Grimm fairy tales seriously as a child (or even Santa, for very long); why are some adults unable to believe most kids can separate fantasy from reality?
We're on the downhill side of book two, and I think my wife likes the stories even better than I do (not just because I do the voices with great expression). I see that book four, not due out until July, is the number one bestseller on Amazon. Nice work!

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David J. Loftus

Just delightful

Reviewed in Canada on January 24, 2000

Some fifty weeks on the NY Times Bestseller list, a movie in the works, and raves from the press and the gallery. What could I possibly add?
Just the testimony of a snooty 40-year-old who knows next to nothing about the fantasy genre and rarely reads bestselling fiction. I have fond memories of the Oz books, and loved _The Hobbit_ once upon a time, but I have never read Lewis's Narnia series or heard of Alexander's Prydains and Susan Cooper's books. The only fantasy I keep with me is Ray Bradbury's _Something Wicked This Way Comes_, which I adore (and I suppose Timothy Findley's incredible _Not Wanted On the Voyage_ and Bulgakov's _The Master and Margarita_ qualify, although they are clearly for grownups). Of late I have been reading nonfiction books about consciousness and memory, _Gotham_, Elizabeth Wurtzel, and _The Intuitionist_.
The first time I heard of Harry Potter was at a party in August 1999 when a fellow alumnus of Harvard told me he and his wife were reading the books to each other. It sounded mildly interesting. A month or two later, the name was everywhere, and I turned up my nose at it. If EVERYBODY was reading it, there couldn't be that much to it. (I made the same minor error in years past with _Helter Skelter_ and _The World According To Garp_, which turned out to be better than I expected when I finally got to them, but not THAT great.) When I heard Christian fundamentalists were attacking the books for "encouraging witchcraft and sorcery," however, I decided it was my civic duty to read them. (Why isn't anyone protesting "the torture of animals" -- blowing up a salamander with fireworks, petrifying a cat -- in book two, by the way? Just kidding.)
I found this book delightful. I read it aloud to my wife, and she read some to me when my voice got tired. The characters are imaginative, the plot suitably gripping, and there is plenty of humor -- broad and subtle -- to reach you wherever your sensibility resides. Give it three stars for grownups and four or five for kids. If the Potter books get lots of children to read, more power to 'em. I don't remember taking Tolkien or Oz or Grimm fairy tales seriously as a child (or even Santa, for very long); why are some adults unable to believe most kids can separate fantasy from reality?
We're on the downhill side of book two, and I think my wife likes the stories even better than I do (not just because I do the voices with great expression). I see that book four, not due out until the summer, is already the sixth best selling item on Amazon. Nice work!

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