Lorrie KimRezensionen

An absolutely delightful tongue-in-cheek interpretation of how Snape is the best character in the series. Great research writing.

An absolutely delightful tongue-in-cheek interpretation of how Snape is the best character in the series. Great research writing.

After a recent re-read of the entire Harry Potter series, I found myself looking for something else that would allow me to stay in J.K. Rowling's universe. Somehow, I found this book.

I've spent every spare minute over the last few days reading and though my HP re-read was recent, I'm now dying to go back and read it all again - keeping my eyes on Snape.

With my first reading of Harry Potter (throughout my 30s) I hated Snape, as most first readers likely will. With my second reading I had better understanding of the story as a whole, but had forgotten enough details to still be enthralled. Now, facing a third reading, I can't help but be eager to read the series again, this time completely keeping my eyes on Snape.

Snape, I see you. Finally, thanks to Lorrie Kim, I really truly see you.

good view of a complex character. makes me wonder if JK planned his much greater role in the later boos or if he just evolved

I was keen to read this as I have read all the Harry Potter books many times and always felt that Snape received a raw deal from many fans. It was well written and easy to read and it brought much to my attention that I hadn't grasped from my readings of the original books. However I did feel that some of the author's conclusions were tenuous and perhaps the result of wishful thinking on her part.½

JK Rowling's Harry Potter books have become as staple of children's (YA?) lit, so it is no wonder that there is a growing body of scholarship related to the series. This is an insightful book about how Professor Snape's actions (and lack of actions) play a vital role in Harry Potter's story. The author primarily uses the novels themselves as source material, though she occasionally refers to additional sources.

I recommend this book to HP fans interested in a detailed analysis of Snape's character.

An excellent analysis of a most complex character. I have read, listened to (audible books) and watched the movies of the Harry Potter series on many occasions. Snape is one of my favorite characters. Reading this book was a great way to take a more in depth view of the story, specifically from Snape's point of view by taking into account everything J.K. Rowling has written about him within the books and via commentary after the release of the novels.

While I don't agree with everything this author is stating about Snape, I do feel she is on point with the majority of her in depth analysis. Reading this actually pointed out parts of the story I missed and it was a great way to revisit the tales with a fresh perspective. Well written, this book gives readers a great appreciation of Snape and Ms. Rowlings writing. Overall an excellent read.

If Snape has ever made you curious, if you enjoy Harry Potter, if you enjoy detailed character review- regardless of this being 'Potter' based I'd suggest reading this book.

I received this book via LibraryThing.com Early Reviewer giveaway. 4.5 Star rating½

"Look at me.
With these three words, Rowling completes the incantation for the stupendous magic she has cast over seven books with her creation of Severus Snape. Everything about Snape is contained those three words. The spy who longed for nothing more than to be seen." (245)

Lorrie Kim has created an utterly spellbinding and thorough analysis of the complex and fascinating character of Severus Snape. Her calculated journey through all seven books brings her reader to a greater understanding of this amazingly convoluted character, pointing out the minutia that many casual readers miss.

Although the text started slowly through Philosopher's Stone and Chamber or Secrets, making me question the intent of the text, her insightful analysis of Snape's Post-traumatic Stress surfacing in Prisoner of Azkaban made me latch on to her observations hard and fast. She hits her stride and refuses to let go of her audience's attention in Half-Blood Prince and Deathly Hallows painting a beautiful, horrible, and heartbreaking vision of man who desperately needed to be understood, and by the nature of his position could not reveal himself.

As a scholar of literature I find the lack of research somewhat disturbing and feeling like the text could have been stronger with more research included. However, Kim's inclusion of Rowling's Machiavellian influences drives home her purposes in the final few chapters greatly making up for the missing scholarly influences in previous pages.

This books is wholly accessible to the casual reader as it is not written in a scholarly monograph style, full of jargon and high speech, but instead written for the casual fan of the Harry Potter series and the wonder that is Severus Snape. I would love to see what she could discern from Snape's small role on Cursed Child which did not come out until after this book's publication.½

Lorrie Kim asserts that where Severus Snape is, there's the story. She then backs up her proposition with 324 pages of highly detailed analyses of Snape's roles, motivations, actions and relationships to other characters and events throughout the seven book Harry Potter series. Kim essentially retells the plot, following the original order of events, but from Snape's point of view, as we've come to understand him by the end of the series. The result, for the reader, is a much enhanced understanding of Snape and, indeed, all of the main characters, and an increased (if that's even possible) appreciation for J. K. Rowling's story-telling genius.

Severus Snape is a highly ambiguous character. He sneers at little children and ignores them or, even worse, mocks them while they seek his approval. He thoroughly dislikes Harry Potter, the hero, and hangs out with the arch-fiend of the story, Voldemort, but he is trusted by the purest of hearts - Hermione and Dumbledore. He is nasty looking, contemptuous and mean, but he holds in his heart, secretly, true love. He is a study in contrasts, once the reader is let in on the secret that he is a double-agent. Even then, the question looms - for which side, really?

Undertaking such an enormous task as closely analyzing the dense ambiguity of Snape through seven books occasionally requires Kim to hypothesize about Snape's behavior when there isn't enough textual evidence to directly support her thesis. To overcome such difficulty, Kim points out relevant patterns of action and motivation of the other characters that are supported by the text and then shows how Snape's character parallels and mirrors the same patterns, thus justifying her hypotheses through syllogism. This form of deductive reasoning means that the reader has to agree to the existence and similarity of the patterns, but Kim's assertions do hold water. And it's her fresh and insightful illumination of these patterns that awakens the reader's mind to the true nature of Snape's character and to the richness of Rowling's craft.

Snape: A Definitive Reading adds another level of enjoyment to the entire Harry Potter series. It's amazing how the reader's understanding of the characters and the storyline morphs and expands when seen through Snape's eyes. Highly recommended.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book was received as a part of LibraryThing's Early Reviewers program.

I must confess up front that any book with the subtitle "A Definitive Reading" is going to get a raised eyebrow from me; to me, that's outright hubris on the part of the author.

That being said, there were some very interesting points raised in this book, which is a fairly thorough book-by-book review of what Severus Snape does and why he does it in relation to Harry Potter. I particularly liked the comments regarding Hermione and why he treats her the way he does, but Kim also misses, or declines to examine, a key component of why Snape consistently ignores Hermione: Kim acknowledges Snape's bigotry, but she never connects it to Hermione. Surely that is one of the key reasons Snape refuses to acknowledge his top student?

Kim also has a tendency to draw conclusions not supported by the text (e.g., the idea that Snape memorized all his textbooks before coming to Hogwarts; the idea that the house in Spinner's End was the Snape family home). But the most glaring omission, in my view, is a proper review of the three times Snape was betrayed by Dumbledore:

First, when James and Lily were killed. Kim goes into detail on how Dumbledore shames Snape for being willing to sacrifice Lily's husband and son so long as Lily is protected, so Snape agrees to serve Dumbledore's cause so long as the three of them are kept safe. The bargain is broken when James and Lily are killed; Dumbledore knows that Snape's real interest had been to protect Lily, and Dumbledore did not keep her safe. He uses Snape's grief against him to persuade him that Snape must keep his side of the bargain, even though Dumbledore has not done the same.

Second, Dumbledore announces to the Wizengamot, not once but twice (at least) that Snape is a double agent. He says this to a room full of witches and wizards, at least some of whom are sympathetic to Voldemort (indeed, Barty Crouch Jr. is present and no doubt listening with great interest before himself being arrested). This is tantamount to signing Snape's death warrant. Now, instead of being a double agent, Snape is forced to be a quadruple agent--a follower of Voldemort who is loyal to Dumbledore but is forced to convince Voldemort that he is really loyal to the Dark Lord while still reporting to Dumbledore. It's no wonder he's surrounded by mistrust.

And third, Kim says that the reason that Dumbledore does not confide in Snape about his real intentions for Harry are because he does not dare take the chance that Voldemort might see that Snape knows the truth about Horcruxes. This does not hold up on examination for two reasons: one, that Snape, who has always been interested in the Dark Arts, might easily have found out about Horcruxes independently, and figured out that Voldemort was using them. Slughorn knew; Harry, Hermione and Ron knew. Why should Snape not know? And two, Snape has been hiding far more dangerous information from the Dark Lord now for years: that Snape has been betraying him. Why should Snape's Occulumency fail on the subject of Horcruxes? But Dumbledore does not tell Snape; he withholds information from him for no good reason, leaving Snape with the justified belief that Dumbledore does not really trust him after all.

So I cannot agree that this is, in fact, a "definitive" reading for Snape. It is detailed, and overall is very good, but it does contain flaws. However, any such book that causes the reader to engage in mental debate with the author and spend time arguing over the subject can certainly be said to be successful in its own way. I am glad to have this book and glad to have read it.

“Loving Lily is the best of Snape. It is not like Dumbledore’s untrustworthy attraction to Grindelwald.” – Snape: A Definitive Reading

Note the above quote regarding Snape uses present tense. That’s because Lorrie Kim’s analysis shows Severus Snape never to have lost his goodness entirely. Most importantly, he knew what goodness was and to love Lily because of her goodness. Yet this love leaves Snape one of the most sinister, scarred, and scary characters in literature. Right up until the last pages of the series, Snape comes off poorly in the company of the headmaster and star pupil, but Kim’s fairly thorough considerations make sure we can differentiate between Albus Dumbledore’s saintly machinations, Harry Potter’s emotional certainty , and Severus Snape’s tortured quest toward ridding the world of evil Voldemort. We learn to question attraction and to celebrate love. I did receive a free copy for an honest review. I had high hopes and high standards for Snape: A Definitive Reading because Snape has been kicked around enough in the novels let alone having to bear another Harry Potter (the individual character) celebration at the expense of understanding Snape’s true self. There might have been an unforgivable placed had this book been anything but good. It was good. Phew.

Snape: A Definitive Reading is a must read for general fans as well as those of us who have a Snape-centric love of the Harry Potter series. Author Lorrie Kim uses multiple sources (beyond the Rowling books) and includes quotes extensively from the series for an intensive analysis of, to my mind, Rowling's most interesting character--Severus Snape. Along the way, Kim highlights the complex, wending revelation of Snape’s past and his role in the fight against Voldemort. This book is quite useful in refining our understanding of the overall plot unity—sometimes it is difficult to remember small but important details when spread across seven volumes. Most importantly, we see the true Snape—a phoenix in his own right. Excerpts and explication show how deeply broken Snape was by his past and how shards of memory continue to inflict pain upon him, yet he rises to serve the Good each time he is needed. Whereas Harry is presented by Rowling as a sympathetic character smacking of hero-to-be, Snape is introduced as ugly, cruel, possibly deadly. And very unloveable. A significant part of the series’ beauty is the contrast and sloooowly revealed conflict between Snape’s outer actions and appearance and that which dwells within. Rowling uses subplots to point to an overarching message: evil seduces, and no one is immune to hearing its call; Kim uses Rowling’s text to show that remorse and goodness can dwell together to create an important hero who rises above his past seduction.

In order to gain a better perspective of Snape’s actions and motivation, Kim uses other, non-Harry sources, such as Machiavelli’s The Prince. In response to our wonderment why/how Severus could witness so much Death Eater horror, and in a specific instance the torture of colleague Charity Burbage, yet do nothing, Kim cites Machiavelli’s directive that a prince must sometimes “act against his faith, against charity, against humanity, and against religion” in order to keep the state going (i.e., here: don’t blow his cover in order to serve the greater good). Consider the self-restraint necessary, the lack of lauding. The other characters think Snape enjoys or is indifferent to the sufferings of non-Slytherins. The truth is if he flailed and wailed, the series would have been far fewer than seven volumes. Voldemort would have won because Harry would have been quite underprepared, hence dead, hence useless to the final battle. Kim’s explication highlights Snape’s dark experience as a necessity for winning the final battle.

For Harry, action-taking and decision-making involve following his gut, and to him the right way typically seems clear and straightforward, though not necessarily easy or simple; with Snape, he must shut off his emotions, every step has to be thought out, nothing is ever clear, easy, or simple, and straightforward is not in the Snape GPS. Given that the Harry Potter series spends the bulk of its pages shoring up and supporting Harry’s perspective and canonizing almost-saint Albus, it is extremely interesting to see things from a darker vantage point. But perhaps most interestingly, we gain a better perspective of Harry’s struggle to find himself and to defeat the dark side through Snape’s narrative. This is a consuming and fun read.

I wanted to like this because I knew all along Snape was going to be the hero of the series. However I got bogged down with the analysis of each scene and extensive quotes. This would have made a great essay if heavily compressed but expanding an analysis of the character of Snape into book length was too much.

Severus Snape, the greasy-haired potions master in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series is one of the series most fascinating characters. Reader either loved him, hated him, love to hate him, or hated to love him. It became clear by the midpoint in the seven-book saga, that Snape would playa critical role in the outcome of the story (Harry defeating Lord Voldemort). In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, readers saw a new side of Snape: one who showed grief, guilt, regret, remorse, and love.

Lorrie Kim analyses every-- yes, every-- scene in which Snape in mentioned. After reading this, I have a new appreciation for Snape.