Phillips' Harry Potter

Melanie Phillips investigates the latest Harry Potter installment and finds a good story told by a good story teller. She finds, in addition, the very essence of what attracts us to Rowling's books:

The books are, indeed, supremely moral. Goodness is not sentimentalised. Heroes are shown as flawed. Bad characters are revealed to be capable of redemption. Everyone carries within them the capacity for both good and bad; indeed, Harry himself is troubled throughout by his own links to the arch-fiend Voldemort. The message is that life is all about the choices we make.

The real appeal of these books lies in the universal themes they encompass. Foremost amongst them is the central motif of death, grieving and loss. So much of this magical world is an elaborate and imaginative way of dealing with our desperate need to come to terms with the death of those we have loved.

Then there is the great theme of true friendship that withstands all adversity, and the inspiring yet poignant message that love conquers death. And at the very core is the central driver of the plot — the great battle between good and evil and the duty to choose good over bad.

Indeed.