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Guardian disses JK Rowling; her publisher disses Asda

(Now is not the time to point out that 'diss' isn't the hippest of vernacular - and no, nor is 'hip'; I'm a writer not a rapper).

Nicholas Lezard is pulling Potter to pieces in his latest piece on the Guardian books blog. As someone who got bored 50 pages into Order of the Phoenix, I'm not the hugest JK fan (although I think she seems lovely and is very very clever). But saying her prose is "toxic" seems a bit much, no?

If you're of the opposite opinion to Lezard, make sure you don't head to Asda for your copy when it's released worldwide on 21 July - i.e. this Saturday! Potter Publishers Bloomsbury claim the supermarket chain has unpaid bills dating back 3 years and so it will not be supplying the shop with precious copies of the latest installment.

Guardian disses JK Rowling; her publisher disses Asda - Comments

Danielle

I&#39m with the above. I&#39ve got all the Potter books and even went out at midnight for the latest, but I&#39m not such a huge fan of JK Rowling&#39s writing. Rowling has a wonderful imagination and storytelling ability, but in terms of her actual writing - well, it&#39s not THAT impressive.

I too couldn&#39t get into Order of the Phoenix. It took me four attempts to get past chapter ten. I finally did it, only to be disappointed with the damn thing altogether.

Admittedly I get sick of people who claim JKR to be the &#39best writer ever!&#39 - No, she&#39s not. Nor am I jealous. In fact, I think she&#39s amazing simply for the fact her world and characters have inspired so many people, and have got millions of kids worldwide into reading. Nobody can really fault that. But in my opinion, and seemingly the opinion of many others, her big break came from simply being in the right place at the right time.

Amy

I agree with Lucie, although it&#39s certainly not just a case of me not being into kid fantasy stuff. Many of my favourite books have been thought of as children&#39s books, and many of them contain fantasy elements (Marianne Dreams, His Dark Materials, Mirror Dreams, anything by Roald Dahl). The plain fact of the matter is that, whilst Rowling is certainly an inventive, imaginatinve writer whose cleverness is beyond question, her writing is simply....ugh. The first book was fresh and charming, and the third one was brilliantly plotted, but by the time the fifth book came out there was definitely a feeling that Rowling was just going through the motions. Sadly, the extraordinary hype surrounding Rowling has impacted on her craft - I think her agents etc must think every word she writes is sacred and cannot be altered, for three of her six books so far could have done with some good editing. Like so many books, the idea is extraordinary, and that in itself deserves magnificent praise - how many people could honestly come up with such a good and clever idea? Fortunately, such brilliance only requires a mediocrity of writing ability to carry it off. The plain truth is that Rowling&#39s writing, whilst definitely far from atrocious, is simply not that good. I find it bland, unexciting and, well, simply functional. Not that there&#39s anything wrong with that - but no one sentence will ever jump out as you read and strike one as being worthy of remembrance. Perhaps the most annoying thing about the whole HP mania is that anyone who dares even suggest that Rowling may not be the demi-goddess everyone takes her for, is met with the accusation of jealousy.

Lucie Simone

You know, I&#39m not really a fan of the Harry Potter series. I think JK Rowling is definitely imaginative, but I found her writing lacking. After I read the first book, I decided I&#39d just watch the films rather than trudge through her books. And I just saw the latest Harry Potter flick this past weekend. I found it dull, and I found myself thinking, when is this over? Maybe I&#39m just not into kid fantasy stuff.