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Barry Trotter And The Unnecessary Sequel by Michael Gerber
01/03/2004 . Source: Sue Davies 
pub: Gollancz. 328 page small hardback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-07558-9. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
Not normally one for parodies but I wanted to see whether this managed to successfully take the mickey out of the Potter phenomenon. I didn't have high hopes of a coherent story and, of course, that's the whole point here.
Cheap plot contrivances are the unashamed order of the day. This book is recognisably in a magic universe originally created by - ahem - Ms Rowling. Instead of an 11-year-old boy, we have Barry Trotter, a 37-year-old with the brain of an 11-year-old.
He has a wife called Ermine and a son called Nigel. Nigel is due to start at Hogwash School for Wizardry and Witchcrap very shortly.
Unfortunately, despite coming from a superior magical family, Nigel is not magical at all. He is quite frankly crap and is more than a little disconcerted by the prospect of a school for magic.
He would prefer to go to a Muddle School and become a holistic dentist like his maternal grandparents. Barry and Ermine accompany him to school but are unexpectedly called into service as joint Heads when the Headmister, Dorco Malfeasance, dies. Being magical, of course, he doesn't just die, he hangs around and haunts the place.
Further mayhem ensues when it is discovered that Barry has been cursed by a spell that makes him younger and younger as the days pass. As Barry reverts to his juvenile self, nobody can tell the difference. Of course, he helps Nigel 'settle in'. One of his major achievements seems to making Quiddit a more vicious game than the original.
Michael Gerber has produced a nicely paced and funny book that picks up the background of the Harry Potter novels turning them in on to themselves in a malevolent and twisted way. Thus the boat ride for the First Years is not a pleasant experience, in this scenario several are drowned.
At Hogwash, the moving staircases often trap unwary Muddle visitors and a game of Quiddit results in multiple deaths and the odd exploding student. Unpleasant things happen to a great many people in this book and, as a result, this has become a popular book with the young readers of the original despite being displayed in the adult section of the book shop.
That turns the tables on Harry Potter being read by adults I guess. On a parental warning note, there are one or two references to sex but far less than make it worth buying. This is a sequel and yes, it is quite unnecessary but when did that stop anyone.
It's an amiable read and occasionally quite funny. Useful as a reminder that despite everything that might be said or wrote, the boy Potter really is quite exceptional.
Sue Davies
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