Title: The Problem With Cupboards
Author: Opalish
Rating: T
Genre: Drama, Angst
DLP Category: General Fics
Pairing: none
Summary: As far as I can tell, the main problem with growing up in a cupboard is that it gets you used to living in a cage. Harry's POV. One-shot.
Link: Click Here

The story was very powerful and emotional. You can't help but feel sorry for Harry. I especially like what the author did with the last paragraph. 5/5

 

I've always liked this piece, and I've wanted to find a good 'Harry turns his back on the Wiz World' fic with a decent length that doesn't have him wallowing in self pity. No real luck on that, so maybe it's a good thing that the author made this short.

He makes some good observations and it sounds dramatic without being over the top. He's not 'woe-is-me', but just wants to get away. I'll give it a 5, though I really wish it had more.

 

Hm, another opalish one-shot. A little too angsty for my tastes. It definitely feels like Harry's really given up. It really wouldn't be out of place in many indy!Harry fics, it's a bit generic. Surprisingly poignant, though. Also extremely short. <1k words fics have trouble getting into the Library.

I surprise myself by giving this a 3/5.

 

I am not a fan of abusive!Dursleys and text in italics. It is not bad but also nothing special, at least for me - 2/5.

PS: Alexx, you may also vote.

 

This fic actually impressed me more than I expected it to. It's angsty, yes, and not exactly groundbreaking either, but it was competently done to an extent that your average indy!Harry could never hope to manage. It's a new take on the Dursleys, which is an accomplishment all its own considering how done to death that conundrum is. It's really short, though, so I'd give it a 3.5/5, rounded up because I like pleasant surprises.

 

This little snippet is full of feeling and makes you understand the character, but it doesn't make you feel any respect for this Harry nor does it really give any philosophical insight real life or wizardling life--something the writer seemed to be trying to do.

It might work really well within a larger work, but on its own it isn't exceptional.

3/5

 

Wow...this brings back memories. I re-read it and it's still pretty good for what it is.

I'll rate it 3.5/4, rounded up to 4/5 because of slight nostalgia.

 

I normally think that wangsting is a deadly sin of HP fanfic, but although this has a not little amount of it, it as a pretty good thing. The letter. Format is what I liked most, as a plot framing device, I liked it much. Just because of it, a 4/5.

 

The ending is nice but as a short one-shot it doesn't pack enough of an emotional punch to be library-worthy in my mind. Perhaps it's old enough to be a classic, but I've never read it before, so it doesn't feel very groundbreaking to me.

 

Definitely not my cup of tea. It seems a bit over the top, even for what it is supposed to be.
And no matter what the story is supposed to be, for it to be entirely on italics and this short is not good.
I'll give it a 2/5 for not being terrible and being decent mechanically, but anything more than that would be stretching it.

 

It's far too angsty and generic. nothing new, original, or groundbreaking, and it feels like it just a summary of a dozen fics I've read before. It's both short and presents no new ideas. 2/5-1 for italics=1/5.

 

seems overly angsty but decent fic overall. 4/5

 

I'm reluctant to vote on this, but not because of the length - because I remember reading something eerily similar in a different story, a longer one. It might not be a carbon copy - heck, only a couple of lines might match, and people still have similar ideas, inventing things at similar times.

Still, this one-shot lacks everything else around it. It feels like a cut-out from an indy!Harry story, and not an emotional stand-alone story. It's a quote, and not a independent work.

That's why, even if the scene might be a 2.5, I'm not sure I should give it that.

 

This story is really too short to properly enjoy; as others have said, it lacks the length to be compelling, and is more or less just a typical indy!Harry story condensed into less than eight-hundred words.

It was posted over eight years ago, and if it was posted this year it would probably be laughed at for Harry being overly-emotional, but its age likely allows it to get away with that.

For me, it seems completely out-of-character for a loyal and courageous person to just up and leave with a letter, but then again, if he actually tried to say this face to face with Dumbledore... well, who knows what would happen in that scenario? I doubt he'd be allowed to leave, and he'd probably be under a watchful eye (likely Moody's).

I won't leave a vote, because it's too short to like and too short to dislike. If anything, I'd give a 2.5/5 for being kind of average.

 

I'm disappointed with how high a rating some people are giving this. Seriously, you don't have to give a 4 to every independent Harry story out there. I know DLP loves that genre, but there are far better stories in that genre than this.This story has fewer than 800 words, and presents literally no new ideas. Give it the 1 it deserves and be done with it.

 

Review

Hmm.
After reading the story and the above comments I shall add my piece.

Pros:
Excellent narrative
No glaring spelling or grammar errors (i.e. I noticed none)
Good formatting (the letter style works well for this piece).
Good chracter study
Poking holes in Rowling's world (I love fics which point out her glaring plot holes or the gaps greatly twist characters, this story does both).

Cons:
No new ideas (It is a bit of re-hash of the indy!Harry genre )
Angsty (not to the point of sickening but it is the main drive of the fic, to angst).
Short
Ending is very sudden

The letter format works really well for this fic and it is well written. It is very short and doesn't offer us any new insights in to Harry as a character or provide a long gripping adventure. But it is what it is, a short piece describing the continual caging of Harry as a character by the powers that be in a well thought out manner without over-dramatizing.

I give this a 3/5.

 

It's just too short. There's not enough between the lines either, which can make up for a very short story. I like it well enough for what it is, but it's recycle-bin territory for me. 3/5

Thinking about it more deeply though - how does one deal with angst? I get that we don't like it in a story when a protagonist whines, but angst must happen for certain situations and certain characters. You feel powerless and emotional, and then you start to blame others, to try and protect yourself from failure or other negative emotions. This is a natural thing many people go through.

The important thing is for a story not to wallow in the angst and to move forward, but it has to happen first. The story here does that fairly well - you could almost start a larger story from here, and have Harry move forward from his angst and into a stronger character. I'd say this is a good model for that.

Unless of course, as authors, we shouldn't try to deal with angst and just have our characters deal with issues in any other way possible? It's certainly a challenge to do that believably, or at least, I tend to fall back on the angst angle because it seems realer to me.

 

Didn't realize it was posted that long ago. If it was put up for review back then, it probably would of been an easy 4/5 or 5/5 considering some of the shit we got in the library from back then.

But now? Interesting piece sure, but to short like people have said and nothing special. I'll give it a 3/5, considering its age its actually really good, but not good enough for the library.

 

I got practically nothing out of this. I can say the writing was good but I didn't feel very touched or moved. It just felt like an author's need to vent something bitter.

I'm also extremely biased against very short snippets. I don't feel that something you could write in fifteen minutes deserves to sit beside something that took days or even months of someone's time. (Well. Unless those days or months were spent on crap. But DLP filters those out so no worries.)

From a critical standpoint, its interesting but dry. Drydrydry. It could be summarized by Harry handing Dumbledore a letter that says "Fuck This."

2.5/5 - Better than crap but I took very little pleasure in reading it.