This is the SPOILERS discussion thread for the GWC Harry Potter Book Club installment #2: HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS.
For those who have NOT READ THE BOOK OR THE SERIES BEFORE: This thread may contain spoilers for later books. There is a spoiler-free (discussion limited to books 1 and 2) thread; at some point in the future both threads will be merged.
ETA: Threads merged.
Wait, so no spoilers for future books, but spoilers for this one are OK?
This is the thread for those who don’t want to spoil themselves for the later books - it is assumed that anything about book 2 (and 1) can be discussed in this thread. If anyone has doubts or questions, let me know. 
What I remember most about this book was the suspicion that Harry and Voldemort shared similiar attributes. I found this intriguing since he was the hero. This wasn’t gonna be your typical good vs. evil tale. It reminded me of Luke’s struggle once it was revealed he was Darth Vader’s son. Dumbledore points out at the end that Harry chose Gryffindor, proving that our choices define us.
This book reveals more of the magical word but J.K. hasn’t even begun to wow us. I didn’t really like the whole Fawkes at the end bit. She put Harry in a very compromised position and then poof gets him out of it. Tidy. Sure she set it up, it wasn’t totally outta nowhere but still I liked Book One’s resolution better.
I don’t like this book. Probably my least favorite. I can’t REALLY put my finger on why though it just seems so…I dunno. The characters are really stupid in it for no reason other than the plot I guess?
Sophomore slump
I’ve heard that from others, including my wife. I’m about a third of the way through and so far it holds up well. Of course, that’s the part with the Dursleys and Lockheart’s still amusing.
You’re right about the ending though – in the movie, it’s even worse – but the diary’s an interesting villain, if that’s the correct word.
Anybody else notice that as Draco was wondering around Borgin and Burkes, the dark magic shop while his dad was off-loading some “embarrassing” items, he was warned off a cursed magical necless with black jewels. It was the same one that he tried to kill Dumbledore with in HBP.
Anyone else tickled by the twins’ reaction to the rumors that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin, to walk around in front of him like a pair of absurd lictors proclaming, “Make way for the Heir of Slytherin, seriously evil wizard coming through…”.
But in fairness, it was one of the horcruxes that Harry was going to have to destroy sooner or later. And you know how hard some of the ones he had to deal with in books 6 and 7 were!
I’ve been thinking about it and I realized that in both of the first two books, others do the heavy lifting in the final confrontation with Voldemort: Harry’s mother in the first, Falkes in the second. Being as he was 11 and 12 respectively, this is realistic. The weakness in the COS is that it wasn’t as smoothly executed and therefore more obvious.
This is still probably my least favorite of the books, but I like it a lot better than I did when I first read it. I think this is technically the first time I’ve reread (re-listened, more accurately) it since the last two books came out, and it really is more important than you’d guess at first glance. Also, it’s nice reading it in order! The summer I read the first four, CoS was constantly checked out at the library so I read it last.
And first appearance of the Vanishing Cabinet! (They get Peeves to break it as a distraction to get Harry out of Filch’s office.)
Just getting started on this one…work and landscaping around a new garage has put me behind schedule. Only about 3 chapters in but I am reading it!
I’m 3 chapters from the ending of the book and I read through much quicker than I expected, this being my least favorite of the books. I found myself enjoying this book much more than I expected. I realized that this is the firsw time that I’ve re-read this one since I read the last book. Perhaps having the entire story wrapped-up made a difference. I found myself paying greater attention to details this time.
Even Dobby, one of my least favorite characters before, got some charitable feelings from me, knowing what end he’ll come to in book 7, trying to save Harry’s life. 
Prior to this reading, Dobby was the Jar Jar Binks of the Harry Potter world in my eyes. I found him ridiculous and annoying, a bit of a pest. I was less annoyed by Kreacher, feeling that at least Kreacher seemed more realistically drawn as a character. Dobby was just too…sycophantic. Reading all 7 books really did make a difference. I don’t think I really understood Dobby or his loyalty–or Harry’s feelings about Dobby–until book 7.
I love the clever details laid in this book: the vanishing cabinet (broken in this book), Knockturn Alley and Borgin and Burkes. Not to mention the diary as horcrux, as we will eventually discover. The meeting with Aragog, who we’ll see again, albeit deceased, in book 6.
I found a lot about this book to like (if not love) this time around. I’ll finish it tonight and am really looking forward to next month’s reading of Azkaban, my fav book of the series.
Just finished the book this evening. I too enjoyed it more with this reading (probably my 3rd time) knowing about specific items that are important in later books and what eventually happens to the characters that appear in it. Lockhart was my least favorite DADA teacher…what a pompous fool. I always liked Dobby…poor little guy…at least he has a few good years of freedom ahead of him before his end.