My concern is those adults who style themselves Harry Potter fans - supposed grown-ups who waited for the latest release with all the decorum of a drunk cheerleader trying to earn a place on Big Brother. These people are not seeking relief from life - they are denying life itself, excusing themselves from the ordinary business of being an adult and the complexities thereof.

To some large extent, the adult fandom seems devoted to projecting -- or simply adding -- the difficulty and complexity of the real world onto Rowling's books. Ironic, then, that these "cowardly escapists" can't escape it even when they try.