Dumbledore

The Life and Lies of Hogwarts's Renowned Headmaster: An Unofficial Exploration

By: Irvin Khaytman

Narrated by: Richard Trinder

Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins

Publisher's summary

A brilliant investigation into the motivations and methods behind the actions of Hogwarts's renowned Headmaster!

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, is one of the most recognizable and mysterious figures in the Harry Potter series. As an unscrupulous beetle-like journalist once said, he's "a biographer's dream." Is he omniscient or limited? Is he benevolent or malevolent? What really drove him in the last years of an extraordinary life?

Dumbledore dives between the lines of the Harry Potter books to create a portrait of the controversial Headmaster. We find Dumbledore's hand in every seeming coincidence and consider the impossible decisions he had to make. This in-depth examination from author Irvin Khaytman casts the events of the Harry Potter series in a whole new light, resolving fans' questions that linger to this day.

©2021 Irvin Khaytman (P)2023 Tantor

Dumbledore deep dive for potter nerds

My wife and I have been falling asleep to HP for 15 years now (Jim Dale of course). I expect we’ve listened to them all as many times as the author has read them. Yet this offered new insights, and ideas.
Certainly worth the $5 if you’re a potter fan looking for a fun, quick listen.
The footnote web addresses being read aloud is annoying, but by the end I was actually laughing at them more than anything. It’s a very random 15 seconds every time. Irksome, yes -but brief.

In-depth

I liked how far down the rabbit hole others have gotten about this series. I hope to find more like this l.

Footnotes annoy

I love Harry Potter so of course I liked this book. I recommend to anybody to put up with mediocre narration and super annoying footnotes read about throughout the book. They are entirely distracting and nearly ruined the experience…for me, at least. Maybe they are required in this time of text or maybe it’s a choice by the author but having footnotes present at the bottom of the page on a book is a lot different than being forced to listen to them as they are read aloud character by character.

What a delight

It was genuinely lovely to be back in the wizarding world. What a great story. It reads like a documentary &was so fun to listen to!

Jubilant, ecstatic, triumphant… A wonderful, wonderful thing had happened…

That was basically my reaction when I found out this book was coming to audible. Khaytman’s book in regards to the enigmatic Dumbledore is by far one of my favorite “Wizarding World” analysis books (I also own the hardcover as well as the e-book 🤓

Irvin’s book is a most illuminating and intriguing book. I have high respect and admiration for all the work that he (and countless other Harry Potter scholars) did. While using the flat side of a silver dagger, they crush the words of the book and release all the juicy details that Jo had put into these books.

This book is also quite funny at some parts too. I don’t want to spoil anything, but one that always gets me to giggle is a mention of “Dumbledore dangling a carrot in front of Voldemort’s nonexistent nose.” 😌

I’ll leave this review by just saying that if you love Harry Potter and/or psychology/character analysis; you will most enjoy this book…. Especially since Augustus Rookwood will be reading it to you 😉

The theories are a real stretch

The author starts the book by saying he doesn't believe that Dumbledore was omniscient but then spends the rest of the book stretching his theories into convoluted ramblings that rely on the idea that Dumbledore is so smart that he figures everything out or that he is using legilimency or that he is using the deluminator to spy on everyone's conversations. I found many of his theories extremely improbable. I don't think the book was worth the price. I also agree with other reviewers that the reading of the footnotes was extremely irritating but this isn't the performer's fault.

Entertaining, insightful, but oh so many footnotes

I really enjoyed this Dumbledore analysis. I've listened to Lorrie Kim's "Snape" many times and while this book was in a similar format, I appreciate that Khaytman sticks more to canon in his Dumbledore analysis than Kim does in her book. Many theories are dissected and compared in "Dumbledore", from insightful to outlandish, and Khaytman presents each topic from multiple angles. He has a deep knowledge of the HP universe and Rowling's writing style, and uses this as a guide for separating theories that are well-shored by evidence from those that are grasping at straws.

This book is insanely well-researched and cited. Unfortunately this also means there are footnotes everywhere, which are almost all URL references to fan essays, articles, and interviews. The narrator CONSTANTLY reading "Footnote: www dot website dot com dash a dash url dash to dash an dash article dash that dash has dash a dash fifty dash word dash title" was really distracting to me and started to drive me crazy toward the end of the book. Otherwise, a great listen that I'm sure I'll go back to several times to fully digest. But maybe in print form next time...

Engrossing!

Very thoughtful, and really helped me to grapple with my own concerns after reading the series. Great!

Fabulous analysis of Dumbledore; every fan should read it

This book was riveting. I was so sad when it was over. I never get tired of delving more into JKR’s fabulous tales and the extremely complex characters. Dumbledore-as-Death was my favorite theory. The only thing keeping this from being just a blanket of five stars is the author reading out those damn footnotes. “…backslash Harry dash Potter dash the dash youngest dash seeker dash in dash a dash century backslash backslash theories dot book underscore one…” I mean, some things are better left unread.

The Plus and Minus of a Collaborative Approach

I loved all of the information and insight the author provides. However, when the author sites another work and says that they’re not going to go into it because somebody else already did a great job then provides the reference, and the reference no longer exist, that’s really frustrating.