A Sort of Intimate Empathy

Not having read the forth or the fifth book of n the Harry Potter series, it was still interesting to see that evidently the latest book is causing "Hogwarts Headaches" in its young readers.

Ian R. Williams has found the explanation: “It's no wonder these young readers have headaches: their hero gets them all the time. Human beings often share physical conditions without any visible contagion. The Couvade Syndrome, for example, is a phenomenon in which the husbands of pregnant women get morning sickness. Through a sort of intimate empathy, we shoulder the condition of our close company — just try yawning in a crowded elevator.”

His concluding bit is pretty great, and contain these lines: “parents should be happy that their children are willing to drag a three-pound book around. These young readers may be aching, but they are unbowed. They aren't reading too much — they're feeling too much, which is the miracle of fiction. Here's to the Hogwarts headache. Long may it throb.”