"It's a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up." ~j.k. rowling
This post is about Harry Potter. There are no spoilers in the main post; I just talk about the series in general. I'll write about book 7 in the comments section, so DO NOT CLICK ON THE COMMENTS SECTION IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FINAL BOOK.
Harry Potter is over. I can't quite believe it. After ten years, the story is complete. I have nothing to look forward to anymore. It's an incredibly sad, empty feeling. It didn't take me too long (less than a day) to read the last book, but I tried to savor it as I read. I was torn as I got towards the end; I wanted to know what would happen, but I didn't want it to end. And now it has.
The Harry Potter series is a phenomenon unlike anything else the literary world has seen. Its mass appeal is unprecedented. It got so many people excited about reading who ordinarily wouldn't have voluntarily picked up a book, and I think that's fantastic. It appealed to all ages as well. I know both kids and adults who couldn't wait for July 21st so they could drop everything else and read. As I was reading, I stopped to wonder how many people were reading the same book as I was at that very moment. I'm sure there were millions of us. That's such a cool feeling.
I know that future generations will continue to read the series, but it won't be the same for them as it was for those of us who read the books as they were released. For me, much of the excitement came from the anticipation. A book would be released, I would read it in a day, and would then eagerly wait for the next book to be written and published. Everyone was in the same boat, so we could speculate together and analyze the details of the books in order to make predictions. Harry Potter brought people together like no other work of fiction has, at least in my lifetime.
So thank you to J.K. Rowling for creating that magical world and allowing so many of us to escape to it.
Go on to the comments section if you want to know what I thought of book 7.
4 comments:
I just wrote about how I feel about the series in general, and obviously I have very strong positive feelings towards Harry Potter. The seventh book disappointed me, though. I liked it, I will go back and read it multiple times, but I had hoped that Rowling would take more risks. I thought it was very predictable. Usually Rowling is good at throwing twists into the story and surprising her readers, but I wasn't surprised this time. Here are some more specific issues I had:
1. Snape.
-First of all, I wanted to see more of him.
-Secondly, I think almost everyone anticipated that Snape was actually good and killed Dumbledore based on an arrangement between the two. At least I anticipated it. It was predictable.
-Thirdly, I didn't find Harry's support of Snape at the end believable. Harry hated Snape with a passion throughout the entire series. Snape was awful to him. And then, just because Snape revealed his secret support of Dumbledore at the end, Harry suddenly fell in love with him? He named his child after Snape?! There were sooo many more people who supported Harry and Dumbledore and opposed Voldemort, who died for the cause, to whom Harry could have paid tribute. I really hope his son James's middle name is Sirius, because if he named one of his children after Snape but didn't name either of them after Sirius, that's messed up. I love the character of Snape, but I just don't buy Harry's sudden complete change of opinion regarding him.
2. The epilogue.
Basically the epilogue told us that they all lived happily ever after. Harry and Ginny got married and had kids, Ron and Hermione got married and had kids. Duh! We could have figured that out without an epilogue! What about some more interesting details? I liked learning that Neville is a professor at Hogwarts, but what do the rest of the characters do for a living? What are Ron, Harry, and Hermione's jobs? What happened to Luna? Who's the headmaster of Hogwarts? It was just too sentimental and pointless.
3. Death.
I knew she wouldn't kill Harry. Especially after reading the very beginning of the book; that convinced me. She was trying to make readers think that she might kill him, but it just made me even more certain that he wouldn't die. And I'm still not sure that was the right decision. I know people have said Harry can't die because it's a children's series, but I don't think that's a good excuse. Children can handle death just as well as adults can (maybe even better, actually). Some of my favorite books as a child included the death of a main character. Rowling took the easy way out.
Not only did she not kill Harry, she didn't kill off any of the main characters (Harry, Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, Ginny...). I don't think too many readers were all that attached to Hedwig, Mad-Eye, Dobby, Fred, Lupin, or Tonks. And she just skimmed over their deaths, espcially Lupin and Tonks. Yes, I cried when some of those characters died, but I wasn't devastated.
I know it sounds strange that I wanted more important characters to die. I think it's just because I wanted to be surprised. And I wasn't. Maybe I wanted to feel more as I was reading, even if that feeling was overwhelming sadness.
4. Pacing.
I thought the pacing was a little off. She went through the end a little too quickly and spent too much time focusing on the details of their time on the run.
There were some other little things that I wasn't thrilled about, but those are the main ones.
Despite my complaints, I enjoyed the book. I laughed, I cried, and I know I will go back and read it many more times.
hey, hun --
I really liked reading your comments, and I felt the same way on numerous points you made. I'll publish my thoughts at some point... maybe later this weekend...
But here is the link to one of the HP editor's blogs, where she discusses negative responses to the Hallows and the Epilogue. I didn't have problems with the Hallows, and liked the fairy tale bit, but I did, like you, struggle with the Epilogue, which seemed, at least initially, like something cheesy that the movie folks would add, not something JKR would write.
Oh -- and I agree totally about how cool and inspiring it is that JKR got so many people to read her books. And the Victorian period thought Carroll's Wonderland shook things up!! Move on, Lewis -- JKR is taking you down!! YA lit will never really be the same -- it's just incredible.
oh! I forgot the link: http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2007/07/some-thoughts-on-deathly-hallows.html
EG passed it along when I complained a wee bit to her about the Epilogue as well... let me know what you think!
Thanks for sharing that link, Heather. I guess it does bring up some good points about the epilogue. I'm still not entirely thrilled with it, but I've come to terms with it more. :-)
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