Oooh look, a Harry Potter post!

[alexsarll]

So, Harry Potter is finished. As of tonight, Rome will be too. Next week, Hyde. The Shield and The Wire both have their final seasons in production, there are no comics I'm particularly anxious to see concluded at present...I suppose that just leaves A Song of Ice and Fire. So if the world is ending (and with the weather this past week, who hasn't at least suspected as much for a moment?) then at least we won't go out missing many conclusions.
The Deathly Hallows was, above all, the book it needed to be. I've no idea why we all fell so readily for the 'two deaths' line - I thought that seemed rather safe for a book which would need to be so dark, and was at once shocked and pleased when that number was exceeded before we even reached the Burrow, ie, where the jacket blurb *starts*. Perhaps the misdirection was to make sure we felt the fitting sense of 'this can't be happening...' Perhaps it was just artists realising that their craft of noble lies extends to the advance publicity, as with the misdirection in recent comic solicitations, as I'm still praying the Catherine Tate news from Doctor Who was. And from then on, what could have turned into a rather generic quest for the plot tokens was saved, surprisingly, by its delays. Enforced domesticity at the Weasleys', directionless meandering around Britain...these are teenagers thrown in at the deep end, not the standard heroic types. I liked that. The other solace in among the carnage, the fascism and despair being, of course, that there was no sodding Quidditch. I'm sure a generation of children have been traumatised by this book. And given how the fanfiction mob reacted when their darling Sirius died, I'm sure they're already after Rowling with torches and pitchforks by now. But hey, at least all that business about mastering other wizards and through them their wands will placate a few of them with its 'story' possibilities...
Oh yeah, and Dumbledore winning the Second World War? Awesome.
And I was right about Harry being a Horcrux, if not about what that meant for him. My one question - how did Neville get the sword?
As for the usual carping about Rowling's writing - no, she is not a crafter of deathless prose. There's not a line in the book I feel any urge to quote, for instance. But while I was reading it, I felt like I was there. And storytelling is as noble a craft as wordsmithery.

Comments

[polly-vinyl.livejournal.com]

Neville pulled the sword out of the sorting hat, as Harry did in Chamber of Secrets.
I enjoyed the book for the most part, apart from the last chapter, which after all the death and destruction seemed a bit of a lame 'And they all lived happily every after' just to placate all the younger readers.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Oh, I don't know - once the war's won, I think we'd all suffered enough that we deserved to see the reconstruction. Though part of me was expecting Draco to be headmaster after a Dumbledore-style repentance, which would have been a step too far.

I guess I assumed that once the sword was back with the goblins, given their feelings on property &c, they'd stop it hopping back to play with wizards all the time.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

Also I thought 19 years was a decent enough interval for things to have sorted themselves out - much better that than cutting to assorted weddings, births etc.

I enjoyed it - the Gringotts sequence was a bit too obviously for the films, but any pacing flaws in the middle were redeemed by the last few chapters - it's the psychic train station that'll linger in kids' minds after all the who-has-what-want plotwork has faded, I think.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

who-has-what-wand, I mean.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Agreed. But then, I've remembered all of them as impressions and images rather than constructs - so I knew from the last book that Harry was a Horcrux, but when asked why I knew this, couldn't for the life of me remember the detail.

I was worried thst the ending would be a bit LotR let's-end-this-17-times, so that was good avoidance work there, yes. But as regards the films - I thought there were several bits which seemed designed to screw the studio, like all the key scenes with Harry not looking like Harry. And how much is the CGI going to cost on the Battle of Hogwarts?

[perfectlyvague.livejournal.com]

I told you Harry was a Horcrux!

[baphomette.livejournal.com]

I quite liked the inclusion of the "nineteen years" later bit, although not the contents of it - I was rather hoping she intended that as a "no, this is what happened, I'm telling you now so you realise there won't be any more books".

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

What was wrong with the contents? But agreed about the value of precluding any sequels - though I bet there's already a book trade cabal working out how to get her to write about Albus and Scorpius' schoolyard scrapes...

[baphomette.livejournal.com]

It wasn't so much that I disagreed with what she wrote for them, I was just prepared to imagine their happy ever after lives myself. Having it written out instead takes away the freedom of immagination (and I'm haughty enough to think my immagination is far better).

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I think the brevity helped make sure there was enough leeway left - we got a glimpse, but no more. There are plenty of people unaccounted for, and even with those we see, we don't know jobs or homes or well, anything much beyond the outline family dynamics.

[giro-playgirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I was pleased by that too. Although it was pretty obvious who would get together with who. Was also pleased to see the inclusion of a rather tasty amount of swearing this time.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it was obvious but to have swerved that for the sake of a twist would have been really weak. Which said, part of me's worrying about them settling down for life in their first serious relationships...maybe it's different for wizards?

[baphomette.livejournal.com]

It does seem to be; the Longbottom and Potter parents both met at school, didn't they?

The again, it could be due to "we went through this huge momentous thing together, who else is ever going to understand us this well"...

[dreamingofme.livejournal.com]

That's what I was going to say, ah it's great to be a cynic..

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Man, it was ace. Many points for NO SODDING QUIDDITCH, yes. And Fred! Is Dead! George lost! Part of his head! O noes. I loved it. No, she's not an outstanding wordsmith but DAMN can the woman tell a story! And I love the no-one being completely whiter than white or utterly evil apart from Moldybutt, hurrah for moral grey areas in children's fiction!

[exliontamer.livejournal.com]

Yes, the morally uncertain characters are my favourite part of the Potter story, though I just couldn't get into the books.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

You've got plenty to look forward to in the films, then!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

And even then, she'd made enough of his awful upbringing in the last book that he wasn't just Evil-because-he-is-Evil. I did think rounding out the Dursleys was maybe a stretch too far, though...

It was Remus and Tonks who really got me. And Moody, in a strange way.

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

TONKS! :(

*goes off to cry again*

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Poor Tonks, I was so sad about that. Lupin I sort of expected, but not her!

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

I had guessed the horcrux and also that Dumbledore had arranged it with Snape for him to kill him, but wow it was all amazing.

I was really really sad for Tonks and Lupin, sniff! More than for any of the other deaths...

I don't care it is a kids book, and the wrting is simple, goodness this is one heck of a story!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

I suspected that Snape was in sufficiently deep cover that Dumbledore's death was an allowable possibility, but didn't realise it had been specifically arranged. Though I liked that the plan didn't go entirely to plan; as with the childhood stuff, it helped turn Dumbledore into a much fuller character.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

I figured that it had been arranged but I thought it would be a full-on Sacrifice For The Greater Good rather than 'oh sh*t I'm going to die anyway, oh well we can make use of this', which I preferred. I thought through almost all of the book that I'd been wrong though, good save, JK! I also was convinced that Harry=Horcrux was stated in the last book, like, but apparently not.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Well, that's it - I was sure of it in such a way that I assumed it had been pretty much stated, but even people re-reading the book were all 'Huh?' at me, so it must have been the sort of thing some register more easily than others. And hey, he seemed pretty surprised by the news himself...

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

By leaving the explanation so late she had actually pretty much managed to convince me that he WAS a bad 'un, so kudos to her for that.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

The plotting in general was very well-done; I think not having to fit everything around the school year template freed her up from the scene of some past mistakes/bad habits.

[tiny-tear.livejournal.com]

yes, it was good to see Dumbledore wasn't perfect

[pippaalice.livejournal.com]

But I said to you that I reckoned that D was already dying. So ner! You should ALWAYS listen to me!

I cried and cried and cried about Fred and Tonks. ALEX I LOVE TONKS! :( And her Dad...god it was all so dreadful. I really thought Ginny would go at one point, I was really scared. :(

Kittens survived it though, HURRAH!

Also I am glad Snape was proved to be a good guy after all, after the last book I was devistated about his betrayal.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Yes, I was quite worried that something might happen to one of your kittings and then that would be very sad!!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Good but also a bit of a stalky git, rather than totally redeemed, which I thought worked wonderfully.

[fivelongdays.livejournal.com]

It was good stuff, and the Battle of Hogwarts was ace. I even liked the epilogue, as it meant we could all go "aaww" at it.

It'd be nice to know who became Head at Hogwarts, though.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

McGonagall for at least a while, surely?

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

My main query, come to think of it - you would have thought after that lot they'd have learned their lesson and dissolved Slytherin.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

At least Slytherin allows the bad seeds to be Kept An Eye On...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Yeah, 'cos that worked so well the last two times...

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

Well, ok, at least Slytherin allows people to go 'see? I always KNEW he was a bad 'un!' Anyway, imagine if you were in any other house and you had to have tossrags like Malfoy in all your lessons...

Oh, yes, also I was glad that Draco was neither fully redeemed nor excitingly and impressively evil, but was just, you know, a tossy little shit with delusions of importance...

[fivelongdays.livejournal.com]

"Draco was neither fully redeemed nor excitingly and impressively evil, but was just, you know, a tossy little shit with delusions of importance"

That. Was. Fucking. Brilliant.

[fivelongdays.livejournal.com]

There's probably something to do with Magical Forgiveness or something.

There's not a line in the book I feel any urge to quote, for instance.

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

I was rather fond of:

'Of course it is happening in your head, BHarry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?'

Re: There's not a line in the book I feel any urge to quote, for instance.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Mmmmm, it's neither massively original nor the best phrasing I've ever seen of the idea - but as with the rest, it worked brilliantly in context and made me cry.

[baphomette.livejournal.com]

and made me cry

Girl.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

What of it?

[puzzled-anwen.livejournal.com]

JKR: Bigger than the Beatles. Hurray!

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Is she bigger than Star Wars? That's the only rival I can think of recently.

I don't think we'll see anything of the same order for a generation, but - assuming of course that we last that long - I would expect something of the same order around then. I think the real beauty with Potter is how much it's one rather surprising person's vision, and how utterly unyielding she's been in defence of that.

Also - it's surprising, and very cheering, to hear such sentiments from a non-reader of the books. Many seem to feel the need to get defensive. Though I suppose there are precedents for non-readers of remarkably popular books getting a hard time from the faithful...

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Surely they had their turn at the birth, with the Golden Age but especially Superman?

The obvious choice for the next one would be the first computer game to achieve the status of art, something which the medium is clearly advancing uncertainly toward, but has yet to fully reach.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

Whereas now I'm just wondering whether we can get McCartney and Ringo out to formally surrender to Rowling...