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After All, a Spoiler Filled HP Post
So, er, this ended up really long. ;) Sorry!!
I've been reading a lot of what my friends have had to say about HP7, and it's funny, because every time they see the things they thought were cool, I go ahead and think, "yeah, that was another one of the things I liked about this book!"
J.K. Rowling is not a brilliant writer. No one with half a brain has suffered from the delusion that she is, and I definitely agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
akashiver's comment about editing, or rather the shameful lack of it. However, what she is a story teller, and, I think, a damned good one.
No one yet has commented on the moment that stuck with me the most in the 7th book. The battle of Hogwarts is in lapse, and Harry has returned to the castle from the Shrieking Shack. He enters the Great Hall, and he sees Fred - who he knew had died - with the Weasley's surrounding him. And then he sees Lupin and Tonks. In that moment, I couldn't help myself, I just started to sob. The older generation has always interested me more, and it meant so much to me to know that at least one of the Marauder's had managed to find actual, sincere happiness. James without us ever getting to know him at all (we still don't know him, really), Sirius died all of a sudden - it was like having my heart ripped out even though I knew it was coming, Wormtail died because of his lingering doubts and his inability to kill a boy who had once spared his life, but Lupin had made it so far, the last sentinel of his friends. I had thought that, after Sirius had died, Rowling couldn't really hurt me any more, but when Lupin died I knew that I had been wrong - indeed, on Saturday I went out to lunch with friends, none of whom had read it yet, and one was talking about Lupin, and I almost had to excuse myself from the table because it upset me so badly and I didn't want them to see me upset for fear of spoiling things for them.
Yet just killing Lupin, just making me care, is not what I feel that Rowling did right. Harry comes in and sees them, and he feels all the sadness that I felt, and then he pushes it away. He doesn't have time to mourn yet. And, as I was reflecting on the book, I realized I did exactly the same thing, as I was crying, as I was reading, I forced myself to push the tears away. I remember thinking, distinctly, "I can't cry about this now, there's still so much more that has to be done." It blows my mind that I was enough into this book that, in a strange - and undeniably muted - way, I went through exactly the same thing Harry did at that moment. And that level of sympathizing with a character? That's storytelling at it's best.
Over all, I was very happy with the book. I have some individual things that disappointed me, but given the expectations we all had going in, it would have been utterly impossible for everyone to get what they wanted out of the end of this book. For me, I wished that Ginny got more screen time, that's my big one. Draco also got kind of shafted. And I wish that we'd gotten to see Umbridge bite it big time on screen.
However, there was so much that made me pleased. I was proud of myself for living up to my own statement of "I don't expect Sirius back," because, of course, he's not back, and I never really thought he would be. I didn't trust myself not to get upset about this ANYWAY, but no, I was okay with it. That said, the last moment that reduced me to tears was when Harry donned the ring, and Sirius was there. I couldn't help it, I just started to cry. Even a few more minutes was enough to please me to end it.
I was VERY glad that both Ron and Neville got the chance to be "true Gryffindor's" by drawing Goderic's sword. Ron's storming off left a bit of a bad taste in mouth, but the manner of his return made up for it, I was glad that he really truly did the right thing, and his ability to take the sword with courage and fortitude proved it. And he got to destroy the locket. Meanwhile, Neville becoming the leader of the Hogwart's resistance just rocked. He grew into his own - in that moment, we got a glimpse of the fact that even if Voldemort had selected Neville instead of Harry, the wizarding world would not have been doomed, Neville could and did stand up to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named just as effectively as Harry did. I think, at this point, that he is the character who was granted a reprieve - Rowling apparently decided not to kill someone at the last possible moment and rewrote some of the ending scenes.
I was surprised that more of the Weasley's didn't die, though not displeased. It's bad of me to say, but I would have traded Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for Lupin and Tonks - I would have mourned, but, well, the Weasley's had had the chance to LIVE in a way that neither Lupin or Tonks really did in my opinion.
I loved watching everyone do the right thing, and the wrong thing. Another moment that stuck with me, from early on, was when Harry and them find out that Scrimgeour sacrificed his life rather than tell the Death Eater's where to find Harry. We had been set up not to like him much, but in that moment the man truly won my heart.
When did I cry? I cried when Dobby died. I cried when Fred died. I cried when Lupin and Tonks died. I cried when Sirius reappeared. I feel terrible that it never occurred to me that Dobby was in danger, but I'm glad that it was vaguely made up for by Kreacher appearing and kicking ass. I wish we'd gotten to see a faint glimpse of Winky in the end, though.
Another thing that I'm kind of ambivalent about relates to Hagrid's giant spiders. In some ways, it felt like something of a betrayal of everything that Hagrid believes that the spiders attacked him. Then again, thinking about it now, it was interesting to see the counter point of Hagrid's belief that all creatures have good in them, it's just about getting to know them. On the one hand, we've got the spiders who, without Aragog there to tell them to be good to Hagrid, were truly just savage blood thirsty beasts. On the other hand, we've got Grawp wandering around risking life and limb to try to protect Hogwarts from the other giant. His loyalty ISN'T just to Hagrid, he really is a good person. Toss in to that, for example, the arrival of the centaurs, and the change in Kreacher once he is treated with kindness, and it begins to form an interesting picture. I'm not really sure where I'm going with all of this, but it's something I found interesting. (I'm trying to touch on things that I haven't really noticed any of my friends discussing but that I found interesting. ;) )
A couple of favorite moments, then - a lot of people have cited this one, I think it's going to become legendary, when Narcissa asks Harry about Draco, that was a beautiful moment. Another of my favorites I haven't been able to find again, so I'm gonna take a few minutes and track it down...AH HA! So it's the middle of the night, I'm exhausted, and then I read this:
"'And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.'
"'Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?' Harry interrupted again.
"'So he can sneak up on people,' said Ron. 'Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking.'" (p. 408)
OMG, I laughed and laughed. ;) Even now it makes me laugh.
Anyway, I can't think of much else that I really feel like touching on, so here goes on the last thing. I am glad that love didn't "conquer all" per se. The point of the characters wasn't that only the virtuous come out alright. Instead, it was about living, and the fact that sometimes even good people make mistakes, and the fact that if we love and care and try, we can atone and make up for our mistakes. Dumbledore regrets his desire to collect the Hallows and bring about a new order. Snape mourns for the love he lost. To take a step back, Sirius suffers the feeling that his best friend has died because of him. The characters who are most compelling throughout all the books are those who have felt pain and have come out stronger and braver for it. Young Sirius could not have stood up to Snape's taunts about being a coward. Young Snape would never have questioned the superiority of pure-bloods. Etc. etc. Whether it's the Malfoy's, welcome in the final wrap up of the Hogwart's battle because they were willing to put their son before their blood, or it's Mrs. Weasley standing up to Bellatrix, or it's Hagrid teaching Grawp how to be a person even if he's not a human... the books are about trying, and sometimes failing, but never giving up and never surrendering to our inner demons that try to tell us that there is an easier way. Voldemort doesn't lose because he's evil, he loses because he cannot make himself feel remorse for even an instant, he cannot conceive of saying that he was sorry, or that he has ever possibly made a single mistake.
We all fall down sometimes. It's how we get back up that shows what kind of people we are.
After I finished the 7th book, for a few moments, I felt like some of the magic had gone out of the world. There was a whole range of possibilities that were no longer actually possible. And then, in the next moment, I realized that there was also magic that hadn't been there before. I've come a long way from being the child who wished that she could be that girl sucked in to another a world, a long way from being so unhappy with this life that I would have gladly started afresh in a land of magic. For a long time now, I've been content and happy to live in this world surrounded by the people I care about. What has Rowling given me? The glimmer of a smile at the thought of how I would laugh if my as-yet-unborn child received a letter by owl around their 11th birthday. She's taken away some magic, but she's also added a whole lot. If I ever meet her, all I'll say is thank you.
I've been reading a lot of what my friends have had to say about HP7, and it's funny, because every time they see the things they thought were cool, I go ahead and think, "yeah, that was another one of the things I liked about this book!"
J.K. Rowling is not a brilliant writer. No one with half a brain has suffered from the delusion that she is, and I definitely agree with
akashiver's comment about editing, or rather the shameful lack of it. However, what she is a story teller, and, I think, a damned good one.No one yet has commented on the moment that stuck with me the most in the 7th book. The battle of Hogwarts is in lapse, and Harry has returned to the castle from the Shrieking Shack. He enters the Great Hall, and he sees Fred - who he knew had died - with the Weasley's surrounding him. And then he sees Lupin and Tonks. In that moment, I couldn't help myself, I just started to sob. The older generation has always interested me more, and it meant so much to me to know that at least one of the Marauder's had managed to find actual, sincere happiness. James without us ever getting to know him at all (we still don't know him, really), Sirius died all of a sudden - it was like having my heart ripped out even though I knew it was coming, Wormtail died because of his lingering doubts and his inability to kill a boy who had once spared his life, but Lupin had made it so far, the last sentinel of his friends. I had thought that, after Sirius had died, Rowling couldn't really hurt me any more, but when Lupin died I knew that I had been wrong - indeed, on Saturday I went out to lunch with friends, none of whom had read it yet, and one was talking about Lupin, and I almost had to excuse myself from the table because it upset me so badly and I didn't want them to see me upset for fear of spoiling things for them.
Yet just killing Lupin, just making me care, is not what I feel that Rowling did right. Harry comes in and sees them, and he feels all the sadness that I felt, and then he pushes it away. He doesn't have time to mourn yet. And, as I was reflecting on the book, I realized I did exactly the same thing, as I was crying, as I was reading, I forced myself to push the tears away. I remember thinking, distinctly, "I can't cry about this now, there's still so much more that has to be done." It blows my mind that I was enough into this book that, in a strange - and undeniably muted - way, I went through exactly the same thing Harry did at that moment. And that level of sympathizing with a character? That's storytelling at it's best.
Over all, I was very happy with the book. I have some individual things that disappointed me, but given the expectations we all had going in, it would have been utterly impossible for everyone to get what they wanted out of the end of this book. For me, I wished that Ginny got more screen time, that's my big one. Draco also got kind of shafted. And I wish that we'd gotten to see Umbridge bite it big time on screen.
However, there was so much that made me pleased. I was proud of myself for living up to my own statement of "I don't expect Sirius back," because, of course, he's not back, and I never really thought he would be. I didn't trust myself not to get upset about this ANYWAY, but no, I was okay with it. That said, the last moment that reduced me to tears was when Harry donned the ring, and Sirius was there. I couldn't help it, I just started to cry. Even a few more minutes was enough to please me to end it.
I was VERY glad that both Ron and Neville got the chance to be "true Gryffindor's" by drawing Goderic's sword. Ron's storming off left a bit of a bad taste in mouth, but the manner of his return made up for it, I was glad that he really truly did the right thing, and his ability to take the sword with courage and fortitude proved it. And he got to destroy the locket. Meanwhile, Neville becoming the leader of the Hogwart's resistance just rocked. He grew into his own - in that moment, we got a glimpse of the fact that even if Voldemort had selected Neville instead of Harry, the wizarding world would not have been doomed, Neville could and did stand up to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named just as effectively as Harry did. I think, at this point, that he is the character who was granted a reprieve - Rowling apparently decided not to kill someone at the last possible moment and rewrote some of the ending scenes.
I was surprised that more of the Weasley's didn't die, though not displeased. It's bad of me to say, but I would have traded Mr. and Mrs. Weasley for Lupin and Tonks - I would have mourned, but, well, the Weasley's had had the chance to LIVE in a way that neither Lupin or Tonks really did in my opinion.
I loved watching everyone do the right thing, and the wrong thing. Another moment that stuck with me, from early on, was when Harry and them find out that Scrimgeour sacrificed his life rather than tell the Death Eater's where to find Harry. We had been set up not to like him much, but in that moment the man truly won my heart.
When did I cry? I cried when Dobby died. I cried when Fred died. I cried when Lupin and Tonks died. I cried when Sirius reappeared. I feel terrible that it never occurred to me that Dobby was in danger, but I'm glad that it was vaguely made up for by Kreacher appearing and kicking ass. I wish we'd gotten to see a faint glimpse of Winky in the end, though.
Another thing that I'm kind of ambivalent about relates to Hagrid's giant spiders. In some ways, it felt like something of a betrayal of everything that Hagrid believes that the spiders attacked him. Then again, thinking about it now, it was interesting to see the counter point of Hagrid's belief that all creatures have good in them, it's just about getting to know them. On the one hand, we've got the spiders who, without Aragog there to tell them to be good to Hagrid, were truly just savage blood thirsty beasts. On the other hand, we've got Grawp wandering around risking life and limb to try to protect Hogwarts from the other giant. His loyalty ISN'T just to Hagrid, he really is a good person. Toss in to that, for example, the arrival of the centaurs, and the change in Kreacher once he is treated with kindness, and it begins to form an interesting picture. I'm not really sure where I'm going with all of this, but it's something I found interesting. (I'm trying to touch on things that I haven't really noticed any of my friends discussing but that I found interesting. ;) )
A couple of favorite moments, then - a lot of people have cited this one, I think it's going to become legendary, when Narcissa asks Harry about Draco, that was a beautiful moment. Another of my favorites I haven't been able to find again, so I'm gonna take a few minutes and track it down...AH HA! So it's the middle of the night, I'm exhausted, and then I read this:
"'And then Death asked the third and youngest brother what he would like. The youngest brother was the humblest and also the wisest of the brothers, and he did not trust Death. So he asked for something that would enable him to go forth from that place without being followed by Death. And Death, most unwillingly, handed over his own Cloak of Invisibility.'
"'Death's got an Invisibility Cloak?' Harry interrupted again.
"'So he can sneak up on people,' said Ron. 'Sometimes he gets bored of running at them, flapping his arms and shrieking.'" (p. 408)
OMG, I laughed and laughed. ;) Even now it makes me laugh.
Anyway, I can't think of much else that I really feel like touching on, so here goes on the last thing. I am glad that love didn't "conquer all" per se. The point of the characters wasn't that only the virtuous come out alright. Instead, it was about living, and the fact that sometimes even good people make mistakes, and the fact that if we love and care and try, we can atone and make up for our mistakes. Dumbledore regrets his desire to collect the Hallows and bring about a new order. Snape mourns for the love he lost. To take a step back, Sirius suffers the feeling that his best friend has died because of him. The characters who are most compelling throughout all the books are those who have felt pain and have come out stronger and braver for it. Young Sirius could not have stood up to Snape's taunts about being a coward. Young Snape would never have questioned the superiority of pure-bloods. Etc. etc. Whether it's the Malfoy's, welcome in the final wrap up of the Hogwart's battle because they were willing to put their son before their blood, or it's Mrs. Weasley standing up to Bellatrix, or it's Hagrid teaching Grawp how to be a person even if he's not a human... the books are about trying, and sometimes failing, but never giving up and never surrendering to our inner demons that try to tell us that there is an easier way. Voldemort doesn't lose because he's evil, he loses because he cannot make himself feel remorse for even an instant, he cannot conceive of saying that he was sorry, or that he has ever possibly made a single mistake.
We all fall down sometimes. It's how we get back up that shows what kind of people we are.
After I finished the 7th book, for a few moments, I felt like some of the magic had gone out of the world. There was a whole range of possibilities that were no longer actually possible. And then, in the next moment, I realized that there was also magic that hadn't been there before. I've come a long way from being the child who wished that she could be that girl sucked in to another a world, a long way from being so unhappy with this life that I would have gladly started afresh in a land of magic. For a long time now, I've been content and happy to live in this world surrounded by the people I care about. What has Rowling given me? The glimmer of a smile at the thought of how I would laugh if my as-yet-unborn child received a letter by owl around their 11th birthday. She's taken away some magic, but she's also added a whole lot. If I ever meet her, all I'll say is thank you.
no subject
no subject
There is a good chance that Rowling will publish a Harry Potter encyclopedia sometime in the future which should give more answers as to what everyone did after the war. Found it in this article here. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/19935372/
It also tell us who got the reprieve from death.
no subject
She shoulda killed Mr. Weasley and left Lupin. :(