I've used this blog to butcher my fair share of sacred cows over the years (including but not limited to Third Day, Spiderman 3, and clothing oneself in a 9/11 or Virginia Tech sweatshirt) - much to the chagrin of some of my readers. Well, you might want to prepare yourselves. I'm about to take aim at the most sacred one of all: Harry Potter. But first, a couple things to remember:
1. This entry is chock full of spoilers. I tried to write it without them, but it was pretty much impossible. So if you haven't finished the book and don't want to know, stop reading right after you see the picture of funnyman Matthew Perry. Don't say I didn't warn you.
2. This is my opinion. And I'd like to hear yours, if possible. Just don't get mad at me for what you're about to read - everyone's entitled to their take on things, after all. If it helps, just remember: I'm the guy who doesn't like Chandler Bing.
Not me.
Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert! Spoiler Alert!Scan down, just in case.
The Most Devastating Death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J.K. Rowling told her fans early on to expect two major deaths in her final book. I wonder which two she was talking about, because she certainly seemed trigger-happy to me. But while some deaths were fairly unexpected (Hedwig's), some completely unnecessary (Tonks' and Lupin's), and some utterly nonsensical (Harry's, along with his rebirth), only one was devastating to me. And that was the death of a story resembling anything that I'd come to enjoy about the other six.
Remember at the beginning of Book 4, when there's that huge long Quidditch World Cup scene before they get to Hogwarts? I remember thinking that whole time: "Get
on with it. Who cares? Get to the school." That's how I was feeling for the first 3/4 of Deathly Hallows. "Get on with it. Quit talking about stuff. Quit listening in while
other people talk about stuff. Quit arguing and getting mad at each other. Quit second-guessing Dumbledore (I was annoyed enough with
that in Book 5). And please, for the love, quit sitting around in that
tent."
Inside the tent of boredom.At the end of Book 6, when Harry told Hermoine and Ron that he'd be quitting school and not retunireturningis final year I thought "Nah. Never happen. That would ruin everything." But guess what. It did happen. And what we got was a whole lot of tent sitting.
When I complained about this to someone, they told me: "Well, I guess saving the world was a little bit more important than going to school this time."
Ye may not enter, lest something interesting happen.But the reason the HP books were so good, and what made them different, was that Harry was always saving the world, but he was doing it while he was at school - taking tests, making friends, playing sports (no matter how ridiculous the scoring system), getting detentions, falling in and out of love. That made the characters real, relatable, interesting. And that, all of that, suffered a premature death in the final book.
Deathly Hallows was not Year 7 to me, by any stretch of the imagination. It was an abandonment of the process altogether. Why, if I ever read the books again, would I care in the least about any of the scenes in which he's nervous about taking a test? Or who wins the Quidditch game? Or how many points Griffindor gains or loses? Or which area of study Harry chooses? Those things apparently never mattered.
Except they did. They did to the characters, and they did to the readers, and that's what makes Book 7 so uneven. You could argue and say that's what Rowling had to do, but she didn't. She's the author. Realistically, she had as many pages as she wanted in this final book. I can think of several ways she could have set the book at the school, and without even trying very hard.
Also, can someone please explain to me, in sensical terms, how Harry could have had that conversation with Dumbledore at the end/how Harry came back to life/why the U.S. cover looks the way it does/why Rowling felt inclined to insist that they not cut Kreacher from the 5th movie because they'd be "shooting themselves in the foot" for the 7th?
Not worth it.The saving grace, of course, is that the climax of the book occurs at Hogwarts. And what made the book something that I actually ended up liking was the complete and utter hero-ification (not a word, so what) of Neville Longbottom.
Finally hero-ified. My favorite of Rowling's characters, hands down. At one point in Book 5 I thought she was going to turn the tables on us and reveal that Neville was the chosen one all along, instead of Harry. But she didn't. Shame.
Someone asked me recently if I hope for another book, a Book 8. I don't. What I want more is an alternate Book 7, one that follows Ginny and Neville Luna and McGonagall and Hagrid back to the place Rowling taught us to love as much as any of her other characters: school.
One more final note: I saw The Order of the Phoenix in the theater the other night, and it made me miss the first six books even more.
That poster (which is their best ad campaign thus far, in my opinion) shows why. David Yates managed to take the longest book, sort out what it was
about, and make a movie about that: being a part of a community that sticks with each other, even if that means taking on a corrupt system. I would have loved if Rowling had done the same with her final book - if only she'd taken a look back at the entire series, seen what it was about, and written a book that did more than just wrap up the plot.
That is all. Don't forget to tune in Saturday for more geektastic ramblings.
Endblog.
Comments (7)
Christa totally agrees!
With the utmost respect, I COMPLETELY disagree. Though I will say that during the first six books I was contantly thinking the same thing (get to Hogwarts already), book seven was meant to be different. The first six books were about educating and preparing Harry, book seven was his internship, so to speak. He had to go out into the real world and use what he had learned to save the world. I thought that book seven was different because it had to be. There had to be an ending, and not just a, 'Looking forward to that summer with Dudley seemed much more promising with his new-found magical skills,' type thing. I think that the feeling of the book was so different mainly because everything was at such a high-stress level from the very beginning of the book (That muggle-studies teacher dying, whatever her name is) and the tension was carried throughout. I absolutely loved the whole backstory about Kreacher and R.A.B., and I thought that it tied in everything with S.P.E.W. and elfish rights pretty well. As far as meaningless deaths, one could say that there have been many of those in previous books (I personally didn't see the point of Cedric dying) and why some didn't die, specifically Arthur in book 5. Still, I think that Rowling was building tension throughout the book, all leading to when Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived at Hogwarts. JK knew that they couldn't be at school while looking for the horcruxes, but the grand finale had to take place at Hogwarts. There seems to be several more things to write about this, but my thoughts are too jumbled to make much sense. Maybe we'll be able to talk about the complexities of HP later.
P.S. Chandler sucks
-Mark Fream
I don't agree. Well, not with some. I'll tell ya why in an email-- too long for a comment.
remember, watch your back! and don't drink anything given to you by an HP fan. it may be poisoned.....just some helpful advice. :)
PS...did you get the email I sent you?