It’s hard to imagine life without Harry Potter in it; the stories, although considered formulaic, are relatable, funny and full of suspense.
I can still remember walking into the movie theater to see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for the first time. I hadn’t read the book yet, but the story that was being splashed over the news intrigued me. I can still remember, sitting in the packed cinema, with younger kids all around me, really getting into the flick. I truly thought that Snape was the villain. I felt Harry’s pains and triumphs, and I was genuinely shocked, surprised and impressed as the credits rolled. I bought into the rich story, and believed that somewhere in my imagination, Hogwarts existed. It was that day that I bought my first (three) Harry Potter books.
Now, that doesn’t mean that I was into witchcraft, or was, just because I enjoyed Harry Potter’s fictional world, going to go to Hell. It was the fantasy I first fell in love with, and that love has carried me through seven books and five movies.
I have stood in line for the past four books. I’ve been at fancy bookstore parties, grocery stores and even Wal-Mart, just standing there, for hours (or in a lucky instance, mere minutes) at the front of the line. It’s exhilarating to be around people that enjoy something so precious to yourself. To hear them talk about their thoughts on the plot, their theories (most are rediculous, but entertaining nonetheless), or just sit and stare wide-eyed at the clock, anticipating the stroke of midnight.
I had Deathly Hallows in my hand at 12:01, but it took 7 minutes to get checked out. Timestamp on the receipt (which I’ve always used as a bookmark) reads 12:08. I was already half-way through Chapter 2 by that point.
With all of this being said, what did I think of the book? I have mixed feelings. I read it in under 10 hours because I couldn’t put it down. It was darker than the other books, and the fear seemed even more real for our friends. People died. People got hurt.
SPOILERS AHEAD: HIGHLIGHT TO READ
I understood that people needed to be sacrificed for “the greater good,” but the ones who were chosen to die seemed to be picked out of left field, with no true explanation as to why or how. I mean, come on, you kill of Lupin and Tonks, and you don’t even give them a death scene!?! Really. Harry just walks up on Fred’s dead body, and it’s like Lupin and Tonks are an afterthought. PLUS, you have them get married, but Lupin is a virtual ass to her almost the entire book. In fact, she only resolves in shortly before their death saying “Oh, I forgot to tell you, Harry, Lupin’s moved back in with Tonks!” Gah, I think she could have explored a little bit more (and the fact that it sounds like their son Teddy, Harry’s godson, didn’t actually go and live with him… where did he go then?)
LOVED the Ron and Hermione relationship. Their kiss was monumental, and it’s been great to see their love grow over the years. Harry and Ginny, while there was some sort of attractual tension between them, they didn’t really seem to connect (until the epilogue, of course)…
At first, I failed to believe Moody died so quickly in the beginning. At least he died
fighting; I think that’s the way he would have liked it, too. Hedwig’s
death was very sudden and caught me off guard.
Fred and George in the beginning made me laugh so hard. In “The Seven Potters” they drank the polyjuice potion and transformed into Harry and said, “We’re identical!” Hah. And then when George’s ear got cut off, he
said he was, “Holey.” I genuinely laughed out loud for that, but then, I always did laugh at them… I felt so bad for George when Fred died. I didn’t
know who had it worse, George or Mrs. Weasley.
Ron, while he had plenty of faults throughout the story, redeemed himself when dealing with Malfoy: (Ron punches Draco) “That’s the
second time we saved you’re life tonight.”
Voldemort: scary as shit, as always.
Dumbledore: was it truly her intention to make us think so much less of the more stable figure in the series? I know that she wanted to show that he changed his ways, but it went a bit overboard for me.
Snape didn’t die a very heroic death (as heroic as I had hoped, at least.) I’m
guessing Rowling wanted to keep him as “the bad guy” until Harry saw
his memories in the pensieve. The Snape/Lily thing was kind of weird
but sweet at the same time. Wouldn’t it be weird if Lily got together
with Snape instead of James? There weren’t as many Snape scenes as I would have hoped, though there
was that whole chapter dedicated to him. I’ll miss Snape so much. He
wanted to see Lily’s eyes before he died…
I really wished it would have been Neville that killed Bellatrix. But, LOL, Molly said BITCH, so that made it somewhat worth it.
The whole Gringotts thing… ummmmm… ok.
Awww, Kreacher! And dammit, why Dobby?
Hermione is still my favorite, btw.
And now, the ending/epilogue. The final battle was great; it was fitting to be at Hogwarts, but it felt like Rowling needed to build up even more suspense, which is why she had Voldemort give Harry 30 minutes, then an hour to meet him… it was kinda pointless. Voldemort isn’t the most civilized killer, so why was he trying to be pseudo-civil now? Enjoyed the chapter with Dumbledore and “dead” Harry, but then the last chapter came and went so fast, it just felt like she had a word limit, and used them all up. She just stopped. Yay, Voldemort is dead. Boo, people died. Harry’s alive, friends are still by his side, and he made Dumbledore proud. The end.
And now: I read seven books for this!?
I saw a few spoiler sites in the days leading up to the release. Most I viewed unintentionally (people get a rise out of ruining something for you), and they were so bizarre, I wrote them off as being untrue. In fact, one of them said that Voldy would win, Ron dies, Harry dies, the Order falls, etc.. (see, rediculous, right!?) and then ON THE SAME PAGE, it shows pictures of what they believed to be the epilogue. Of course I read it, because the rest of what I read was absurd! I commented on how juvenille and neatly put together everything was. It seemed like the writing was so beneath what Rowling was capable of. It was a pleasant ending, but it didn’t really say much, it didn’t resolve anything, and it just sort of stopped. I wrote it off, because I just KNEW she wouldn’t do something so simplistic. Man, was I wrong. It turns out, while there wasn’t an OUNCE of truth on the entire site before the pictures at the bottom of the page, THE PHOTOS OF THE BOOK WERE TRUE. Every word. I am glad they all got together, had kids, and life carried on, but really? Where do they work? What did they DO WITH THEIR EDUCATION WE’VE BEEN READING ABOUT FOR YEARS!?! All we know is: they got married, had sex, and popped out kids. Good for them.
With all of that said, I still enjoyed the book, but it’s the “final” chapter in the series (for now). I think that no matter what she would have done, I would have been just as critical, because quite honestly, other than two more movies and the prospect of reading the books again and again, my journey with my Hogwarts friends have come to a close.
All was well.
