This is (at least) my 16th attempt to digest Harry Potter. When Dana and I closed the tome after the (super lame!) last line, my first response was this:
"Yeah. I liked it. It was Harry Potter...of course I liked it!!! I think..."
Early in the book, before we spend too much time in the magical tent - I very much shared Ron's frustration about not doing anything but then I wondered if Rowling wasn't giving a sly nod to the reader AND acknowledging her slow pace with Ron's venting - Rowling drops this line while Harry is packing:
''It gave him an odd, empty feeling to remember those times. It was like remembering a younger brother whom he had lost.''
Such a sweet line that sums up the entire seventh book in relation to the rest of the series. While I was never a fan of the extended Quidditch matches or the misadventures of Ron and Fred, the childlike innocence that served as a worthy backdrop in the previous books, has ebbed out completely, leaving something a little darker and (this is so difficult to write) not quite as fun, and not quite as honest. If Voldemort and his Death Eaters were as bad as Rowling would have us believe that they were, then this final go-round was too easy. I kept waiting for the ultimate punch-in-the-gut, re-read-about-fifty-times moment (a la the deaths of Sirius and Dumbledore) and it never came.
Further, there were a few instances in which Hermione had whatever they needed in that big-honkin' bag of hers - like old school Batman (Holy Magical Bag Batman!) Some of the quests were a bit forced.
Finally, Snape deserved better. I wholly expected Snape to die in one way or another, but his death could have been that "punch-in-the-gut-holy-buckets" moment that Deathly Hallows lacked. Beforehand I read the book, I thought Snape would die saving Harry-Ron-Hermione, and I still think that would have served a much more powerful redemption than the Pensieve.
I expected "all was well" but I didn't expect it to be quite so easy. What did you think?
5 comments:
Relax Jason. You should enjoy the book like the rest of us who have given ourselves over to the fact that this is JUVENILE fiction.
Are you missing Biblical criticism so much that you have to dissect Rowling?
Your funny.
Personally, I liked it. I guess I'm not a huge book critic... It kept my attention & it was fun to read. It probably was the cheap way out for Rowling, but Scott was pretty p.o'd that Mad-Eye got killed, so he's not feeling like it was the cheap way out at all. It did catch me off guard when Neville randomly had the sword...
Relax, enjoy the book? This comes from the guy that read the ending first.
WHAT? You read the ending FIRST, Scott? Uacceptable!
Okay, you know how I feel about it. I, too, thought it was too "easy", too safe. I mean, I might have been very distressed had "The Boy Who Lived" not remained just that. But I think it all happened without too much sacrifice and without any real consequence.
But your friend Tony is right. It's not like it's War & Peace (which by the way, I have never read. It just was the first book that came to mind).
Oops. I just realized it's TONY who read the ending first! So even though I don't know you, Tony-- it's still unacceptable!
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