La Vie En Rose for 2007 July 22 (entry 0)

(19) Sun Jul 22 2007 05:39 PST what I think: at least until I read it again, hopefully under more conducive circumstances. spoilers in the comments.

Comments:

Posted by Rachel at Sun Jul 22 2007 13:42

My biggest disappointment was that many key characters were, I felt, neglected. Harry, Hermione and Ron (on and off) went off to live in a tent in the woods and for most of the book we hardly got to see anyone else. Some of my favorite characters such as Lupin, Fred and George, and of course, Ginny only had one or two scenes in the whole book. Occasionally Harry heard about what they were doing and we got to read about it… to me it sounded much more interesting than living in a tent… I think I would have liked the book a lot better if the wilderness time was punctuated by a clandestine visit to Hogwarts or the Burrow or something like that. It's upsetting because it is the last time we will get to read about any of the Harry Potter characters and some of them just didn't get enough page time! Anyway. The other thing is I thought the whole last chapter, or epilogue or whatever, was completely unnecessary. For her point of view I can see why she wrote it, because it shows how Harry is now normal and has a family and is happy, which is what he always wanted. But from a reader's point of view… I didn't learn anything that I wouldn't have expected to happen. Except maybe that Neville becomes professor of Herbology but that is not surprising. I would have predicted that Harry and Ginny and Ron and Hermione get married and have lots of children named after fallen heroes with personality traits of their namesakes running around… I didn't need the epilogue to tell me that. I suppose it ties everything up nicely but to me it left a too saccharine taste in my mouth. Just ending it at the last real chapter would have been more effective in my opinion. Maybe a family tree or something.

But I am focusing on things I didn't like. I really did like the book. I honestly didn't think that Harry would die, and she had me going; for a while there I really thought he would. I was desperately hoping for a miracle and wondering what the rest of the book could be about if he was about to die on the next page (I was pretty tired at this point). I was so relieved and I 'm really glad that he didn't die, but I am glad she made it seem like a real possibility. It was so much fun to be reading a Harry Potter book for the first time and I am really, really sad that it will never happen again. I love reading all kinds of things but I have never enjoyed reading books as much as I have enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series.

Posted by Becca at Sun Jul 22 2007 19:26

I feel like she wrote the epilogue for all the younger kids who need a sense of closure. Of course, I wish that she had included more information if she was going to do this, even if it was hidden, like professions and the like. It was nice to have confirmed that Hogwarts was still open, but honestly, I'm much more interested in how things immediately got cleared up instead of 20 years after the fact.

You honestly thought that Harry might die? I guess I was so convinced that what I thought was right (Snape being good and dying, Harry not dying) that I never thought it might happen. Still, it was fun waiting to see how she would get him out of it, and I loved the final showdown with moldy Voldy (I'm so calling him that from now on, thank you Peeves).

And really, I could keep going, but I won't. I'll save it for email.

Posted by Rachel at Mon Jul 23 2007 14:16

What you mean these books are for kids????

Ok yeah, I wish it had more imformation like professions, what they are doing... If that is left up to imagination than why not the rest of it? Oh well.

Posted by Jill at Tue Jul 24 2007 06:15

I completely agree with you. I wished Ginny were in the book more, but overall I think she did an excellent job wrapping everything up. The epilogue was nice but not necessary...I wish she would have told a line about what everyone was up to if she was going to mention it at all.

I'm still mad about Fred.

Posted by Susie at Wed Jul 25 2007 03:21

I thought there was too much wilderness also. In real life they are trying to destroy Voldemort and they spent 8 months camping? Hello!

Way to go Snape. We knew you had it in you.

Posted by Becca at Wed Jul 25 2007 07:31

They didn't spend 8 months camping, they spent 8 months trying to figure out how to destroy Voldermort. They didn't have much choice in the matter until they figured out what to do to kill him. And then, like usually happens in real life, while they were waiting and trying to figure out what to do, events pushed them forward. Perfectly plausible.

Posted by Alyson at Sun Jul 29 2007 04:11

The thing that I didn't quite go for was the whole Harry's blood in Voldemort connection. And there was inconsistency in the way each horcrux effected Harry (ie the locket vs. Harry himself), which I can forgive because I love the rest. I liked the way she represented the portion of V's soul that could never be part of his whole (b/c of the horcrux) in King's Cross, however. Dave didn't read the creature that way though. Did you? I LOVED the Snape moments in the pensieve. I always knew Lily had something to do with Snape and his goodness, but that is easy to say now, isn't it.

Posted by John at Sun Jul 29 2007 18:36

Just finished this morning! (Work and a baby have a way of delaying things).

Rachel: I personally believe they are indeed, first and foremost, children's books. I also wanted to hear about professions. I thought for sure that either Harry or Hermoine would be at Hogwarts with Neville. I think one important part of the epilogue was to show the Malfoy family. And show that Harry cared for this godson, in a whole "circle of life" way. I can only assume Ted is snogging with Bill & Fleur's daughter? But I do have a question: Who are Rose and Hugo?

Becca: Completely agree with your counterargument with the "camping." They were not camping. They were working. And it was aggravating work. But completely realistic. They had to figure it out on their own, and it took time. And clandestine visits to Hogwarts and the Burrow would have been completely out of the question. Once Harry entered Hogwarts, there was no turning back.

Jill: What do you mean "mad about Fred?" That he died, I assume? Well, to be plausible, a family that large required at least one death to be true-to-life. She chose Fred. Though I did tell Susie that it should have been George. He did, after all, lose an ear. So why not finish him off? But once again, not true to life.

Alyson: What was so unplausable about Harry's blood in Voldemort? That was spelled out pretty explicitly at the end of Book 4. What part was unplausable? As far as the inconsistency in the Horcruxes, they had the locket for a long time compared to the other items. And the locket didn't affect him that much until it knew that they were trying to destroy it. But Harry never knew he had a Horcrux in him until one hour before he got rid of it. It never had a need to defend itself until it was too late. During that hour, it didn't stand a chance, what with the help of all his friends in the forest.

I never realized before that I am only 9 days older than Harry. I wonder what was up with that? It makes the timing of the books odd to me.

I liked the book. I think the sadness of all the death countered the happy ending quite well. I'm glad Hagrid did not die. He's one of the only adults still there from Harry that we've known since Book 1. And I really enjoyed the Elder Wand sequence. I knew the Malfoys would play a great role in this novel, but always assumed it would be Draco, not his mother. And, honestly, I enjoyed reading about Bellatrix getting hers more that reading about Tom's death. I didn't recall that she had been married, though.

Good series. Can't wait for another one to spring up in it's place!

Posted by Alyson at Mon Jul 30 2007 06:40

Eh, I can't remember that part of book 4. I thought the blood thing was confusing, because of Lily's protection in Voldemort. When was v. protected? I must have missed something. And with the horcrux, I understood that it was the skin contact that made the locket damaging to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. With the horcrux within Harry, I imagined it would have effected him more. I might have misread that, but it seemed right to me.

But I loved the book! Dave remarks that it is surprising how little people talked about whether Rowling would be able to pull off the last book. J.K. Rowling did very well.

Posted by Becca at Mon Jul 30 2007 19:05

To clarify, the blood connection is that moldy Voldy used Harry's blood to come back fully to life, while he could have just used any enemies. He choose to use Harry's, because he felt the connection between them would make the blood stronger, and thus make him come back to life stronger. It worked that way, but also provided Harry with protection, as we seen in book 7.

And actually, Harry wasn't technically a horocrux. Voldermort didn't purposely put his soul in Harry, so he wouldn't know to endow that piece of his soul with the ability to protect itself. He could do that with the diary and the locket, and the others, presumably, although they only had them in possession for a short time, but not for Harry. I felt like the piece in Harry was really more of a hitchhiker, with no control or anything.

As to whether she could pull it off... apparently a lot of people are upset with the seventh book, although I can't figure out why. I thought it was amazing, well done, and honestly, perfectly ended (well, except for maybe the Epilogue).

Posted by John at Mon Jul 30 2007 22:59

Becca:

Thanks for taking the time to explain Book 4. Also, after I entered in my argument on Sunday for the horcux in Harry, I thought of the one you presented above and I like it better. It makes perfect sense. I really liked the book and also like the way it presented things. Very real. The workings of the Elder Wand still fascinate me!

Posted by Kristen at Fri Aug 03 2007 20:02

Ok, I guess I am still childish because I loved the epilogue. I wish the book never ended and that I could keep on reading but I know it would have gotten boring if she did that. But I think it was perfect to just have one chapter to spell things out. Harry lived happily ever after...I just liked how she did it. Sure, unnecessary but interesting nonetheless.

I knew Snape would be redeemed and indeed he was. I still don't get how Snape could hate Harry so much though. I don't have any qualms with the book though. I think it is amazing how she pieced everything together.

John, I think Rose and Hugo are Ron and Hermoine's kids. I too thought it was interesting that Harry is my age...weird.

Anyway, too bad JKR says she is done with fantasy. I am glad she will never have HP be main character in another one of her books though. That would not do him justice. I would be like Jack Bauer in 24...too unbelievable that all those things happened to one person.

Posted by John at Sat Aug 04 2007 00:16

Kristen: Sorry, I worded my question badly. I understood that Rose and Hugo were Ron's & Hermoine's children. I just wondered if anyone knew the origin of their names. Hugo is not a very flattering name....

Posted by Becca at Sat Aug 04 2007 03:53

My thoughts exactly, John. They seemed very random to me. Although Lily... Rose.... a little connection there, but it's stretching it.

Posted by Kristen at Mon Aug 06 2007 04:19

Yeah, Lily, Rose, Petunia-all flower names. R and H were the only things I could come up with after their parents. Hugo must be popular in England or Europe.

Posted by Rachel at Mon Aug 06 2007 18:41

Sorry I missed everyones comments. for some reason they get caught in my spam filter. now i think i will have to reread it to contribute anything intelligent.

Posted by Mark at Wed Aug 29 2007 02:51

J.K. Rowling: Hermione began her post-Hogwarts career at the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures where she was instrumental in greatly improving life for house-elves and their ilk. She then moved (despite her jibe to Scrimgeour) to the Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement where she was a progressive voice who ensured the eradication of oppressive, pro-pureblood laws.

J.K. Rowling: Thank you! I’ve already answered about Hermione. Kingsley became permanent Minister for Magic, and naturally he wanted Harry to head up his new Auror department. Harry did so (just because Voldemort was gone, it didn’t mean that there would not be other Dark witches and wizards in the coming years). Ron joined George at Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes, which became an enormous money-spinner... After a few years as a celebrated player for the Holyhead Harpies, Ginny retired to have her family and to become the Senior Quidditch correspondent at the Daily Prophet!

http://www.bloomsbury.com/harrypotter/content.asp?sec=3&sec2=1

Posted by Susie at Sat Sep 01 2007 00:50

Hmm somehow I missed that about Harry and Ron, although I saw the others. I did figure Harry became and Auror. Thanks!

Posted by Rachel at Tue Sep 04 2007 13:05

thanks a lot for the link. now I finally had time to read it, I wouldn't have known where it was otherwise! I have been too long away from the internets.