To Answer Nina's Question
I finished the book last night. I'm going to be somewhat busy this morning, but anybody who wants to talk about it, we can discuss in the comments section. For those who don't want to read spoilers then please avoid the comments section. I'm talking to you Gyuss and Cyber D.
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33 comments:
I'll go ahead and comment now before the discussion get's started. Wow! The first three pages are real "page turners!"
My daughter already told me how it ended. I guess it's too late to worry about spoilers for me.
I am confused by these Death Eaters? Who are they? What does any of this have to do with the glass elevator?
The lingering question I have is...was there an explination given about the white veil that Sirius fell through? Did I just miss that?
Was the only significance of Harry having his mother's eyes that Snape was in love with Lily? If so, I wanted it to be more than that!
Churlita...there are many more suprises in this book than the end alone. Happy Reading!
Cyber D - It gets going pretty quickly. Lots of action by the end of chapter 4.
Churlita - I didn't feel the ending was nearly as surprising as the journey itself. The insights on Dumbledore, Snape, and the others.
Q - Have you even gotten past the first page yet?
All in all, I'd say it was a very good book and a good way to end the series. It's really an interesting series, because I can't think of any others where the author has been so connected with the readers and I think the fans care just as much about her and really are glad for her success.
Nina - No. They had very little mention of anything that happened at the Department of Mysteries. There was one quick "veiled" reference when telling the story of the three brothers I think, but that was about it.
That was apparently all there was to his eyes, but I don't know that Snape would have helped if he didn't resemble Lilly in some striking fashion.
Anybody that would like to answer - What was the part of the book that got the biggest reaction out of you?
For me it was the death of Dobby. I don't think that I had ever considered that he might die.
And now her name's in the title? Please know, My Sweet, that there are consequences for this!!! I haven't seen MY name in the title! *HMPH*
Tera - Uhmmm...It's not what you think. Honest. Would I lie?
She dragged me in with Harry Potter talk!!!!!
My biggest surprise (overall) was that death came so early in the book, I wasn't expecting that. It made me think that if it's starting this way its going to end super bloody!
Even though no one ever saw Snape cast his patronus and we now know why, I thought that it was stated earlier in the series that no two were alike. Is that an oops?
I must admit, I cried my eyes out and read very slowly the sequence of Harry going into the forest for the last time. And I LOVED the duel between Harry and Voldermort while Harry was explaining the all the things the Dark Lord didn't know. Especially the Wand.
Ahhh...I think I'll be re-reading this again. Soon. As a much slower pace. This was by far my favorite of all the books.
Tera~Quit being a hater :)
I think that the early deaths set the tone early and did a good job of letting you know that this isn't like the other books where the danger was in the darkness somewhere, but rather all around H.P.
I enjoyed the duel as well, but know that they will do it differently in the movie. It's going to need more explosions for Hollywood to accept it.
Tera - Yeah, hate the player not the... Crap, reverse that. Hate the game not the.. Y'know what? Just don't hate. It's all about the love.
I read it yesterday. I didn't plan on it. It just happened.
I think I expected her to tell us more throughout the series than she managed to cram into the last book. But it worked.
Hands down, my favorite part had to be the "NOT MY DAUGHTER..." moment towards the end. Completely unexpected.
It didn't surprise me at all that Snape turned out to be a good guy. Did it anyone else? It just seemed to be one of those things that she tried so hard to put you off the scent.
Also, I was surprised that there was a way out for Harry. I thought he'd be dead dead.
I think it's pretty funny too that the actor who plays Harry Potter was apparently unexpectedly preparing himself for the last book by appearing naked in Equuis.
I thought the, "Not my daughter" bit was a little hammy, but I think everyone liked getting to see Molly shine.
I agree that she pulled off cramming so much information in the last book. That's part of what I liked best.
Nore - I thought that same thing when I read that part. Think Jo will take any flak for that?
Favourite part - when Harry asks his companions, on the way into the forest, "Will it hurt?" and asks his mom "Will you stay with me?" Two things he never got to ask her in life, so very real, the kinds of things moms hear. Gut wrenching. Loved it.
By the way, we decided to read it aloud as a family (rather than take turns). It's taken us two and a half days.
What a body count! Is anyone else worried about kids reading this?
The scene with Neville getting burned in the sorting hat sent chills through me.
G- I thought about the poor young children when I saw a photo in the Sunday paper that I started reading this morning of a 4 year old waiting in line with his father. I think it was smart of JK to start with an animal dying, and then move on to people.
As for the nakedness, nah. I doubt very much she wrote Daniel Radcliffe a note saying he should appear naked in a play...
The other thing I forgot to write last night is that I almost felt like I was reading the bible... going headfirst into death to save mankind, resurrected...
Plug - Good part. That got me too. To see Harry ask the questions that we all ask and walk fearfully into that moment when he really wanted to run away just like the child back at the castle.
Gyuss - I'm not worried about kids reading this. Death is an inevitability and I think the book does a good job of accepting it and arguing that it is foolish to fear it.
Nore - Good call on the death of Hedwig. That also help to close Harry off from the rest of the world as they traveled. I doubt they would have sent a lot of messages by his very distinctive owl anyway, but it seemed to make them more closed off.
I spent most of last night talking to my mom about this book. She refuses to talk about the Dobby part.
Susan - I thought it was a really good part and a turning point in the book. it also came at probably the cariest part of the book.
Who was the person that managed to magic late in life? Did I miss that?
NoRegrets, the bible symbolism is because these are archetypal characters. Harry went on a heroe's journey.
The info cramming thing reminds me of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series...
I've suspected for a while now she was going to make Snape good because Harry was so adamant that Snape was evil. I was surprised how little face time Snape got in the end, however.
Two things I would have added - all they need is a one-line mention:
When his dead loved ones accompany into the forest to die, I would have liked to have Snape there. Not that Harry loved him, but he did help Harry along this journey and an acknowledgement of his help from Lily and James would have been nice.
In the epilogue when they are seeing their kids off to Hogwarts, I would have been pleased to see one of Dudley's kids there. Maybe Harry and Ginny could have coached them through the barrier between platforms, like Mrs. Weasley did for Harry in book one.
I really liked that Harry wasn't a horcrux hog - he only killed one I think. The others were killed by Dumbledore, Ron, Hermione, Crabbe, Neville (who totally rocks by the way - hurray for the late bloomer!) and Voldemort himself.
Nina - I don't remember seeing that anyone was ever spoken of by name as coming into magic late in life.
Gyuss - I agree. The same thing can be said of it's similarity to other stories with archetypal characters. It's a lot like the Matrix as well, but part of being a good story is reminding the reader of other things that they've seen. So it's cool.
Kofi - I'm just glad that Snape got a whole chapter dedicated to him. I felt like I wasn't short changed on his story and was relieved for that.
I haven't read the Robert Jordan series. Is it any good?
Plug - There were others that I was surprised weren't there in ghost form as well. Dumbledore for example.
The only thing I was still curious about after reading the book, was what had happened to the Dursleys. Did they live? Were they attacked the same night? How did they cope living in the wizarding world for months?
Everyone - I remember reading somewhere that J.K. changed the story so that a character that was originally supposed to die, instead lived because she had gotten an outporing from people not to kill them off. She said that another character was killed in their place though. Who do you think were the characters involved? I've got my idea that I'll share later if anyone else makes a guess.
Re: dying character, it's hard to say. My first inclination would be a different Weasly (Ron or Ginny) but that would have stopped the happily ever after section. My only other guess would be professor McGonigal or whatever her name was.
Or, actually, Hagrid...
The person who she was considering killing off was Mr. Weasly. JKR talked about that during an interview with Meridith Vierda on the Today Show (the entire interview will be aired on Dateline this Sun. night.)
She also said that she "probably will" write a Harry Potter encyclopedia that will tell us about the history of characters who she felt we didn't get to know well enough in the books. So we still have something to look forward to.
Do you think Fred replaced Mr Weasley?
Gyuss - That would be my guess. Either he or Collin Creevey. If Arthur had died that would have made the Molly fight that much more impactful to me. Am I imagining it or did Bellatrix know that one of the twins had died, and even knew which one. If so that seemed to be a little much.
Yeah, she mentioned "little Freddy" - I just took it to mean she was the one who did it. Or maybe she saw him lying there. Poor Collin Creevey. He wouldn't ahve been of age either. For what it's worth, I think Fred did take Mr. W's place. Ever since Molly kept seeing her loved ones lying dead in the floor at Sirius' (when the boggart was there) I've thought a Weasely would die.
Finally finished. Good book. I'll save my comments for phone-talk with you Dags, because I gots so much to say about it. My only regret is I did not predict more accurately the events of the book. At least I got predicted Headmaster Snape, so I got that going for me!
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