Posted by Karen on: 08.01.2007 /
Rachel told us about her wonderful movie club, over on the hobbies post, so I thought I’d give you a taste of one of my favorite monthly activities, my book club.
All right, come on in. Put your stuff down anywhere and grab a plate! We have a rather eclectic potluck dinner we’ve pulled together, as usual. Get a glass of wine or some mineral water, please, and spend a few minutes catching up with each other, talking politics and current events and … .
Okay, time to get started or we’ll never get out of here at a decent hour! Gather around the big dining room table. Tonight we’ll be talking about: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.”
It’s been out for nearly two weeks, but if you haven’t had a chance to read it and don’t want to be spoiled, DO NOT READ FURTHER!
WARNING! There will be spoilers for the final Harry Potter novel after the jump!
WARNING!!! ***HARRY POTTER SPOILERS****
DO NOT GO BELOW IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW ……..
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Okay, I hope that’s enough space. Well, let’s get started!
I’ll give you some highlights, some criticisms, and a few comments on the larger themes of the series in general, and then please chime in with your own thoughts, agreements, disagreements and whatever. Everyone’s opinion is valid!
Absolutely the best thing is the magical world J.K. Rowling has created in these books. I’m a creative person working in a creative industry, but I am in absolute awe of an imagination that is so rich and deep. I couldn’t do it in a million years. She’s incredible!
I loved that she created a fully formed society, with lots of shades of gray. The “good” has an evil side (witness the wizarding world’s unconscionable treatment of house elves) and even the “bad” characters do good things (Narcissa Malfoy protecting Harry to protect her son near the end of the book; Snape’s sacrifice due to his lifelong love for Lily Potter).
The same well-rounded kudos go to her portrayal of her characters - major and minor. Hermione becomes annoying and insecure in her dogged insistence on always being right; Harry’s hero nature is marred by anger and impatience; Dumbledore was tempted by power and had to choose not to wield it.
Saddest moment, ever: “Here lies Dobby, a Free Elf.” Sob! My son had to take the book and finish the chapter, and my other son had to give me a big hug when they gave Dobby’s body all sorts of mismatching clothes to be buried in. Awwww ….. I always loved that little guy. :-(
I thought the WWII-like resistance movement and the underground radio broadcasts were great. A reviewer I like made the comment that Rowling’s uniquely British sensibility made the books extra special. I have to agree. The Brits seem to have a special tradition of fantasy literature that is so wonderful.
My few quibbles:
As in Books 5 and 6, there were places in the first two-thirds of Book 7 that I thought could be tightened up. Her stories tend to get more compelling in their final chapters.
The denouement of this book, as usual, involves a somewhat torturous and confusing Dumbledore monologue that’s tough to puzzle out. I’ll have to read it again at some point to fully understand it, I think.
Even more so in previous books, the character of Ginny became something of a cypher, and I never got good feelings about her being Harry’s “soul-mate.” She just seemed like someone Harry would inevitably hook up with because of his ties to the Weasleys.
My favorite character, Luna Lovegood, had so many wonderful moments - and even a strong connection with Harry at so many places that I thought maybe Ginny would be killed off and he’d end up with Luna (who might grow out of some of her fey wanderings). Yet there was no mention at all of Luna in the epilogue, which was disappointing.
In fact, the epilogue fell flat for me because we got no information at all about what our beloved characters are doing (except Neville), other than marrying and having kids. I would have liked more information, or no epilogue at all.
My boys and I read all seven books aloud, together. We started when they were six and eight. They’re now 16 and 18. My younger son was kind of sad when we finished. He said, “Mom, these books have always been here, for my whole life!” I’m so glad we got the chance to share in such a fantastic cultural touchstone while it was happening. It’s something we’ll always have great memories of, and be able to relate to with so many other people. It’s been a fun ride.
Someone wrote an article (Christianity Today?) saying they thought Rowling was using the book as a Christian allegory, or Harry as a Christ archetype. I don’t see this book or the others in that way. Yes, Book 7 does include an afterlife, but we’ve known this is a magical universe from the beginning, so that was no surprise. There were always ghosts at Hogwarts, right?
I think the key line of the book - and maybe the series entirely - is at the end of the penultimate chapter:
Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
Dumbledore beamed at him, and his voice sounded loud and strong in Harry’s ears even though the bright mist was descending again, obscuring his figure.
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”
Isn’t this exactly what Rowling has done, in the end? Taken something wholly from “inside her head” and turned it into something that is about as “real” and satisfying and thrilling as possible, to millions and millions of people around the world?
Maybe I’m way off base, but I think - rather than a statement about belief or nonbelief - she’s making a comment on the triumph and the veracity of art, and I wholly agree with her.
Okay, your turn. What did you think of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?
Comment by: Rachel
1 08/1/07 4:04 PM | Comment Link |Yes, I read an article that suggested that Jo Rowling might have belonged to J.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis’ writers club “The Inklings” if they had all been contemporaries. :-)
Karen, here is an excerpt from an interview that J.K. Rowling, who is a member of the Church of Scotland, did with the Vancouver Sun in 2000:
Harry, of course, is able to battle supernatural evil with supernatural forces of his own, and Rowling is quite clear that she doesn’t personally believe in that kind of magic — ”not at all.” Is she a Christian?
”Yes, I am,” she says. ”Which seems to offend the religious right far worse than if I said I thought there was no God. Every time I’ve been asked if I believe in God, I’ve said yes, because I do, but no one ever really has gone any more deeply into it than that, and I have to say that does suit me, because if I talk too freely about that I think the intelligent reader, whether 10 or 60, will be able to guess what’s coming in the books.”
Comment by: Pete S.
2 08/1/07 9:37 PM | Comment Link |I listened to a Dateline interview that Barbara Walters ? had with Rowling. She filled the viewers in with what Harry and Co. are doing 19 years later (in the Epilogue). Harry became an Auror, and according to Rowling, most likely was the head of that department. Ron became an Auror as well. Herminone is working for the Office of Magical Law Enforcement…some sort of Magical Lawyer. Neville is a Professor at Hogwarts.
One of the chief reasons she wrote the Epilogue was to show that Harry became a topnotch Godfather to Teddy Tonks/Lupin(thereby fulfilling, in his own way, Sirius’s legacy), as well as honoring the deaths of Tonks and Remus Lupin that were rather tragic (seeing that they both died).
I found it fascinating the turn the Malfoy family took in the last book. They were so close to being killed by Voldem…opps, He-who-mustn’t-be-Named, on a number of occasions. Draco finally came around in some sort of way. Scorpius Malfoy, his son! I had to laugh. So appropriate for a Dragon=Draco to beget a Scorpion=Scorpius. Yet there was a world of meaning in that simply nod Draco gave Harry at the very end on the Hogwarts Express Station platform.
So, Harry never did have to kill Tom Riddle after all. Riddle’s/Voldemort’s curse simply rebounded onto himself. A fitting end. And Harry did get to die, after a manner of speaking, and yet survive once again. I thought it was a marvelous touch when Rowling wrote that Voldemort’s curse rebounded…and it was Tom Riddle who fell backward to the earth dead….
Comment by: Karen
3 08/2/07 9:53 AM | Comment Link |Thanks for that update, Pete S. I heard about that Dateline interview but I didn’t catch it last weekend. Glad she gave a little bit more closure.
Yeah, her imaginative use of names and invented words is fantastic. It definitely reminds me of Tolkien - who actually invented entire languages, runes, etc. :-)
Comment by: Kathleen
4 08/2/07 5:02 PM | Comment Link |I really enjoyed the book. Hands down, my favorite scene - in the whole series, I think - was the duel between Molly and Bellatrix. It was so emotionally charged, and Mrs. Weasley is the last person you’d expect to come raging out of nowhere, using mild profanities and demanding that she alone be allowed to kill someone - but her mother’s love was just so fierce. And Bellatrix had always been portrayed as a really good witch, where as the most we really saw of Molly’s magic was usually household spells, etc., and yet she came out on top.
Me too. I loved that they were redeemed, to a degree, because of their love for each other. I found it unexpected, but it was definitely nice. Speaking of “He-who-must-not-be-named,” I thought it was really cool that she threw in the idea of the “Taboo.” It gave a little credence to Ron and everyone else who had always avoided saying it, and forced Harry to realize that just because Dumbledore did X doesn’t mean you can always do so, too, without taking into account the circumstances.
See, I liked the epilogue as it was. Too much information can be a negative - I mean, come on, Ron’s an Auror? You can’t say that without putting a story behind it, because who would ever think Ron would end up as an Auror? It sounds like she just had him follow Harry in Harry’s profession of choice, rather than putting him somewhere more suited to his own talents and temperament. My one beef with the Epilogue as it was published was that it didn’t say anything about George. You can’t kill off Fred and then not give any information about how George copes with that, losing his brother, best friend, and business partner! A simple “Don’t let Filch catch you with anything from Weasley’s Wizarding Weezes” would have said enough - that George is okay, he kept going, the shop is still open, etc.
I definitely thought Harry would have to kill Voldemort. I would have been willing to bet money that that’s what the book was leading too, given the sudden popularity of Unforgivable Curses from the good guys. Harry uses the Imperius Curse several times, as well as the Cruciatus Curse, and even McGonagall uses Imperio once. Molly most likely used Avada Kedavra on Bellatrix, too. I figured she was just building up to Harry using it to kill Voldemort, and that being acceptable.
This is a really funny story: One of my friends comes home the other night, really upset that someone ruined the book for her. “She just blurted out ‘Harry dies!’” The way she described the reactions, though, the person who said it was really upset, the person driving the car was so upset at the person who said it that she almost crashed, they actually seemed to think they’d given away the ending. My friend left the room, and the rest of us just looked at each other as if to say, “Did you read the same book I did?” She should have finished it yesterday or today - I can’t wait to hear her reaction!
Comment by: David H
5 08/2/07 7:08 PM | Comment Link |Stephen King, a gifted writer about writing even for those who don’t enjoy his fiction, says in his book “On Writing,” that authors practice a peculiar form of telepathy. They imagine a story, perhaps and entire world. They see it with the detail of a photo or a movie, full of people who they know more intimately than some of their closest friends. Then they transmit that picture in their heads to others. If the writer is very good, those receiving the transmission will see things with the same clarity.
I’m not a huge Harry Potter fan. I would rather read “The Lord of the Rings” for the 37th time. But my kids love the Potter books and talk about the characters like they actually know them. I watched my older daughter for a hour weeping as she made her way through some of the last chapters of the 7th book. Her friends were in pain and dying.
Rowling isn’t Dostoyevsky, perhaps she wouldn’t care to be. But she imagined a whole world with more vividness than some experience this world in which we live. Then she transmitted that imagination to millions. That makes her a great writer.
I’m interested to see what comes next for her.
Comment by: Rachel
6 08/3/07 7:14 AM | Comment Link |Yes, Anna cried a lot too while reading The Deathly Hallows. She kept a growing list of people who had died and kept reading it to me woefully. She was so happy to read the Epilogue and learn that Teddy Tonks had been cared for.
Comment by: Karen
7 08/3/07 9:36 AM | Comment Link |That’s so funny. I just got a recommendation for that book, ordered it and it arrived yesterday just before I read your comment!
I’m not a horror fan (with the glaring exceptions of Buffy and Angel) so I haven’t read Stephen King but I adore his Entertainment Weeekly column, The Pop of King. He is so smart and such a good writer. I’m really looking forward to “On Writing.”
One of her major themes in the series is that life is all about choices, and that no matter who your parents are or where you came from, you still have the choice to do good or evil. I was really reminded of that when I was reading your comments about your family and how you dealt with all that.
Yeah, me too. I’m really hoping she’ll writing something more geared for adults next time.
Comment by: Karen
8 08/3/07 9:40 AM | Comment Link |Yes, that was great about Teddy. The only time I really cried was when Dobby died. My boys didn’t cry at all - well, they’re too “manly” now, of course. ;-)
We read aloud every night for years and years when they were younger and we all still laugh about the ending of “Where the Red Fern Grows,” that saddest children’s book of all time, by far.
I started to get choked up, passed the book to my oldest, he read a few pages, found he couldn’t continue, passed the darn thing to my youngest, whereupon he read a page or two and had to give it back to me because he was tearing up! By the end we were all wiping our eyes, but we agreed we loved it!
Comment by: David H
9 08/3/07 9:48 AM | Comment Link |My youngest cried most for Dobby, she and he have many similarities.
My older daughter had to read “Bridge to Terebithia” in school and it was probably the first book she ever said was absolutely awful. She barely got through it (this is a girl who can read 4-5 books a week during the summer). But I coaxed her into seeing the movie and she walked away red-eyed and claiming it was one of the best stories ever. She couldn’t believe the book and the movie were the same even though they were (story-wise) virtually identical.
Comment by: Eliza
10 08/5/07 7:03 PM | Comment Link |Karen - what a nice writeup of HP & TDH! I noticed a number of the points you mentioned, but hadn’t recognized the “good/bad in everyone” aspect. Like Kathleen & Pete S. above, I was struck by the manner of Voldmort’s death - by his own hand, if inadvertently, through Harry’s use of the relatively benign Expelliarmo (sp?) spell. He who lives by the Dark Arts dies by the Dark Arts, I guess!
I too found Ginny to be a 2-d character, without adequate description to justify Harry’s devotion. But I thought Harry’s relationship with Hermione was well described as a sibling-like friendship (as he tells Ron, after the horcrux manifestation near the icy pond).
Some say that JKR closed off the possibility of sequels with the ending & especially the epilogue…but she leaves the door open there, perhaps, by introducing us to young Albus S. Potter as he heads off to his first year at Hogworts - more mischief to follow?
Comment by: Karen
11 08/6/07 8:53 AM | Comment Link |Eliza, I read somewhere that she’s thinking about compiling a sort of “Encyclopedia of Harry Potter” that would document the Potter-verse. But I haven’t heard that she’s interested in continuing the story.
I did read where she said she’ll definitely continue writing, however.
:-)