Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Jul. 23rd, 2007 12:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
annwfynSo, I've just finished reading the final Harry Potter book, and I was surprised to discover that I really liked it. It was possibly the best written book so far - JK Rowling has grown so much as a writer, and I think maybe this story suited her style better than a lot of the earlier ones.
She didn't waste too much time on emotional angst. She didn't spend too long wallowing in 'what it's like to be a teenager'. She just pushed the story onwards, and I think I've come to the conclusion that while Rowling lacks subtlety at times, and whilst she can clunk on occasion, she tells a rattling good yarn.
I really felt carried along with events. I went all gooey when Harry and Ginnie stole their one kiss of the book. I was definitely upset when Snape died, and even more so when Lupin and Tonks (who I adored) died, but it was right. I also was really strangely touched by the Snape/Lily love story, and found myself feeling incredibly sad that Snape sacrificed so very very much, and got so little for it. He, in some ways, came out as the most honourable person in the entire series - everyone else did the right thing whilst being lauded for it, and collecting the glory. Snape did the right thing while being almost universally reviled, which was something else.
I also was very glad for the epilogue. It was nice to see a writer actually stamping the end of the book with a big firm 'CLOSURE' stamp. It ended as it should have done, although I'm now pondering the definite tendancy for very young marriage in the wizarding community. Harry's parents, from the dates given on their tombstone, were both 20 when he was born, and I don't think Ginnie could have been much older when she had the first of her kids with Harry if my numbers are correct. It seems a little sad that the Harry Potter world is one in which you have to make nearly all your big life decisions by the age of eighteen, because afterwards your life course has been set for you.
But maybe that's me also pondering the tragedy of Snape - he was put into Slytherin House at the age of 11, and from then on in, he was forced into being the person that had to die. And that's really really sad. Poor Severus.
She didn't waste too much time on emotional angst. She didn't spend too long wallowing in 'what it's like to be a teenager'. She just pushed the story onwards, and I think I've come to the conclusion that while Rowling lacks subtlety at times, and whilst she can clunk on occasion, she tells a rattling good yarn.
I really felt carried along with events. I went all gooey when Harry and Ginnie stole their one kiss of the book. I was definitely upset when Snape died, and even more so when Lupin and Tonks (who I adored) died, but it was right. I also was really strangely touched by the Snape/Lily love story, and found myself feeling incredibly sad that Snape sacrificed so very very much, and got so little for it. He, in some ways, came out as the most honourable person in the entire series - everyone else did the right thing whilst being lauded for it, and collecting the glory. Snape did the right thing while being almost universally reviled, which was something else.
I also was very glad for the epilogue. It was nice to see a writer actually stamping the end of the book with a big firm 'CLOSURE' stamp. It ended as it should have done, although I'm now pondering the definite tendancy for very young marriage in the wizarding community. Harry's parents, from the dates given on their tombstone, were both 20 when he was born, and I don't think Ginnie could have been much older when she had the first of her kids with Harry if my numbers are correct. It seems a little sad that the Harry Potter world is one in which you have to make nearly all your big life decisions by the age of eighteen, because afterwards your life course has been set for you.
But maybe that's me also pondering the tragedy of Snape - he was put into Slytherin House at the age of 11, and from then on in, he was forced into being the person that had to die. And that's really really sad. Poor Severus.
