As some of you are sure to have noticed, my weekend review was not published this weekend in a timely fashion. This was because I had planned beforehand to make this a Harry Potter wrap-up post, only I’d been stewing over it too much to trust myself to have written coherent thoughts on it before now. Even last evening, on the phone with a friend who’d also read the book, I found myself frequently reduced to using obscenity to communicate my displeasure.
Yes… displeasure.
I finished the book at about 6:45am on Saturday morning, and was so pissed at how it had wrapped that, even as tired as I was, I couldn’t fall asleep for another 45 minutes or so. My first impression of the book was that it was my least favorite of the seven (and not by a particularly close margin), that it had been ended clumsily, and could have done with a blanket revision.
So I gave myself a few days to stew, re-read the final third-ish a few times, and I’ll admit, it’s growing on me a little (but not enough). Certainly not enough that the vast number of positive media stories have made sense to me. I still think that it’s my least favorite of the seven, and I still wish she’d ended it differently. But I’ve waited long enough… here are my thoughts on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
OKAY… HERE’S WHERE A NORMAL PERSON WOULD PUT A SPOILER ALERT… AND I’M DOING IT AS A COURTESY (YEAH, I CAN BE NICE SOMETIMES), BUT DAMN, FINISH THE FUCKING BOOK ALREADY… IT’S BEEN OUT FOR OVER 72 HOURS… GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER
There were things that I liked, certainly. Most notably, I found myself very impressed by what Rowling did with Dumbledore’s character. In a series that has been full of complex characters who are not always what they seem, Dumbledore’s presence in the first six books had been purely good. I appreciated finding out about his history and about how his past is more checkered than he let on. And, if anything, I actually left Deathly Hallows with more respect for Dumbledore because while he was tempted, faced personal hardship, and had done things that he very clearly regrets, he nevertheless managed to turn his life into one of which he could be proud.
As much as I like the way that Rowling developed Harry, the fact that Harry has never been tempted by evil makes him a less interesting and less complex character. Leaving aside implausibility (if he was offered a way to save his friends/bring back his dead family and friends, he would jump at it no matter what it involved, right?), it’s just less interesting for Harry to be such a one-dimensional character. Notwithstanding his use of unforgivable curses (a first for him, which really surprised me given how his character has been developed), Harry has never exhibited dark tendencies of any kind. Dumbledore managed to overcome his past failings/dalliances with misdirected personal ambition and become a representative of all that was good in the wizarding world. This is more plausible, more interesting, more easy to identify with/aspire to, and generally more compelling.
There were also very specific scenes which I really liked a lot. I really liked the scene where Harry digs the grave for Dobby by hand; I thought it was extremely moving and a fitting end for Dobby. I really liked the description of the “Battle of Hogwarts;” it’s hard to imagine a proper fantasy series without an epic pitched battle of some kind, and of course Rowling’s was brilliantly crafted. That it stood out from a lot of the rest of the book in that regard is actually a bad sign, but nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely.
With that said, however, there were many more things of which I was not a fan:
I really didn’t like how she handled Snape in this book. I noted in my preview that I thought he would turn out to be good and that there had to be some iron-clad reason why Dumbledore trusted him, and I really liked how she resolved that issue. It is fitting that a deep personal love is the only thing that could compel someone to put himself in such danger, and the only thing that would be above possible corruption. For example, when Narcissa Malfoy pretends that Harry really is dead at the end because she’s more concerned about Draco than Voldemort, we see that love can overcome any other motivator. I think she handled the theory of Snape great. But as arguably the most unique/compelling character in the series, we literally only saw him for one chapter, and that was through his memories. I would have enjoyed an expanded role for Snape in Deathly Hallows.
I also strongly disliked how Rowling rather unapologetically turned Harry into a Christ metaphor. And while I kind of saw it coming, and while I appreciate the irony of Harry Potter ending up as a great Christian allegory while organized Christian religions around the world bash the book for its connections to witchcraft and wizardry, I must say that I was rather hoping that she would do something else with the end. Consider that:
Harry basically “dies” to save the rest of humanity, willingly walks to his death without second thought (totally at peace with his decision), has to endure the jeers of the death eaters as he stands facing death, “dies” for a little bit, comes back, and triumphs over evil forever (because of his willingness to face death). I mean, God damn it. Why did she have to do that? One of the things that had been great about Harry Potter had been that nobody had ever really seen anything like it before; it was a great feat of imagination that was unique and original. To end it in such a hackneyed way–indeed, the least original way possible, if you think about it–disappointed me a little bit.
I was also not really a fan of all the time spent with Harry, Ron, and Hermione traipsing through British woods and camping. If one can say anything for sure about this book, it was that there was whiplash-inducing shifting between really fast-paced action and rather dull, monotonous scenes. Obviously a book can’t be all action, but it’s not like she was developing characters in that time; hearing them bitch at each other got old pretty quickly.
And while we’re on the subject of the end, I thought it was ludicrous that after making a big deal of Griphook taking the Gryffindor sword from Harry in Gringotts, Neville just kind of had it in the end to kill the snake. Where the fuck did that come from? And I mean, I was as happy as anyone to see Neville do something important and overcome being sort of useless, but wouldn’t it have been waaaaaay more fitting to have him be the one who killed Bellatrix Lestrange, given what she did to his parents? And after building up Ginny’s magical abilities in Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, to have her play basically no role in the end disappointed me and surprised me a little bit. Although, the end did allow for me to wildly enjoy seeing the word “BITCH” in capitals in a Harry Potter book.
Speaking of that, btw… Does anyone else think that maybe the 9 and 10 year old (and younger) kids reading this thing are maybe a little young? I read a lot of books when I was younger before I should have, and I can unequivocally say that I didn’t appreciate them as much as I would have had I been older. Here, I was incredibly lucky to have aged at roughly the same rate as Harry; to grow with the characters and to see the emotional weight increase as my own emotional maturity (theoretically) increased at the same time. But do we really think that this book is the best thing for really little kids to be reading?
I wasn’t really a fan of the hallows thing either. Seemed like a cop-out to me. Although I also noted that she’d have to do something about the wand thing, creating the hallows to resolve that issue was sort of odd. And also, if Dumbledore got the elder wand when he dueled Grindelweld, how does that makes sense? If Gridelweld was dueling with the elder wand, how would Dumbledore have been able to defeat him? What’s the point of a wand that makes you an undefeatable dueler if you can be, um, defeated?
The absolute worst thing, though, was definitely the epilogue. Fuck. Seriously. It was totally unnecessary, but if you’re going to have it, fucking tell me something other than that a) Harry and Ginny get together and have kids, b) Ron and Hermione get together and have kids. What do they all do for a living? How does Harry deal with his post Voldemort life? How has Hermione chosen to direct her considerable intellect? And to let us know that Neville is the Herbology professor at Hogwarts is little more than a cruel joke; in demonstrating her willingness to let us know what happens to other characters and then not telling us about anyone else, she’s basically saying “hey, fuck you,” to the reader. What happens to the Weasley family? How does George live without Fred? And what the hell happens to Hogwarts? Who’s the headmaster? In a series that has seen so many different characters be developed so richly, her choosing to end it on such a note is extensively frustrating and more than a little bit infuriating.
Anyway, those were my somewhat-mitigated/blunted first impressions. Perhaps I will have more later on, after I think some more.
(Oh, and before I forget… my preview post was really good, in retrospect… I very rarely give myself credit for stuff like this, so I’m allowing myself this one pat on the back… please forgive me.)
In other news:
- Um, don’t look now, but Ron mother-fucking Paul led all Republican Presidential contenders in dollars raised from men and women affiliated with the military, including those on active duty, handily beating out even John “but I was a prisoner of war” McCain. He’s obviously not going to win, but what does that say about how the US Military feels about the current state of government in the US right now? I’m sure someone who feels like they know more about the military will jump down my throat in the comments section, but I just think it’s interesting that the servicemen are supporting the one Republican (I think) who’s advocating getting out of Iraq. And I just think it’s interesting that Paul, who’s fucking crazy, garnered the most money from the armed services.
- By way of an update…my post on Ichiro being overpaid generated quite a lot of rancor in the comments section. This was not entirely unwarranted; it was one of the worst posts I’ve put up here. I’ve opted to leave it up, unedited, but I just want to update the situation by pointing out that Ichiro’s new deal actually will call for the Mariners to be paying him through 2032. He’s apparently deferring $5 million a year at 5.5% interest. Can we at least agree that this is a terrible idea for the Mariners, to have someone on their books for 20 years after his contract is up?
- For anyone who is a fan of baseball and the old Goldeneye video game (or humor), this is a must read… It’s not new, but the site that it’s from is sort of my new obsession. I’ve actually laughed to the point of crying at a couple of the posts here. It gets my top possible recommendation. Seriously… go there. Now… don’t even bother with the end of this.
- I’m sort of torn on this story. On the one hand, it occurs to me that one of the reasons that American students are falling behind their foreign counterparts is that too many parents don’t take the underlying attitude of these parents in China, for example. I mean, just from personal experience (and observation of my friends), what is generally the best way to perform worse in school grade-wise, other than a coke-habit, is to acquire a girlfriend (or boyfriend). I have a lot of respect for a country that prizes academic and intellectual success over making sure that you have a boyfriend when you’re in middle school. At the same time… you’re worried that teaching kids how to waltz is going to ruin their lives and make them lovesick zombies who suck at school? Really? I mean that’s a bit much there. Although we all know that China is fucking crazy… so who knows?
- Also, I didn’t happen to watch, but apparently tonight’s Democratic debate involved questions that had been submitted in video form via youtube. As a result, questions could be sung/acted/etc… apparently this ended up being pretty much the way any sane person would have expected… People have been giving me shit for being unregistered, but I mean… to participate in this? Really? You’re giving me shit for wanting to merely go and watch the circus without wanting to get shot out of the cannon? Really?
- I’m following the Tour de France about as closely as I usually do (which is to say, rather closely), and let me just say that I think it’s really funny that the guy who’s leading this year is looking increasingly guilty of doping violations despite the Tour’s efforts to clean up the sport and prevent just this situation. Personally, my position on performance enhancing drugs in sports is pretty liberal–if it wasn’t for the fact that there are people who wouldn’t want to take them even if they were legal who would be at a competitive disadvantage, I would be absolutely in favor of them. Let’s think about this–you’re telling me that given the traits that we prize in athletes (intense competitiveness/desire to be the best/ability to perform freakish physical feats), it’s reasonable to expect them not to be tempted by performance enhancers? That’s bullshit. The Rasmussen thing at the Tour is funny because it’s illustrative of how you will never be able to stamp performance enhancers out of intensely competitive endurance sports. (BTW… for the record, I’m kind of a Contador fan… so I hope he destroys Rasmussen on the last mountain stage on Wednesday or in the last time trial.)
- And finally, Mike Vick is crazy. I would write more, but expect a full post on this subject. I’m holding up a little bit because I think we all know what happens when you jump the gun on a potential scandal. Although I’m fairly confident this is different, why repeat the mistakes of the past if you don’t have to repeat them? But for now, I will say that he’s really fucking stupid. He’s a professional athlete who had no reason to do something that stupid except for that he couldn’t think of anything better to do. I know it’s probably too much to ask that he read a book or something, but surely Madden ‘08 could keep him occupied? I guess not… what a fucker.
July 24, 2007 at 9:37 am
I’m only halfway through the book (decent so far), so I skipped this post, but I just want to say I was surprised to hear you’d read the 6th book 8-10 times. The series has been declining since #4, and #6 sucked. It was like the characters got dumber as they aged.
July 24, 2007 at 3:40 pm
first, i would just like to mention that you saying that you “rarely give yourself credit for stuff like this” is just a little bit laughable. and although im sure you’ll disagree vehemently and with your usual bluster, that just had to be pointed out.
i actually liked the book and the ending, though i’ll concede it was in many ways weaker than the other books. the gryffindor’s sword thing was definitely weird (i read an interesting explanation on slate that said something to the effect of if you asked rowling ‘how did the sword end up in the hat?’ she’d probably answer ‘MAGIC’). the wand issue though was definitely more interesting for me–the only way i could understand it is that grindelwald was never the master of the elder wand, because he stole it from gregorovitch (instead of defeating him in a duel). but of course that would mean that dumbledore could’ve never been the master, so neither could’ve draco and then harry. one of our friend’s explanations for this was that maybe it has to just do with the “wand choosing its master” (so maybe it chose dumbledore etc…obviously it’s still kinda sketchy). the other alternative is that as long as you defeat the previous wand’s owner (as opposed to master), you become the master. so grindelwald didn’t defeat gregorovitch, but dumbledore did defeat grindelwald, and draco defeated dumbledore, and harry defeated draco. seems like it could maybe work, although still kind of weird logic (and possibly conflicting with harry’s if i die a natural death, the wand’s powers will die with it).
i mostly agree with you about the christ-type stuff etc. i didn’t really mind that snape didn’t play a huge role in the book, and i definitely didnt see the way he turned out to be good coming (although i’d assumed he would redeem himself in this book). but i was kind of unhappy that dumbledore came back to advise harry (it’s too much like star wars and obi wan kenobi being killed but becoming ‘more powerful than you could possibly imagine’). i feel like having him not be in the final book at all except maybe as like a memory or something would have been much more powerful. also not a big fan of a lot of the blatant lifting from other books (see the part where the locket essentially makes ron weighed down and selfish the same way the ring in lotr does).
but i think the biggest point where i disagree with you is the epilogue–i found it entirely fitting. i would argue that the whole thematic thrust of the series is ultimately about the importance of family and the friends who surround you, and the impact of your choices as they affect those people specifically. think of harry’s mom’s sacrifice, dumbledore’s neglect resulting in the death of his sister, ron’s desertion of his friends, james & co. treating pettigrew like dirt, lily’s choice to defend snape, and so on. to me, the series isn’t about defeating the dark lord or passing your tests and becoming an auror or even saving man(wizard?)kind as much as it is about harry, a boy who is homeless in almost every sense of the word, finding a family and home. i would point out that another of the major themes of the story is that it’s not who you are and what you do for a living that’s important. so letting us know that harry became an auror and hermione became the headmaster of hogwarts or whatever would have completely undermined this. (on a totally irrelevant sidenote, apparently the epilogue was written in 1990).
moreover, im not even that sure that putting in the kind of information that you want would have made the book better. let’s say harry became an auror…so what? as today’s slate also pointed out, there’s nothing to say that this didn’t happen either…you’re free to imagine as you see fit. with epilogues there’s always a tricky balance between saying too little and saying too much (think of the chapters long ending of the lotr…when i first read that i seriously just couldn’t get over the fact that sauron had been defeated and i still had 150 pages to go). the epilogue here emphasizes the most important point in rowling’s mind–that harry, the longely orphan who became more and more estranged as the series went on, is no longer alone. for a series that was all about family, ending with a glimpse of harry’s family was, to me at least, completely satisfying.
July 24, 2007 at 3:56 pm
as for the ron paul thing, i don’t disagree with you on the interpretation of giving money to ron paul.
but as a matter of statistics (and not misinterpreting them), i would, however, be interested to see how many people those contributions actually comprised for each candidate (paul got 23,000 dollars in contribution according to your link). in a military that has 1.4 million personnel on active duty (says wikipedia) and god only knows how many veterans, trying to take stock of that population’s political thoughts on iraq from a max sample of approx 37,000 people (assuming everybody gave $1 only, a very loose and unlikely assumption) is a bit odd. especially since the sample isn’t random. i would agree though that of those who donate money to the republican party and have an affiliation with the armed forces, apparently a majority want to get the fuck out. but those are some pretty big qualifications. (to be clear, im not saying that the military wants to stay in iraq or anything–im just saying that this is not a good way to extrapolate the points you’re trying to).
as should be clear by now, i have absolutely no intention of doing any real work at my job today. fuck it, im going to go home right now.
July 24, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Okay… first, the not giving myself credit line was actually sarcastic… Huang told me that you and he agreed that my preview post was good but didn’t want to be too effusive in praise because it would swell my already swollen head… So I just put it in to be funny…
I, on the other hand, am doing real work, so my additional Harry Potter thoughts will be up this evening.
Also, I really like that I got to use the “sweet and sour so hot so sticky” tag again. That was incredibly exciting.
July 24, 2007 at 4:17 pm
a further qualification i thought of…the report was for the quarter ended in july…time ovb, anyone? anyone?
im clearly pretty bored. good luck with that real work. i guess we’ll have to argue potter later.
July 24, 2007 at 7:19 pm
I haven’t finished reading the post yet, but I read the part about how Harry’s one dimensional (never having been tempted by evil) and that Dumbledore is easier to aspire to, and felt compelled to point out the obvious:
HARRY IS JESUS.
Jesus was all good, all the time, and as such is one dimensional by default. As the finale makes abundantly clear, Harry is humanity’s savior. What kind of savior gives in to temptation? Fuck JKR, btw, for doing the Jesus thing. I wasn’t aware I had unwittingly picked up a C.S. Lewis book.
July 24, 2007 at 7:36 pm
Having read the rest of the post now, I should have known you’d lament the Christ metaphor, rendering my previous post redundant. I’m leaving it up because I’m pissed enough about it that I think it should be stated twice. However, I still believe it was more ballsy of her to do that than to just have Harry win without the metaphor. This way, she kind of makes this whole last book double birds to all who criticize her on religious grounds. Maybe she’s Galileo instead of Lewis.
July 24, 2007 at 10:51 pm
haven’t read your post yet, but i love it how i’m not on your blogroll yet. asshole. hahahaha
July 25, 2007 at 1:40 am
Okay. That was better than 6, and I feel satisfied with the ending thematically. I honestly believe she never should have made the stories darker because she does a light universe so much better. It felt like fanfiction a little too often for my liking. 1-3 and sometimes 4 remain The Pantheon for HP.
July 25, 2007 at 8:51 am
So I actually have to get shit done today, but I just wanted to say that I’m torn on the epilogue. The teeny bopper in me enjoyes reading the happy stuff about how “they all lived happily ever after” but the logical college graduate was screaming out with “you can’t possibly put in an epilogue at all without addressing all of these other issues!” I mean seriously. The series is seven freakin books long (and I do mean long). You really think that an epilogue discussing a couple of key characters is really going to work? I say you either cut us off and make us use our imaginations for all of the future (which, I believe, is one of the major components of reading a novel) or give us a sequel that will touch upon the character development that we used to love so much about the series. Not some lame ass mushy paragraphs set in Kings Cross nineteen years down the road.
Speaking of character development, while yes that love thing is pretty important in the Snape storyline, what I really loved finding out about him wasn’t so much why he was so trusted by Dumbledore, but rather where he came from and the fact that he knew Lily before Hogwarts. Also, I loved having the young Petunia included in the book, but this raises the issue of why the Dursleys are never discussed again. I mean, I realize she never talks about them except in the beginning of each book, but really? This is the last one. You couldn’t tell us whether Voldemort tried to attack them or whether or not they lived? Really? PS, Seamus and Dean? And where the hell did Oliver Wood come from in the end? Or did I just miss his entrance in all of the excitement (very possible… I tend to get ahead of myself and read too fast for my own good when I get caught up in a story’s plot line and anything exciting is happening)?
Also, I would like to point out that Jesus has been in the “Deathly Hallows” or Kings Cross or wherever for almost 2000 years now and at some point when he comes back to defeat Vol… I mean Satan, after his lengthy discussion with Dum… I mean God (damnnit, I keep doing that… don’t know why, really) of whether or not he really wants to/should go back, I would like to think that the epic battle of Armageddon will involve massive amounts of red and green colored lightning. As well as Invisibility Cloaks. And the word “BITCH.” And I hope Morgan Freeman plays God in the Blockbuster hit that will inevitably ensue. It’ll be called “Jesus Almighty.”
God I love Christ imagery…
August 30, 2007 at 8:49 pm
you all put down so much in this book its really quite annoying, i know you are entitled to your opinion but it was clear from the beginning that harry was to be a Christ like figure. If you disagree with that so much then you shouldn’t have read the other books. I think it was a great book and a great ending, I could not have ended it in a better way. It was exciting with twists and everyone i know was so emotional after they read it. The epilogue was admittedly cheesy but it was cute, the naming of their children after important characters, it was what readers wanted to see happen, it also ended the serioes well because it shows now their own children going off to hogwarts. And all of the things you say were never answered and dont make sense? I came up with an answer for each of them, you can find them in this book or the previous books. Some of the things you say dont make sense are actually common sense. Like Oliver Wood coming at the end. Clearly when all the family of students and friends of students found out about the battle they rushed over, Oliver came with them. And the Dursley’s it is safe to infer that they stayed safe considering she mentions nothing of them later in the book. You need to think past whats just written on the page and use some common sense for damn sakes. Stop being so cynical, it is an enjoyable book.
August 30, 2007 at 8:52 pm
And if you didn’t realize from the beginning or at least the 4th book that harry was going to be a Christ figure then you are RETARDED. Honestly, it was clear the whole series so don’t say fuck JKR for doing the Jesus thing, fuck you for being so dumb to not realize it and continue reading the books that pissed you off so much.