All in all, I loved the last book of the Harry Potter series. I really liked books 1-3, was disappointed in the way books 4 & 6 ended (I am not a big fan of tragic endings or killing off main characters.) and didn’t like book 5 much at all. I thought it had major plot problems. I just saw the movie though and really liked it. The movie captured perfectly what the book was aiming for and failed to produce.
So in my mind Rowling really redeemed herself with the last book. She--as always--did a superb job of world building and characterization. She turned Dumbledore into a rich, multi-dimensional character. Well, I won’t go into a list of all the things she did right. I’ll just say it was a long list. I didn’t even mind that many of my predictions didn’t happen because it was such a good story as it was. I really loved the fact that Rowling turned Harry into a Christ-like figure who had to sacrifice himself for the people he loved, and in doing so gained the power to defeat evil. It was wonderful and made me feel like I did when I read Narnia the first time. You’re reading thinking: No, no, no! And then: Yes, yes, yes!
It also explained and vindicated all of those times in the book (that initially I found very annoying) where Harry turned around and tried to help the people who’d just been trying to hurt and kill him. I mean, I was with Ron when he yelled at Harry while he tried to save Malfoy. Like, would you really give the person who has just been trying to kill you another chance to do it? But when I read the climax and realized what Rowling had symbolically done, I realized that Harry couldn’t have acted any other way. He was a savior not only for the good, but for everyone.
And I thought the whole thing with Snape was so powerfully poignant.
I cried in several places—and it always strikes me that some of the places where I cry in a book, the author probably didn’t intend people to cry. I wonder what it says about you—you know which parts make you cry. For example I cried when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were exhausted and couldn’t make their petronas and their friends came up behind them and did it for them. I was just so glad that Harry wasn’t alone for the final fight (like I thought he would be) but instead was surrounded by all of his friends. That was absolutely beautiful.
Anyway, I’m just wondering where the rest of you cried.
10 comments:
My sister said she cried off and on through the book too. But I didn't . . . don't know what's wrong with me. I didn't even cry when Dumbledore died.
Okay, wait. I'm checking . . . yeah, I still have a pulse. And yup, there's a heartbeat.
Oh well, loved the book. I simply couldn't put it down, but no tears. Big sigh!
I usally don't cry either. I don't think I cried when Dubledore died. (I think I just fumed at JK Rowling.) But see that's what I mean--I think I cry more at the happy parts.
I got teary when the resurrection stone brought his loved ones back--though I wondered why Dumbledore didn't come with them--and I got a little teary when Neville came and told them he was living as a fugitive in the room of requirement and had kept the army going. I love Neville. But I didn't cry over the death's, mostly because I felt they were kind of thrown in and they weren't 'shown'.
but it was an intense book and I loved it.
It only needed a kissing scene between Hermoinie and Harry to have been perfect--but I've mentioned that before . . .
I thought the scene where Ron and Harry were thrown in the dungeon while Hermione was being tortured was heart wrenching. With Ron yelling "HERMIONE!" over and over it was like he was the one being tortured.
But the part that made me cry was when Harry realized that he would have to die, and he was willing to do it.
Too bad you weren't at the family reunion where I was the only one who had cried when I read the book. I never knew our family had hearts of stone!! I cried during the whole part about Snape loving Lily all those years, and then when he wanted Harry to look at him so he could see Lily's eyes before he died, total tear jerker!! And I never even liked Snape. I loved the book but had to defend it to many of the family, I finally gave up.
See, this is just one more reason that my family shouldn't plan reunions when my kids are back in school.
None of the rest of them cried? Really? (Secretly I always knew the rest of the family had hearts of stone. This is the reason they gave away my pet cat therefore forcing me in some vague Freudian way to keep every stray I came across as an adult.)
I cried when Fred died but it was a good way for him to die, with his last joke still on his lips.
That was really the only time i cried.
And I am so HAPPY it was RON and HERMIONE not Harry and Hermione, that would have ruined it. Harry will always be with Ginny.
my friend loves harry potter i had some stuff of harry potter and i didnt want it and she loved the stuff that i had.
my friend says that there were sad moments, but that wasnt something to cry over. But it was fasanating in some ways, like the end.
I sobbed when dobby died, and when Sirius, Lily, James, Remus, and those people cameback with the resurection stone. I mean, when they came back, I sobbed!!!! It was he saddest thing for me.
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