So!! Who's finished Deathly Hallows?? by PhoenixRose

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So!! Who's finished Deathly Hallows??

POSTED BY: PHOENIXROSE
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 22, 2007 09:03
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Thursday, August 2, 2007 6:47 PM

Great topic! I'm enjoying reading people's thoughts about The Deathly Hallows. It took me a bit longer to read - about 5 days (evenings) but I had a lot going on. I was struck by the archetypical nature of the story and the way JKR worked with those themes, i.e., friendship, loyalty, the whole greater good issue. It's one of the things that drew me to BTVS. Using fiction and magical worlds provides an opportunity to make everyday life events more dramatic. I thought JKR did an excellent job and rather liked that she chose to focus on attractions rather than delve into the sexuality. It's a choice that worked, in my opinion.

Snape, I think, had developed a fondness for Harry but struggled within himself. He was a wounded person from early childhood and those kinds of wounds often don't heal. It seems that Harry was able to see what Snape had himself sacrificed. He redeemed himself as much as was possible for him.

I liked the way she explored everyone's challenges with making the "right" choice. While I didn't like the way Dumbledore used Harry, it reminded me of Viviene and Morgaine in the Mists of Avalone. Whether or not Dumbledore foresaw the possibility of Harry sacrificing himself (another scene from the the hero/martyr mythos) which would allow him to be saved or return from the dead, wasn't clear to me.

I wasn't disappointed in the end. Plan to start re-reading the series.

Siri

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Thursday, August 2, 2007 10:35 PM

BROWNCOAT2007

Quote:

71 years assuming my math is correct. Riddle was 16 when he first opened the chamber of secrets and made the book horcrux. That happened 50 years before the events of Chamber of Secrets. Add 5 years to get to Deathly Hallows.

David

"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time."

Thanks for the math check... just happened to pop on quick a few nights ago and it was LATE (or early, depending on how you want to look at it) and I wasn't in the right state of mind to be doing any form of thinking

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Friday, August 3, 2007 4:46 AM

DAVESHAYNE

Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat2007:
Quote:

71 years assuming my math is correct. Riddle was 16 when he first opened the chamber of secrets and made the book horcrux. That happened 50 years before the events of Chamber of Secrets. Add 5 years to get to Deathly Hallows.

David

"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time."

Thanks for the math check...

You're welcome. Of course the thing that kind of niggled at me from all this is that Hagrid is in the area of 68. He seems a bit too spry to be that old to me; maybe the giant blood means he doesn't age as quickly or something.

David

"Looks like we got here just in the nick of time."

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Monday, August 6, 2007 6:37 PM

ASORTAFAIRYTALE

I loved this book so much! It's gotta be my favorite out of all of them now. Although, I did cry a lot more for this one than any other Harry Potter book...But I love it when you can care that much about characters in a work of fiction (like Firefly haha). I didn't mind so much about Dobby's death, 'cause he always sorta bugged me, but Fred and Lupin...I really liked those characters! I agree that they should've shown more of George's reaction too, I was disappointed that she didn't.
I have to say that I kinda have to like Snape now. Before this one, I was sure that he was just a rotten guy and just gonna end up being evil and everything, but then, I was wrong! Of course he's still not my favorite character...
The epilogue was probably my favorite part of the whole book, maybe just because it was all resolved and happy, which didn't happen that often in that book.
Yeah, seriously good book.

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Those who don't hear the music think the dancers mad.

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Monday, August 6, 2007 6:56 PM

REGINAROADIE

Actually, one detail of the book kinda threw me for a loop, but then upon thinking about it made perfect sense.

When Harry and Hermione went to Godric's Hollow and visited his parents graves and his family home (I can't wait to see that scene in the film just for the visual of a half destroyed home covered with snow and lit by an electric orange streetlight), I blinked when I saw that the date of their death was Oct 31st 1981. 1981. That meant that this book actually took place in either 97 or 98, which was around the time that PHILOSOPHER'S STONE was first published. And that the 19 years later epilogue is in either 2016 or 2017. I guess you just take it for granted that the book and movies took place today. You don't realize that all this actually took place in the past.

I don't think they'll change the movies to fit this detail, though. ORDER OF THE PHOENIX looks like it takes place today, so...

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"And it starts with a sentence that might last a lifetime, or it all might just go down in flames. If I let you know me, then why would you want me? Each day I don't is a shame. Each day I don't is a great shame."

Loudon Wainwright III - "Strange Weirdos" off the "Knocked Up" soundtrack

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Tuesday, August 7, 2007 2:28 PM

DONCOAT

Actually, the dates of the events in the books were pretty well fixed in Chamber of Secrets. In the "deathday party" scene, Nick says it's the 500th anniversary of his death, and it's also stated that he died in 1492. That means Book 2 took place in 1992, and Harry was 12 then.

However, the HP chronology isn't too strict with dates. In several cases the days of the week don't match the calendar date (when given) for that year. One example is that the Hogwarts Express always leaves on September 1, and it's a Monday in at least two successive years. That can't happen.

I have a different problem with the behavior of the Elder Wand, which doesn't seem to match the way JKR describes it. For example, was Grindelwald recognized as the wand's legitimate owner, even though he stole it without defeating Gregorovich? If not, how did Dumbledore become the legitimate owner? Maybe the wand's power actually broke decades ago!

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I'm pointin' right at it!

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Tuesday, August 7, 2007 5:58 PM

SAB39

He DID defeat him. That's why he waited sitting in the window to shoot a stunning spell at Gregorovitch before scampering.

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Saturday, August 18, 2007 2:06 PM

STINKINGROSE

Not that it isn't better than anything I could do, buuuut:

It was definitely a little heavy handed, and somewhat of a formulaic rehash. It felt sloppy and rushed in a "just finish the damned thing" way, but that could have been a side effect of editors and publishers breathing down her neck.
The whole "Harry as Christ Figure" thing has been brewing away for quite some time, but if you're going to steal plot you might as well steal from a worldwide best seller.

I am raising my hand as one who was at least mildly annoyed by the epilogue.

Snape was still a weasel, and pathetic in the "now that's just sad.." sense. That being said, Alan Rickman can poison me any day! 'K maybe not..

I just sort of tossed the book on the nightstand and thought "eh, could have been worse." It just seems like if you're writing the final book in what is quite possibly the biggest hit series of books to date.. you'd really put some polish on it and craft it into the crowning jewel, not the little twist tie in back of the coronet with the little bits of solder hanging off.

Yeah, yeah.. bitch, bitch, bitch.
Hey, at least she bothered to finish the series out.

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007 7:34 PM

BROWNCOAT2007

Quote:
Originally posted by sab39:
Voldemort: You died, Mister Potter...
Harry: Seemed like the thing to do...

[time passes...]

Harry: You wanna meet the real me now?!

... FREAKIN' PERFECT!!!

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 12:58 AM

SAB39

Quote:
Originally posted by Daphne:
Dobby was really the hardest loss (I knew Snape would have to die so it wasn't as shocking), Tonks and Lupin were done for as soon as they made Harry godfather.

I'm rereading the series from the beginning and I just noticed another one of those little heartbreaking asides at the end of Chamber of Secrets - Harry telling Dobby "just promise never to try to save my life again".

Gets me very choked up. Honestly, there could be tears.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 9:03 AM

DONCOAT

I joined a DH reading group over at Leaky Cauldron (I'm "Oddment! Tweak!" over there). Pretty interesting. The reading groups work much better than the main forum, which is so busy you can't possibly keep up.

One little tidbit that's come out in my group, which I totally missed on first reading: in the scene where Harry leaves Privet Drive for the last time, he loses his Firebolt. Yet with everything else that's going on, he never even mentions it or thinks about it. What a change from the way he mourned the Nimbus in "Prisoner of Azkaban".

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I'm pointin' right at it!

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