Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

Date Posted: 07.22.07

Naturally I read the new Harry Potter book. Indeed, I planned a whole day of it. I had wonderful cheesy, steak nachos and jelly belly beans for desert. I had vodka/lemonade slushies I bought myself a bright shiny new lime green raft for the pool. I was set! Then of course the boys who have been helping me with the house didn't leave until after 3. Then it started to storm. Its kind of hard to read a book while floating on a raft in a pool in a rainstorm, so I retired to my patio where I camped out for the rest of the evening and read the whole thing in one greedy gulp.

I know I shouldn't have read it all at once. Normally I would try and pace myself with a new novel but I wanted a day of complete worthlessness and indulgence. I didn't get as much worthlessness as I wanted (see the part about boys helping with house renovations) but I did get some indulgence. I deserved it. It seems like all I ever do is work and it's summer! I am supposed to be off in summer. Harry Potter seemed like as good an excuse as any.

I have to admit that while I really do like Harry Potter it isn't even in my top 10 favorites. I feel compelled to loyally admit that if Orson Scott Card would just release a novel to connect his Ender series and Shadow series, as it is rumored he might, I will have to throw a full fledged super party for my little lonesome. There will probably be joy dancing and much clapping and shouting praises.

If you want to know what I thought of the Deathly Hallows keep on reading ...

The book was good. It was as good as I expected it to be. Some of my predictions were true. A lot of things I just had hunches about where true. Some were not. The book was not surprising but it was very well done.

It starts of with a very dark, creepy feeling. I think that some may criticize Rowling for that since it is ostensibly a kids book but I think it was perfect. When I was a kid I thought up exactly the types of things Rowling uses in her books. It might scare a child but I that is not entirely bad. Children, like adults often like to be a little scared.

It had many of the endearing qualities Rowling seemed to omit in her last book. Harry and Ron are such adorably typical teenage boys. Harry breaks a teacup and cleans up the mess with a wad of toilet paper, which made me laugh. After all, its far more logical to use mushy, wet, crumbly toilet paper that is a few feet away rather than just go get a towel. Its just so much something a teenaged boy would do.

Ron's birthday gift to Harry is a book on how to woe women. This struck me as enormously funny not because a book like that had been written, but because I could so easily picture Ron consulting it like a bible.

The redemption of Kreacher was touching. It was also a valuable lesson on how to treat people. The death of Dobby made me cry.

I felt Ron was a little ill treated in the books. He could have been fleshed out more. The character has always seemed more whiney and annoying than anything. I hoped this book would redeem him more. I actually really expected him to die heroically, possibly killing Nagini.

I liked the fact that Neville got to cut of Nagini's head but I wish there had been more resolution about his parents. I thought something was important about them.

I wasn't surprised that Remus died but I was a little surprised that Tonks did as well, especially since there was no real explanation. She seemed important enough to warrant more detail.

Harry being a horocrux was very predictable but the way it was handled was original and interesting.

I liked the gray zone Rowling erected around Dumbledore.

Snape's story was beautifully handled. I was pretty much in the "he' a good guy" camp. I expected him to be a gray character and he was. I wasn't even that surprised that he was Lily's friend. I was surprised at how moving I found the scenes described in the pensive. I can't even put my finger on why it seems so intense but It did make me all teary eyed and sniffly.

The death of Fred Weasley was sad. I loved the reconciliation with Percy. I expected that and was glad to see it happen with one of the twins but following it with Fred's death was heartbreaking. Why does it always seem so much worse to kill off a twin?

I didn't expect the epilogue at the end of the book. I don't know why I didn't think Rowling would do that but I didn't. It was a nice little surprise that addition. Obviously everyone expected the pairing off but it was still nice to get the official details.

Overall the book was much faster paced than the last two and better written than any. It was mature without loosing the magic. It was fun to read and fun to think about. It was moving. It was an accomplishment of a lifetime. Hats go off to J.K Rowling.

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