So. I read it.
OK first of all? I preordered from Amazon, and they promised to deliver it on 7/21, and I was sleeping and my BF went downstairs and got it and before I woke up he took off to read it first. (He claims it sat around tempting him for at least an hour before he gave in.) The only reason I didn't hunt him down and kill him like a dog was because my landlady's son had also ordered it and when I woke up (at only 2:30 pm - what?) I went downstairs and grabbed his copy, assuming it was mine. (So I didn't notice it was from Borders, not Amazon. Whatevs.) I ripped the package open before noticing the name on the front. Then I rationalized it this way, "He must have taken mine, therefore, I can read this one and everything's cool." I was wondering where the hell S. was though. Then after about 4 hours I started to suspect him. He came back around 7 and he'd finished it. Of course, since he leaves books looking as if they were never read (whereas I had already put a grease stain on my purloined copy), I made him put my real copy in Maria's son's packaging, go downstairs and apologize on my behalf. At this point I was nowhere near done. Then I had to stop because we had to go see Aimee Mann at the Warsaw (which is literally around the corner from our house). (It was S.'s belated birthday present.) She was great, it was hot as shit, I drank two (Polish-strength, no less, meaning mostly rum) rum & cokes in quick succession, ate a kielbasa sandwich and spilled ketchup down my shirt. (Luckily it was dark so no one noticed.) We came home and I resumed reading but I was tired and kinda slightly drunk, and I think some points may have escaped me. I was rushing to be done before I got spoiled, and my comprehension suffered somewhat. I finished around 2:30 am.
Long story short (too late!), I think I need to read it again. All except the Epilogue, about which I shall never speak again. That was so much crap I was almost ill. No, let's talk about the rest of it.
1) Ehhhhhhh, I dunno. I liked it, don't get me wrong. I was a little - startled? alarmed? - taken aback by the fact that MONTHS (in story-time) passed with nothing happening when the trio were on the run. I mean, versimilitude is all well and good, but it seemed excessive. I feel like it was kind of just a *gasp!* contrivance so she could have Remus/Tonks breeding. Speaking of which, did anyone think Lupin was under a spell when he was acting like a prick about Tonks? *raises hand* Anyone think she was totally his beard and that all his werewolf angst is just cover for being closeted? *raises hand again*
2) I was laughing maniacally when somehow, "Draco's wand seemed to work better for Harry than any since Hermione's" and then my Ho!Yay was deflated by it being the Doomcock Elder Wand. Although the part when Ollivander was comparing wand lengths, materials and bendyness was hysterical. And Draco clinging to Harry for dear life as they zoomed around on a broomstick trying to catch a tiara was also brilliant.
3) There were a lot of nice little bits that I truly enjoyed - the six naked Potters (ha! wonder how they'll film that one!), Luna being her excellent self (I am almost ashamed to admit that the only part where I felt tears threaten was Luna's ceiling mural, of all the damn things), Neville kicking SO MUCH ASS, the part when Hermione looked at Ron with such affection that Harry felt as if he'd caught her kissing him (that's the kind of line I'm so, so tempted to steal), the doe Patronus (despite the somewhat heavy-handed metaphor - it reminded me of Princess Mononoke), Dumbledore's dark past (and yes, Dumbledore/Grindelwald is the new black It thing), breaking out of Gringott's and liberating the dragon (that was a total awwww moment), McGonagall kicking ass with her three cat Patronuses (Patronii?), I don't even remember what all else.
4) The woobiefying of Snape was perfect, just perfect! Couldn't have been done any better than if she TRIED to make the legions of Snape-apologists faint in emo-stasy. No but I've always liked Snape, so that made me happy. And Snape/Lily made me happy - though I know I read it first in fanfic.
5) Harry digging Dobby's grave, that was quite good. I may have teared up a little, despite what I said above.
I'm gonna reread. Here's a semi-spoiler that I can't even exactly recall the cite for, but I believe it nonetheless (I made the sign meself):
ETA: PS! This is funny as shit. I think my favorite has to be "Prisoner of Ass Cabin" - classic!
Also! Have some music. I saw Silversun Pickups on Letterman a while ago, and they impressed me with their tightly-restrained emo-gression that suddenly broke out in a bunch of excessively noisy guitars and slightly spastic jumping. Put it this way - they seemed to genuinely be neurotic, not just acting. They did "Lazy Eye". I liked the lead singer's androgynous voice and the chick that plays bass and sometimes sings backup. I bought the LP and the EP (two different albums) and listened to all of it for about a month straight (interspersed with Red House Painters' Songs For A Blue Guitar and TMBG's The Else).
So with no further ado, I give you my top 5 songs by Silversun Pickups:
1) Booksmart Devil - aside from a great title, this song just kills me with the trance-out drums, space madness background, close harmony and Quine-esque solo.
2) Kissing Families - someone needs to write fic to this - either SPN or Heroes, I can't decide which. This song sounds a lot like "Lazy Eye", except better. It's got more varied parts. I literally spend the whole song waiting for the bit (~2:07) when he goes:
THANK GOD*
Your heart
is too close
The solo is cool too, I like how it sounds like the equipment's breaking. And then the crunchy bit towards the end with the screaming again.
3) ...All the Go Inbetweens - despite having mildly dumb lyrics, they sold me with the hypnotically rhythmic instrumentation on this one. I also like it when he sings low, it's sexay.
4) Lazy Eye - the single. I just like the screaming, myself. And the build-up to the screaming, which is basically the whole song. Seriously, if you don't think it's that great, just listen through once and then tell me the screaming part doesn't rule. (At approx. 2:45, if you're nasty impatient.) Every time I get to the end I want to play it again just to get to that part. PPS - this song has a subtitle and it is "(how to relate and love through slight malfunction)" - adorable!
5) Creation Lake - the totally atypical one sung by the chick bass player. I like how spacey she sounds - kind of like Luna. And "there's 24 parts in a day that divides me/from you" is a cute line.
I refuse to apologize for the fact that they're AAC's - everyone should at least have iTunes, even if you are a heretic and don't have a Mac.
* - using Harry-like CAPSLOCK OF EMO RAGE!!
Long story short (too late!), I think I need to read it again. All except the Epilogue, about which I shall never speak again. That was so much crap I was almost ill. No, let's talk about the rest of it.
1) Ehhhhhhh, I dunno. I liked it, don't get me wrong. I was a little - startled? alarmed? - taken aback by the fact that MONTHS (in story-time) passed with nothing happening when the trio were on the run. I mean, versimilitude is all well and good, but it seemed excessive. I feel like it was kind of just a *gasp!* contrivance so she could have Remus/Tonks breeding. Speaking of which, did anyone think Lupin was under a spell when he was acting like a prick about Tonks? *raises hand* Anyone think she was totally his beard and that all his werewolf angst is just cover for being closeted? *raises hand again*
2) I was laughing maniacally when somehow, "Draco's wand seemed to work better for Harry than any since Hermione's" and then my Ho!Yay was deflated by it being the Doomcock Elder Wand. Although the part when Ollivander was comparing wand lengths, materials and bendyness was hysterical. And Draco clinging to Harry for dear life as they zoomed around on a broomstick trying to catch a tiara was also brilliant.
3) There were a lot of nice little bits that I truly enjoyed - the six naked Potters (ha! wonder how they'll film that one!), Luna being her excellent self (I am almost ashamed to admit that the only part where I felt tears threaten was Luna's ceiling mural, of all the damn things), Neville kicking SO MUCH ASS, the part when Hermione looked at Ron with such affection that Harry felt as if he'd caught her kissing him (that's the kind of line I'm so, so tempted to steal), the doe Patronus (despite the somewhat heavy-handed metaphor - it reminded me of Princess Mononoke), Dumbledore's dark past (and yes, Dumbledore/Grindelwald is the new black It thing), breaking out of Gringott's and liberating the dragon (that was a total awwww moment), McGonagall kicking ass with her three cat Patronuses (Patronii?), I don't even remember what all else.
4) The woobiefying of Snape was perfect, just perfect! Couldn't have been done any better than if she TRIED to make the legions of Snape-apologists faint in emo-stasy. No but I've always liked Snape, so that made me happy. And Snape/Lily made me happy - though I know I read it first in fanfic.
5) Harry digging Dobby's grave, that was quite good. I may have teared up a little, despite what I said above.
I'm gonna reread. Here's a semi-spoiler that I can't even exactly recall the cite for, but I believe it nonetheless (I made the sign meself):
ETA: PS! This is funny as shit. I think my favorite has to be "Prisoner of Ass Cabin" - classic!
Also! Have some music. I saw Silversun Pickups on Letterman a while ago, and they impressed me with their tightly-restrained emo-gression that suddenly broke out in a bunch of excessively noisy guitars and slightly spastic jumping. Put it this way - they seemed to genuinely be neurotic, not just acting. They did "Lazy Eye". I liked the lead singer's androgynous voice and the chick that plays bass and sometimes sings backup. I bought the LP and the EP (two different albums) and listened to all of it for about a month straight (interspersed with Red House Painters' Songs For A Blue Guitar and TMBG's The Else).
So with no further ado, I give you my top 5 songs by Silversun Pickups:
1) Booksmart Devil - aside from a great title, this song just kills me with the trance-out drums, space madness background, close harmony and Quine-esque solo.
2) Kissing Families - someone needs to write fic to this - either SPN or Heroes, I can't decide which. This song sounds a lot like "Lazy Eye", except better. It's got more varied parts. I literally spend the whole song waiting for the bit (~2:07) when he goes:
THANK GOD*
Your heart
is too close
The solo is cool too, I like how it sounds like the equipment's breaking. And then the crunchy bit towards the end with the screaming again.
3) ...All the Go Inbetweens - despite having mildly dumb lyrics, they sold me with the hypnotically rhythmic instrumentation on this one. I also like it when he sings low, it's sexay.
4) Lazy Eye - the single. I just like the screaming, myself. And the build-up to the screaming, which is basically the whole song. Seriously, if you don't think it's that great, just listen through once and then tell me the screaming part doesn't rule. (At approx. 2:45, if you're nasty impatient.) Every time I get to the end I want to play it again just to get to that part. PPS - this song has a subtitle and it is "(how to relate and love through slight malfunction)" - adorable!
5) Creation Lake - the totally atypical one sung by the chick bass player. I like how spacey she sounds - kind of like Luna. And "there's 24 parts in a day that divides me/from you" is a cute line.
I refuse to apologize for the fact that they're AAC's - everyone should at least have iTunes, even if you are a heretic and don't have a Mac.
* - using Harry-like CAPSLOCK OF EMO RAGE!!