Thanks for linking to this! And I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed the whole dumping-the-redhead-at-the-funeral similarity. What, she was out of ideas and watched Spider-Man for inspiration?
Gotta dump Ginny but Ron and Hermione can go with him...because Harry doesn't give a shit if Voldemort uses them against him, I guess. *rolls eyes, burns copy of book*
What *hasn't* she watched for inspiration? It seems as though anything in this book that made even remote sense had been lifted from some movie or TV Show. Or Dickens, which is almost worse, if you ask me.
The only thing I liked about this book is that Harry stopped being eternally pissed off at the world, which was the theme of the last book. Instead we got 'Humdy-dum, I don't have a plot, but here's a lot of backstory with a death at the end just to give people something to talk about. Oh, and sex.' You could literally summarize the last two books in a couple of chapters at the beginning of book 7 and then hopefully go on to something happening. Grr.
Personally, I figure she'd going to kill him off. The great death scene to prove which side he's on once and for all.
Let's see--Wormtail's betrayal of V (since Harry saved his life, ya know); Snape's redemption; why V taking H's blood was a good thing; the point to the Dursleys (if there is one); finding and destroying Horcruxes (including Harry, if he is one); getting the real locket back from Mundungus; the showdown with V.
After the 6th book's lack of imagination, I'm betting she drops half the plot points she's left hanging. Grr.
I consider only drama of ideas real drama. All these lockets, trinket, cups and saucers don't interest me one bit. Blood schmood, who the hell cares? Snape's redemption is just about the only interesting thing about this entire set-up. That's like saying that an Auschwitz guard could repent. Or better yet, someone from Mengele's team. And yet, well, couldn't he have? Is he not also fundamentally human and capable of admitting he'd made mistakes? Can someone be bad person in the service of Good? That's interesting. The rest is half-Pokemon half-Disney fairy tales stuff.
But isn't that true of all genres? Without a drama of ideas to underlie it, action is just blowing things up, politics are just complicated he did/she did, sci-fi is just clever technical plans, etc. Characters without greater significance are boring, from Disney to Shakespeare. I'm a great fantasy fan--but I stopped reading new things about the fiftieth 'group of misfits goes through a trilogy' that was published. The pieces mean nothing without ideas to back them up
( ... )
I don't think she can. It's a theme fit for Dostoyevsky. I doubt I could ever believe that someone could have got into being a Death Eater with full understanding of what they were doing and then somehow *realize* that hey, killing and torturing people is wrong! And yet if he entered *not* thinking about what his potions would be used for and then suddenly started thinking, then yes, I could buy this. On Arendt-ian terms: evil as the lack of will to think. And I doubt Snape could be guilty of that for long, which is why he "crosses over to the Light side" so quickly
( ... )
Which can be self-sustaining for a long time--the more people suspect there is something wrong with their actions the more they will rationalize it or ignore it. Willful stupidity is a tremendous force. But Snape (as written) has enough strength of character not to succumb for long.
Yeah, the RoR was lazy as hell. But then I'm trying to blot out most of the 5th book too. And yet, I keep reading. The power of wanting to know what happens next.
I have an uber-sceptical view of anything that tries to build a story without thinking through the fundamental conflict behind it.
Yes indeed. Frankly, it's what separates good fantasy from bad. Good fantasy=the thoughtful exploration of a concept using new settings. Bad fantasy=playing dress up with pretty characters. I have a whole 'frustrated file' full of bad fantasy rules and things to avoid. Rowling mistakes plot pieces for concept development.
Ooh! You have to tell me how it turned out. I've read it umpteen times in the original and slugged through in 1976 translation (with a pencil, marking up mistakes in the margins), and I can't wait to see if the new one is any good. The translator, Andrew Bromfield, isn't a bad one, he does what he can with difficult material - I know him from all of his Viktor Pelevin translations.
Needless to say, if any questions arise about some aspect of the text, I'll be more than happy to clarify.
Gotta dump Ginny but Ron and Hermione can go with him...because Harry doesn't give a shit if Voldemort uses them against him, I guess. *rolls eyes, burns copy of book*
Reply
Reply
The whole 'Gaunt' thing drove me nuts.
The only thing I liked about this book is that Harry stopped being eternally pissed off at the world, which was the theme of the last book. Instead we got 'Humdy-dum, I don't have a plot, but here's a lot of backstory with a death at the end just to give people something to talk about. Oh, and sex.' You could literally summarize the last two books in a couple of chapters at the beginning of book 7 and then hopefully go on to something happening. Grr.
Reply
I'll be waiting for book Seven to "reveal" that Snape is the Ultimate Bad-ass. And then for Snape-y spin-offs.
Reply
Personally, I figure she'd going to kill him off. The great death scene to prove which side he's on once and for all.
Let's see--Wormtail's betrayal of V (since Harry saved his life, ya know); Snape's redemption; why V taking H's blood was a good thing; the point to the Dursleys (if there is one); finding and destroying Horcruxes (including Harry, if he is one); getting the real locket back from Mundungus; the showdown with V.
After the 6th book's lack of imagination, I'm betting she drops half the plot points she's left hanging. Grr.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Reply
Which can be self-sustaining for a long time--the more people suspect there is something wrong with their actions the more they will rationalize it or ignore it. Willful stupidity is a tremendous force. But Snape (as written) has enough strength of character not to succumb for long.
Yeah, the RoR was lazy as hell. But then I'm trying to blot out most of the 5th book too. And yet, I keep reading. The power of wanting to know what happens next.
I have an uber-sceptical view of anything that tries to build a story without thinking through the fundamental conflict behind it.
Yes indeed. Frankly, it's what separates good fantasy from bad. Good fantasy=the thoughtful exploration of a concept using new settings. Bad fantasy=playing dress up with pretty characters. I have a whole 'frustrated file' full of bad fantasy rules and things to avoid. Rowling mistakes plot pieces for concept development.
I've ordered 'Monday Starts on Saturday.'
Reply
Needless to say, if any questions arise about some aspect of the text, I'll be more than happy to clarify.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment