closing thoughts
that was, surprisingly, a lot better than i had expected. i recall distinctly when i hit the epilogue the first time, 4 years ago, feeling a strong urge to fling the thing across the room and refraining because it was a library book.
honestly though, i don't even remember if i did a full reread leading into 7. lj archives, however, reveal in fact that i did. so it's been 4 years, not 6, since i did a full reread... strange.
a lot of it makes more sense now, and maybe some of it is just knowing how book 7 falls out (though i will be the first to admit that i'd forgotten a LOT of the details of 7), but also emotionally a lot of it just... makes more sense, and i'm sure some of it has to do with the last time i read it, being the tender young age of... 18? and had just finished my first year of college. which seems simultaneously like a long time ago and not really so long, but i know i've changed a lot in those four years. and in a way, i think i've grown into the series--funny, as i always expected it to grow with me.
i think it also has to do with letting the books stand as they are, instead of hoping for all our theories and plans and everything to make sense in the end. i needed this reread, i think--i've needed them for several of the books. 3, because it was spoiled unintentionally, 5 because the tone and the ANGST were just too much, 7 because i wanted more from it than it could give.
i'm even okay with the hallows... well, mostly. the arc in the end is for the horcruxes, and the hallows are kind of a sidestep, but isn't it the same with the rest of the series, things not coming in until they're needed?
iuno, maybe it's just getting late and i'm feeling maudlin, but i'm much more at peace with the series now, even the epilogue--it still irks me somewhat, but mostly in the improbability of wizardly genetics (but its probably magic anyway). reluctantly, i must concede it gives some emotional closure. nothing huge and dramatic and revelatory, but as catherine pointed out... it started as a children's story, and it ends as one.
anyway, it IS getting late, and tomorrow will inevitably be full of packing and things. things! argleblargle.
honestly though, i don't even remember if i did a full reread leading into 7. lj archives, however, reveal in fact that i did. so it's been 4 years, not 6, since i did a full reread... strange.
a lot of it makes more sense now, and maybe some of it is just knowing how book 7 falls out (though i will be the first to admit that i'd forgotten a LOT of the details of 7), but also emotionally a lot of it just... makes more sense, and i'm sure some of it has to do with the last time i read it, being the tender young age of... 18? and had just finished my first year of college. which seems simultaneously like a long time ago and not really so long, but i know i've changed a lot in those four years. and in a way, i think i've grown into the series--funny, as i always expected it to grow with me.
i think it also has to do with letting the books stand as they are, instead of hoping for all our theories and plans and everything to make sense in the end. i needed this reread, i think--i've needed them for several of the books. 3, because it was spoiled unintentionally, 5 because the tone and the ANGST were just too much, 7 because i wanted more from it than it could give.
i'm even okay with the hallows... well, mostly. the arc in the end is for the horcruxes, and the hallows are kind of a sidestep, but isn't it the same with the rest of the series, things not coming in until they're needed?
iuno, maybe it's just getting late and i'm feeling maudlin, but i'm much more at peace with the series now, even the epilogue--it still irks me somewhat, but mostly in the improbability of wizardly genetics (but its probably magic anyway). reluctantly, i must concede it gives some emotional closure. nothing huge and dramatic and revelatory, but as catherine pointed out... it started as a children's story, and it ends as one.
anyway, it IS getting late, and tomorrow will inevitably be full of packing and things. things! argleblargle.