Harry Potter grows up

Nov 27, 2010 17:48

J.K. Rowling is not a good writer.  She is a supernaturally good writer.  She floors me with how readable she is, and how much she captures with her broad strokes on the page.

I've just sat down to reread the 759 page "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".  It's been over three years since I gulped it down in one 13 hour sitting.  I recall being irritated with Rowling then.  The whole wand thing confused me.  Her callousness about some of the deaths confused me.  The odd motivations of some of the characters confused me.  I wanted her to EXPLAIN better.

This time when I read it I realized I was not reading a children's book.  This book, with all its complexity and grief, choices and consequences, mysteries and loose ends: this was an adult novel.

I'm more blown away by it now than I was the day I walked downtown to buy it at midnight and stayed up all night reading it.

How did she do it?  How did she write the humans?  How did she understand so many complex relationships?  What magic makes her understand why heroes in wartime behave the way they do?  On Page 379 Ron is trying to explain what made him leave, and how come he has returned:

"I'm sorry," he said in a thick voice.  "I'm sorry I left.  I know I was a - a-"

He looked around at the darkness, as if hoping a bad enough word would swoop down upon him and claim him.

"You've sort of made up for it tonight," said Harry.  "Getting the sword.  Finishing off the Horcrux.  Saving my life."

"That makes me sound a lot cooler than I was," Ron mumbled.

"Stuff like that always sounds cooler than it really was," said Harry.  "I've been trying to tell you that for years."

I love that she lets the young men be inarticulate.  I love that she lets them love each other.  I watched the first part of the movie yesterday and I think it captured the book very well: these are people who know grief.  They used to be children, yes, but now they're not.  This is world class top ten fiction writing.  Better than Shakespeare.  Better than almost anything I've ever read.  It's like watching the first Star Wars movie for the first time.  *THIS* is what fiction is supposed to be like.
 

books, movies, culture

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