(no subject)
OK, I haven't had much sleep and I should be in bed as I need to go to work tomorrow, but I can't stop thinking about it. Yes, it was harsh. It was dark, gut-wrenching, a kick in the stomach. But it had to be, and it was perfect. As Spin said, JKR is an evil #@$@$ genius.
We've been discussing it and it seems the books totally stripped away any illusions Harry may have had. The world has changed. Voldemort is back. Any illusion of safety had to be stripped away.
Harry is just 15 and just experienced one of the worst things in his life and NO ONE IS TELLING HIM ANYTHING. He deserves to be mad. He needed to let it all out. But he also needed to realize that yes, it totally sucks, but he has to deal with it. His friends will be there to help him, but it is up to him.
Harry needs his friends. He was angry and shut them out, but they stepped up to the plate and were there for him. Harry spent a whole lot of the book dwelling on no one but himself, feeling his world being ripped apart - that's why it was so jarring. We had to go through it all with him. That's also why it felt different. But Harry did a lot of growing up. By the end, he realized that he has to do it alone, but his friends will not abandon him on the way. He also is beginning to be a bit less self-centered -- finally noticing Luna's problems, for instance. Harry had to notice there is a world around him and he certainly did so with a bang.
About the characters - this book was all about the girls. By that I mean that the people that seemed to have their &^#& together were Hermione, Ginny (OMG!), McGonagall and Molly. They stood out. Hermione matured a ton. She's not perfect - she still sometimes doesn't quite get things (like with the house elf thing and the Centaurs), but she is a confident young lady. And she is waiting for Ron to catch up and get a clue about what to do about his feelings. I do wonder where she learned so much about relationships. ;-)
Ron, Ron, Ron. He has done so much growing up in this book. We don't see him as much, but that's because of Harry's issues. What we do see is that the things he thought he want in first year aren't that important to him now. He has finally realized he does like Hermione, but has no clue what to do about it. The Quidditch and the Prefect stuff - oh my, how wonderful was he? And talk about his loyalty to Harry. He was there in spades for him while Harry was going through the same type of jealousy issues (combined with a ton more, of course) that Ron dealt with in GoF. Our little boy is becoming a young man and I am so grateful we get to see it. I do wish we'd seen more of his humor, but as Harry wasn't exactly in the goof around mood this book, what can you do?
Cho was a normal teenage girl, except for the Cedric thing. Her pursuit of Harry and his cluelessness were actually a bit of much needed comic relief for me. They obviously had nothing in common besides Quidditch (and Cedric), and JKR made it clear she is not the sort of girl he needs. Harry has too much on his plate to worry about when to kiss or hold hands and which coffee house is right for a date, etc. When he is ready for a real relationship, it will be with someone who gets what he is going through. Again with the stripping away of illusions, you can see his romantic feelings progressively fade away as his image of Fantasy Cho were replaced with the real live Cho. He wasn't all that interested in her and doesn't have the desire to deal with figuring out "the Rules", so to speak. Very nicely handled, IMO.
Ginny - what can I say? She ROXed. I cannot believe what an incredibly strong, wonderful character JKR has created. She is more than I could have hoped for. She is so bright, and so strong, and she, like Hermione, gave Harry the kick he needed when he was wallowing in self pity, etc. And there is so much more to her that we don't know yet. Wow. Just wow. And, oh, yes, she will end up with Harry. I am more convinced of it now than ever. (And Ron ships H/G - how cute is that?)
McGonagall - I feel much more confident in her ability to handle things at Hogwarts if Dumbledore is gone. The way she handled Umbridge was fantastic. I want her as my teacher.
Fred and George - Could JKR have written a more fitting way for them to leave school? I don't think so.
The Death - I knew it would be awful and it was. I don't think it's really hit me yet, but that's normal. Really Bad Things usually take a while to sink in with me and I tend to have delayed reactions, so I know how hard the second read through will be. But horrible as it was, it fit. Sirius was really the only person Harry went to for guidance in this book - he was angry at Dumbledore, angry at his friends, angry at the world - so to tear away all his illusions and bring home the point that this is Harry's fight alone, he had to go. And this cements the Weasleys as Harry's only 'real' family. Molly mentioned it enough; now Harry needs to accept it.
Percy - I really want to know what he's going to do next. If he does apologize, will they all forgive him?
James - What I want to know is what happened between age 15 and 17 to change him so much.
Harry lost his rose-colored glasses, his tunnel vision, and began seeing things as they really are. And a lot of it wasn't pretty. It was hard to go through it with him, but he had to go through it. He yelled at everyone, tried to shut them out, and they yelled back and refused to leave. By then end, I think Harry has done a lot of growing, and he can now accept the way things are. Everything in there needed to be done. Harry needed to get ready for the War. The Wizarding world needed to get ready. Now they are. It all had to happen. And I loved it all -- the good, the bad, the horrifically sad.
And yes, JKR did warn us. This was just the building up. The next book is the war. JKR has prepared Harry, now I just need to prepare myself.