A well-organized mind...
Well, I’ve got a raving headache and tears in my eyes, but I’ve just finished what I think has been one of the most hard-to-describe books I’ve ever read. I’m talking, of course, about Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
The only reason I’m posting this is because no one else here is done with it yet and I’m afraid that if I don’t say something about it I’ll burst, but I obviously can’t tell them.
I went into Rome this morning and got the book, started reading it before I even bought it, though there wasn’t much of a line. Read in the train station, on the train back to Frascati, at Flavia's house, at our borrowed house, and just finished back at Flavia's. Got the book at maybe noon and just finished at about 8:30 PM.
So. In an attempt to straighten out my highly-frazzled mind, I have made random lists of stuff related to what I have just read.
Pros (not really pros, but sort of good things or things that I liked...)
-
the first two chapters -
the muggle PM -- great comic relief -
Tonks and Lupin getting together! I actually read some really good fanfic centered around them almost two years ago which swayed me towards that ship, and now I'm glad I read it -
the fact that the beginning of the book was humourous, even though the end was tragic. (Reason number one billion why I hate JKR: she writes so damn well!) -
Dumbledore, who spent the entire book kicking butt left and right, and who will still kick butt, I am certain... -
Lupin didn't die! Not that I wanted him to, but I have a theory that all the Marauders are dying. But now I really don't want him to, knowing what's between him and Tonks. -
Harry actually (finally) remembers that you can't Apparate or Disapparate on Hogwarts grounds, and tells Dumbledore that Hermione told him! -
Fred and George Weasley
Cons (again, not the best word, really just things I didn't like)
-
the fact that we really never see Snape teach a single DADA class -
the DA doesn't continue -
Snape is possibly evil (I'm still holding out on him, I admit...) -
Dumbledore's death (I knew it had to happen, but I always sort of wished it wouldn't) -
"The Slug Club" -
Professor Slug...oh goodness, I don't even remember his full last name!
Things I correctly predicted (these are ones I figured out at least 150 pages before they happened)
-
Harry and Ginny -
Hermione and Ron -
Dumbledore’s death -
Tonks and Lupin -
Attack on Hogwarts -
The identity of the Half Blood Prince (though I sort of wish I was wrong) -
Snape getting DADA
Things that still confuse me (more like things I just haven't gotten my mind around yet)
- Dumbledore's death
- Snape's evil
- why in the world Dumbledore really trusted Snape in the first place
- the last few chapters, all of which are a slight blur due to the fact that I read them through so quickly
- Horcruxes
- the attack on Hogwarts
- Rufus Scrimgeour
- Professor Slug-whatever
- Felix Felicitatus
- why Harry says he's not coming back to Hogwarts for his seventh year even if the school is open
Other stuff:
-
I think that R. A. B. is Regulus Black, Sirius’s brother who was a Death Eater but then got killed by Voldemort -- it just makes sense. -
How the hell was Snape evil?!?!? -
There is a long list of people who I would like to bash over the head with my copy of Half-Blood Prince, and JKR is one of them. -
Fleur Delacour is made of stronger stuff than I thought. -
This book moved really, really fast. -
How in the world is JKR going to answer all of the questions she's posed within this book? The seventh one's going to be a veritable encyclopedia! -
I have a new-found respect for Harry. Finally, it seems, he has grown up. I only cry because it took the death of a great man to shock him into it.
And now that I've nearly exhausted myself, I owe tribute to two great people: people who are both much loved, and because of this book. The first, of course, is J. K. Rowling herself. I applaud her work immensely; she's the one who made me read fantasy, and later on decide that I was going to write it for myself. Her writing constantly reminds me of the depth of truth that can be found even within so-called "childrens' books." Her unique blend of humor and tragedy haunts not only her characters, but her readers as well, leaving us all slightly exhilarated, mournful, anxious, and not the least bit confused at the end of each novel. Finally, she has never, throughout it all, betrayed a lack of faith in the capability for good in this world, even when faced with the evils that are visible even to Muggles. Despite all things that can happen, she reminds us that life is worth living, that good is worth fighting for, and that evil truly can be defeated. Thank you, Jo, and good luck with the next one!
Last occasionally, but never least, the second person I must recognize: a Mr. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. What is there to say? Surely the world must cry for the death of such a great man. He will forever be mourned in phoenix song -- but he would not care for such mourning. Indeed, he would rather that people get on with their lives, I am sure, and go about completing the business he began: the business of securing safety for the world of the future, even if it means sacrifice in the present. After all, in his own immortal words, "To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure."
"Dumbledore is gone, Harry. He's gone."
"He will only be gone from the school when none here are loyal to him," said Harry, smiling in spite of himself.
"My dear boy...even Dumbledore cannot return from the -- "
"I am not saying he can. You wouldn't understand. But I've got nothing to tell you."
-- Rufus Scrimgeour and Harry Potter.
"And now, Harry, let us step out into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure..."
-- Albus Dumbledore