Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows
So I read that book.
I haven't read a single reaction post yet (or checked my flist since Friday night), so this is just my initial gut reactions. I also have not reread any of the other books since HBP came out AND I have not overanalyzed them to death because I'm not in HP fandom. AND I probably won't be rereading Deathly Hallows any time soon. So I may have missed nuance. That's my disclaimer.
That said:
THINGS I LOVED:
- Dudley. Huh. Didn't see that coming.
- I have been waiting for Ron and/or Hermione to die since OotP. I was spoiled for a death in both OotP and HBP, but not for whose death, and somehow both times I convinced myself it was Ron, which upset me immensely despite the fact that I don't consider myself to be a huge Ron fan. I mean, I'm not *not* a Ron fan, but he isn't the one I'm most invested in or anything, though apparently I'm more invested than I thought. Ron and Hermione not dying = YAY.
- I'm also glad she didn't kill Harry. I know some people are going to think that's cheating, and I think maybe that's fair. JKR can be a very formulaic writer, and before reading DH I would have said that the formula says Harry's a goner. But instead he's Jesus, and you know, I'm down with that. Seriously, though. Christ figure status is NO LONGER SUBTLE, not that it was all that subtle to begin with. (And he's a Horcrux! Who didn't see that coming half-way through book six?)
- Harry walking to meet Voldemort followed by James, Lilly, Remus and Sirius. As it should be.
- NEVILLE KILLED NAGINI. NEVILLE WAS BADASS AND IT WAS AWESOME. I've never been a particular Neville fan either, though I liked him fine, but I did love him here. It was important that Neville play a role in Voldemort's defeat.
- It was important that all Harry's friends play a role in Voldemort's defeat, and I liked how that wasn't said, but just *done.* Harry didn't destroy all the Horcruxs. He had to have help from his friends, and it was framed in such a way as to make them absolutely *necessary.* They were all heroes.
- They were all heroes. I don't know what other people are going to think of the format. I thought it worked incredibly well, personally. Harry's been our protagonist for seven books, so of course we follow him, but we get just enough to know that everybody is playing their part. They are all strong and they are all fighting. An entire book could be written about Luna, Neville and Ginny at Hogwarts, or about the members of the Order of the Phoenix, or even about Lee Jordan and Potterwatch. Multiple books could be written on those things. There are *stories* there. In fact, most of the action is there. What we are getting is the background. We get Harry, Ron and Hermione and their quest, and that's *important,* and Harry is our POV character, so we have to be with him, but it's not where the fight is. They aren't the only heroes and Harry didn't do anything alone, couldn't have.
- How dark this book was. They've always been very political, but this one was the most so, and she really went there with all of the fascist parallels and symbolism until it was uncomfortable to read at times.
- Molly Weasley vs. Bellatrix Lestrange. FTW. ETA: AND KREACHER AND THE HOUSE ELVES. FTFW!
- Fred's death. I love the twins. LOVE THEM. But I went into this book expecting a lot more death than we got, and while I personally am thrilled that she didn't kill the three main characters, we needed a major death to really illustrate consequence and loss, and I think that separating Fred and George did that in a way that other deaths of supporting characters would not have. Though my heart breaks for George. Just breaks. (We also lost Remus and Tonks, and I could put them here, except NOTHING ABOUT REMUS AND TONKS GOES IN THIS SECTION. I'll get to that).
- The final battle was at Hogwarts. It had to be. Most of the book takes place outside of Hogwarts, and I'd missed it. When McGonnagall was all "we'll secure the school" and everybody showed up, knowing they were going to fight, that's when I started crying. I loved the final battle.
- The fic that will now happen. All the stories I mentioned above are left wide open, and I'm sure fandom will tell them. Also, there will be SLASH EPICS written about Dumbledore and Grindelwald and I can't wait. (There might also be epics about Aberforth and goats. WTF was that, ya'll? When we hit the goat thing during our dramatic reading the first night, we couldn't stop laughing for five minutes, because seriously? He fiddles with goats? Seriously?)
- Ravenclaws have the best common room. I knew I'd want to be a Ravenclaw.
THINGS THAT I WISH HAD BEEN DIFFERENT, BUT I DIDN'T EXPECT THEM TO BE:
- Is it wrong that a tiny part of me wishes Snape had been evil? This doesn't really belong in this section because overall, I thought the Snape thing was handled well and I didn't really have a dog in that fight because I am completely indifferent to Snape as a character. I didn't matter to me either way, and I think it makes sense the way it was done (because of how JKR is a formulaic writer), but it would have amused me in a sick kind of way if he'd been evil all along.
- Sirius fell through the veil; he wasn't just avada kedavra'd. I feel like there should be more story there.
- The prophecy could have been about Neville. I love what was done with Neville in this book, but I feel like there should be more story there.
- Draco Malfoy was set up for a redemptive storyline in HBP. Before HBP I wouldn't have cared, but after it, I *really* feel like there should be more story there. I am, however, glad she didn't kill him off. It was interesting that Lucius and Narcissa were humanized here more than they have ever been. I liked Narcissa lying for Harry. I wish we'd had more Draco.
- We've been building up to Ron/Hermione for four books and that's all we get? I guess it makes sense because Harry is the POV character, but STILL.
- ETA: I didn't say anything about Dumbledore! I guess that can go here. I like that we saw him as fallible, but I still don't think it was enough. JKR doesn't really ever do enough with moral ambiguity/shades of gray. Everything is always a little too clear cut for my tastes. Also the whole Deathly Hallows thing was. Meh. It was fine, but I didn't feel strongly about it one way or the other as a plot line.
THINGS THAT I HATED:
- Remus/Tonks. I like Remus. I like Tonks. I also casually ship Sirius/Remus, but this isn't really about that. I don't think Remus/Tonks textually precludes Remus/Sirius since it didn't happen until after Sirius' death. I'm more bothered by what's going on on the meta level. I am hardly the first person to make this point, so I'll keep it short, but Remus is an allegorically queered character (and so is Tonks, arguably), and the implicit heteronormativity in pairing them up for the sake of pairing them up just to kill them off is annoying. I mean, I guess I sort of get that they're supposed to echo James/Lilly with the baby and everything and Harry as the godfather and yes, that's cute. So cute I kind of want to puke. Normally I'm all for symmetry, but that entire plot line was unnecessary, the only point of it seemingly to be to deny the queer reading of Remus and Tonks. I'm not saying she did that intentionally because that would be paranoid. But yeah.
- The epilogue. Also unnecessary and put there to spite us. (Okay, maybe not really put there to spite us, but unnecessary absolutely). Part of this is my fangirlness. With canon closed, I like options open. Skipping 19 years in the future textually precludes a lot of possibilities. Show us a year from now, when they go back to school and finish. Show us two years when they leave and go off to start their adult lives. But show us the beginning, not the end. Show us the hope of them going out into the world; show us they have lives now that they are free. I see why she wrote it like she did. We see Harry's kids leaving for Hogwarts and it's *their* beginning. I get it, but I don't have to like it. Also, part of it is my distaste for domesticity in fantasy, and that could just be my problem. It's like, look! They're all married! With kids! It's so *cute.* They're so happy! And I guess it is cute, sure; they're all related by marriage and that's adorable, but the way that narrative happy endings seem to always have to enforce not just heteronormativity, but "normality" and the status quo in general just gets to me. This isn't just a problem for me in Harry Potter. It's sort of a problem always. The other part of it is that I don't like Harry/Ginny. I don't *hate* it, and I've tried to like it, but I can't get there. And that's got nothing to do with me not liking Ginny. Like her fine. And God knows, I love Harry, but I don't like the way Harry treats Ginny. He treats her like she's delicate and always has to be placed on a pedestal. He won't tell her anything, won't take her with him and doesn't trust her to hold her own when it's clear she's just as competent as Ron or Hermione. She's a year younger than Harry. That's nothing, and he constantly treats her like she's some fragile flower. I'm offended on Ginny's behalf every time she and Harry interact. If he treated her like he treats Ron or Hermione, Harry/Ginny wouldn't be a problem for me. As it stands, it's just one more reinforcement of traditional tropes that piss me off. I MUST PROTECT YOU BECAUSE YOU CANNOT PROTECT YOURSELF. OH NOES. ALSO, I KNOW BETTER THAN YOU DO, DON'T ARGUE. Rowling has a lot of strong female characters *including* Ginny, but she won't let Harry treat her that way. And that's my rant, which I apparently feel more strongly about that I thought I did.
ANYWAY. Despite the fact that I ended with my What I Hated section, I loved a lot more than I hated, and overall I thought it was a fitting end to the series. I will have to see what the actual active fandom thinks.
And that is how I feel about that, and it's a little bit tl;dr. I had way more to say than I thought I would considering that this is not my fandom. Closed HP canon. It's the end of an era, guys. I have always liked the Harry Potter books, but my favorite thing about them is the communal fannish experience; I get swept up in the excitement. They are probably not something I would have been so invested in if I hadn't had fandom. ♥
I haven't read a single reaction post yet (or checked my flist since Friday night), so this is just my initial gut reactions. I also have not reread any of the other books since HBP came out AND I have not overanalyzed them to death because I'm not in HP fandom. AND I probably won't be rereading Deathly Hallows any time soon. So I may have missed nuance. That's my disclaimer.
That said:
THINGS I LOVED:
- Dudley. Huh. Didn't see that coming.
- I have been waiting for Ron and/or Hermione to die since OotP. I was spoiled for a death in both OotP and HBP, but not for whose death, and somehow both times I convinced myself it was Ron, which upset me immensely despite the fact that I don't consider myself to be a huge Ron fan. I mean, I'm not *not* a Ron fan, but he isn't the one I'm most invested in or anything, though apparently I'm more invested than I thought. Ron and Hermione not dying = YAY.
- I'm also glad she didn't kill Harry. I know some people are going to think that's cheating, and I think maybe that's fair. JKR can be a very formulaic writer, and before reading DH I would have said that the formula says Harry's a goner. But instead he's Jesus, and you know, I'm down with that. Seriously, though. Christ figure status is NO LONGER SUBTLE, not that it was all that subtle to begin with. (And he's a Horcrux! Who didn't see that coming half-way through book six?)
- Harry walking to meet Voldemort followed by James, Lilly, Remus and Sirius. As it should be.
- NEVILLE KILLED NAGINI. NEVILLE WAS BADASS AND IT WAS AWESOME. I've never been a particular Neville fan either, though I liked him fine, but I did love him here. It was important that Neville play a role in Voldemort's defeat.
- It was important that all Harry's friends play a role in Voldemort's defeat, and I liked how that wasn't said, but just *done.* Harry didn't destroy all the Horcruxs. He had to have help from his friends, and it was framed in such a way as to make them absolutely *necessary.* They were all heroes.
- They were all heroes. I don't know what other people are going to think of the format. I thought it worked incredibly well, personally. Harry's been our protagonist for seven books, so of course we follow him, but we get just enough to know that everybody is playing their part. They are all strong and they are all fighting. An entire book could be written about Luna, Neville and Ginny at Hogwarts, or about the members of the Order of the Phoenix, or even about Lee Jordan and Potterwatch. Multiple books could be written on those things. There are *stories* there. In fact, most of the action is there. What we are getting is the background. We get Harry, Ron and Hermione and their quest, and that's *important,* and Harry is our POV character, so we have to be with him, but it's not where the fight is. They aren't the only heroes and Harry didn't do anything alone, couldn't have.
- How dark this book was. They've always been very political, but this one was the most so, and she really went there with all of the fascist parallels and symbolism until it was uncomfortable to read at times.
- Molly Weasley vs. Bellatrix Lestrange. FTW. ETA: AND KREACHER AND THE HOUSE ELVES. FTFW!
- Fred's death. I love the twins. LOVE THEM. But I went into this book expecting a lot more death than we got, and while I personally am thrilled that she didn't kill the three main characters, we needed a major death to really illustrate consequence and loss, and I think that separating Fred and George did that in a way that other deaths of supporting characters would not have. Though my heart breaks for George. Just breaks. (We also lost Remus and Tonks, and I could put them here, except NOTHING ABOUT REMUS AND TONKS GOES IN THIS SECTION. I'll get to that).
- The final battle was at Hogwarts. It had to be. Most of the book takes place outside of Hogwarts, and I'd missed it. When McGonnagall was all "we'll secure the school" and everybody showed up, knowing they were going to fight, that's when I started crying. I loved the final battle.
- The fic that will now happen. All the stories I mentioned above are left wide open, and I'm sure fandom will tell them. Also, there will be SLASH EPICS written about Dumbledore and Grindelwald and I can't wait. (There might also be epics about Aberforth and goats. WTF was that, ya'll? When we hit the goat thing during our dramatic reading the first night, we couldn't stop laughing for five minutes, because seriously? He fiddles with goats? Seriously?)
- Ravenclaws have the best common room. I knew I'd want to be a Ravenclaw.
THINGS THAT I WISH HAD BEEN DIFFERENT, BUT I DIDN'T EXPECT THEM TO BE:
- Is it wrong that a tiny part of me wishes Snape had been evil? This doesn't really belong in this section because overall, I thought the Snape thing was handled well and I didn't really have a dog in that fight because I am completely indifferent to Snape as a character. I didn't matter to me either way, and I think it makes sense the way it was done (because of how JKR is a formulaic writer), but it would have amused me in a sick kind of way if he'd been evil all along.
- Sirius fell through the veil; he wasn't just avada kedavra'd. I feel like there should be more story there.
- The prophecy could have been about Neville. I love what was done with Neville in this book, but I feel like there should be more story there.
- Draco Malfoy was set up for a redemptive storyline in HBP. Before HBP I wouldn't have cared, but after it, I *really* feel like there should be more story there. I am, however, glad she didn't kill him off. It was interesting that Lucius and Narcissa were humanized here more than they have ever been. I liked Narcissa lying for Harry. I wish we'd had more Draco.
- We've been building up to Ron/Hermione for four books and that's all we get? I guess it makes sense because Harry is the POV character, but STILL.
- ETA: I didn't say anything about Dumbledore! I guess that can go here. I like that we saw him as fallible, but I still don't think it was enough. JKR doesn't really ever do enough with moral ambiguity/shades of gray. Everything is always a little too clear cut for my tastes. Also the whole Deathly Hallows thing was. Meh. It was fine, but I didn't feel strongly about it one way or the other as a plot line.
THINGS THAT I HATED:
- Remus/Tonks. I like Remus. I like Tonks. I also casually ship Sirius/Remus, but this isn't really about that. I don't think Remus/Tonks textually precludes Remus/Sirius since it didn't happen until after Sirius' death. I'm more bothered by what's going on on the meta level. I am hardly the first person to make this point, so I'll keep it short, but Remus is an allegorically queered character (and so is Tonks, arguably), and the implicit heteronormativity in pairing them up for the sake of pairing them up just to kill them off is annoying. I mean, I guess I sort of get that they're supposed to echo James/Lilly with the baby and everything and Harry as the godfather and yes, that's cute. So cute I kind of want to puke. Normally I'm all for symmetry, but that entire plot line was unnecessary, the only point of it seemingly to be to deny the queer reading of Remus and Tonks. I'm not saying she did that intentionally because that would be paranoid. But yeah.
- The epilogue. Also unnecessary and put there to spite us. (Okay, maybe not really put there to spite us, but unnecessary absolutely). Part of this is my fangirlness. With canon closed, I like options open. Skipping 19 years in the future textually precludes a lot of possibilities. Show us a year from now, when they go back to school and finish. Show us two years when they leave and go off to start their adult lives. But show us the beginning, not the end. Show us the hope of them going out into the world; show us they have lives now that they are free. I see why she wrote it like she did. We see Harry's kids leaving for Hogwarts and it's *their* beginning. I get it, but I don't have to like it. Also, part of it is my distaste for domesticity in fantasy, and that could just be my problem. It's like, look! They're all married! With kids! It's so *cute.* They're so happy! And I guess it is cute, sure; they're all related by marriage and that's adorable, but the way that narrative happy endings seem to always have to enforce not just heteronormativity, but "normality" and the status quo in general just gets to me. This isn't just a problem for me in Harry Potter. It's sort of a problem always. The other part of it is that I don't like Harry/Ginny. I don't *hate* it, and I've tried to like it, but I can't get there. And that's got nothing to do with me not liking Ginny. Like her fine. And God knows, I love Harry, but I don't like the way Harry treats Ginny. He treats her like she's delicate and always has to be placed on a pedestal. He won't tell her anything, won't take her with him and doesn't trust her to hold her own when it's clear she's just as competent as Ron or Hermione. She's a year younger than Harry. That's nothing, and he constantly treats her like she's some fragile flower. I'm offended on Ginny's behalf every time she and Harry interact. If he treated her like he treats Ron or Hermione, Harry/Ginny wouldn't be a problem for me. As it stands, it's just one more reinforcement of traditional tropes that piss me off. I MUST PROTECT YOU BECAUSE YOU CANNOT PROTECT YOURSELF. OH NOES. ALSO, I KNOW BETTER THAN YOU DO, DON'T ARGUE. Rowling has a lot of strong female characters *including* Ginny, but she won't let Harry treat her that way. And that's my rant, which I apparently feel more strongly about that I thought I did.
ANYWAY. Despite the fact that I ended with my What I Hated section, I loved a lot more than I hated, and overall I thought it was a fitting end to the series. I will have to see what the actual active fandom thinks.
And that is how I feel about that, and it's a little bit tl;dr. I had way more to say than I thought I would considering that this is not my fandom. Closed HP canon. It's the end of an era, guys. I have always liked the Harry Potter books, but my favorite thing about them is the communal fannish experience; I get swept up in the excitement. They are probably not something I would have been so invested in if I hadn't had fandom. ♥