Rowling, J.K.: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Writer: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 759
At last.
So here's the deal: I didn't hop on the Harry Potter bandwagon until 2001, when the first movie was released. Even then, I didn't start with the books until the next summer, where I promptly gobbled up the first four books in a week's time.
I'm a fan, but I'm not a fan. I don't stress over how much the movies do or do not match the books, and I've found myself quite critical through-out books five and six. Make no mistake, I enjoy the hell out of the books, the series overall, and when I do read them, I read them at break-neck speed. I finished this volume in slightly less than twelve hours, in one giant sitting (with requisite breaks for laundry, food, etc).
But I am critical. And I'm not one of those readers who is completely awed by the overwhelming amount of detail that's been put into these books, though I appreciate it on a certain level.
There. And I will ramble. You have been warned. Also? SPOILERS.
Ah, where to begin?
Overall, I was satisfied. I'm thrilled with what Rowling did with both Snape and Dumbledore, because while I'd hoped that Snape would have good intentions, I did not see Dumbledore's depth and betrayal coming. That was fantastic. And I adore how love is what saves certain Death Eaters from completely falling over to the Dark Side: Snape's love for Lily, the Malfoy's love for Draco. The latter was particularly touching, and I'm pleased that Draco didn't turn into the evil little snot I expected him to grow into when we first met him.
And Crabbe and Goyle? I can't remember which stood up to Draco (the book is not in front of me, but I think it was Crabbe), but I was thrilled to see that as well. Neville's rise to heroism filled me with glee as well, because I was too worried he was a red herring, an ultimately unimportant character, and his role in the end was satisfying. And even though I had to sleep on it, I finally figured out how the hell he got his hands on the sword: the sorting hat. And Kreacher: who knew? :)
I must admit, I was originally worried at the end of book six when it appeared that Harry, Ron, and Hermione wouldn't be going to Hogwarts during their seventh year, but I'm really glad Rowling went with that direction. Even though being at Hogwarts would've given us a new insight to what was really happening and to Snape's rule as Headmaster, the details we DID get revealed that things are much, much worse than they had been with Umbridge, and I really, really hated Umbridge's rule. So prompts for the deviation. I really didn't miss Hogwarts anyway, but I'm glad the final battle took place there. It was a good choice.
There's a lot of good in this book. I know I'd was curious to see just how the Voldemort/Harry conflict would play out, and there was a part of me that wondered if just maybe, Rowling would take a Le Guin route: the merging of opposites, via The Wizard of Earthsea. It didn't come to that, because after all, this is a story about good triumphing over evil, and as such we get the requisite hero self-sacrifice, but I liked that it was Voldemort's own curse that killed him, however dubious the explanation.
It was Hegwig's and Dobby's deaths that killed me the most, though Fred's was a bit of a shock. Mad Eye's pissed me off (I echo the suspicious sentiments that we never DID find Mad Eye's body), as did Lupin's and Tonk's, which felt needless in the overall scheme of things. Yet, the scene where Harry uses the resurrection stone and he was surrounded by his loved ones: his parents, Sirius, James and Tonks, was lovely. Though I wondered why Dumbledore didn't show up in that batch, or Mad Eye (maybe he's not dead!).
I have to admit though, I was rather disappointed in the deaths as a whole. Maybe it's because it took me two weeks since the book's release to read it, but I had a sneaking suspicion no one BIG would die. Not Ron, not Hermione, not Hagrid. Obviously not Harry, though I suspect he died but didn't at the same time.
That said, there's a lot I didn't like in this book.
Let's get picky, and move to the bigger picture. Rowling, was in the HELL was up with YOU and COLONS?!?!?! Maybe I'm over-sensitive to this because my mentor's been griping about the use of colons in student manuscripts (including my own), but even I had a fondness for a well-used colon. Colons used to REPLACE PERIODS aren't well-used, I'm sorry. AND THEY WERE ALL OVER THE PLACE. I twitched every time I spotted a colon. In fact, every time I use a colon in this post, I will think of you.
And let's talk pacing. Could Harry, Ron, and Hermione have WASTED any more time? The plus is that we saw what was happening over time in wizarding world, but the plot points sprinkled in were too few. I was appalled that they didn't set out for Godric's Hollow right away since Harry wanted to go there anyway, and after all, it was their only possible lead, especially given their lack of direction. Learning more about Dumbledore might've given them something, no?
It's sad to read the book and know EXACTLY what's going to be cut out for the sake of the movie. But jeez, it got tedious. Not quite as ridiculous as Frodo waiting fifteen years for Gandalf to return in Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, but darn close, especially since there was such little tension.
Then there's the details. That's right, THE DETAILS. I speed-read these suckers. I haven't re-read them. In fact, I think that's why I enjoy the movies when they're released, because it's been so long since my reading of the book and viewing of the movie.
Now, in some cases, Rowling tries and remind us of a particular detail that'll become important later, like the mention of how Harry pulled Godric's sword out of the Sorting Hat, and how it only appears in times of need to true Gryffindors. Granted, I forgot about her reminder when Neville suddenly had the sword in hand, but I did remember.
Other things, not so much. I didn't remember who Mundungus Fletcher was at all. And the thing that happens when you apparate but get injured? COMPLETELY forgot about that, and I thought perhaps one of the Death Eaters injured Ron. Stuff like that threw me for a loop, but I moved on.
And I don't know why, but I could've sworn in was a common belief that Harry was another Horcrux. I thought I'd read this theory in book six, but maybe I got this idea from one of the two articles I've read about the series (I'm not kidding: after reading HPB, I read one article detailing a marvelous theory that Ron was really Dumbledore sent back in time, and another article that was an interview with Rowling. That's all I've ever read/sought out). Anyway, the idea that Harry was another Horcrux didn't surprise me at all; in fact, I was concerned no one was considering it, but go figure.
I ended up not minding Ron and Hermione ending up together. Maybe that's because I was prepared for it when witty_remarks accidentally let it slip (but I'd figured by the end of book six anyway), but through-out the books, I never really saw it coming. Then again, I never looked for it. But in the end, it makes sense. Ron ends up with a character the readers care about, and Harry ends up with Ginny.
Ginny. My BIGGEST BEEF with the book.
Again, I don't know if I read this in that interview with Rowling or if it's just something I've absorbed from other fans, but I was under the impression that Ginny was supposed to be Harry's equal. She's a fighter, she can stand up for herself, and that she's meant to somehow balance Harry. And I've never had a problem with her up until this book, but this book, she is THE LOVE INTEREST. God FORBID she take an ACTIVE role in the plot of the book, in helping Harry achieve his goal, in providing insight to what's happening. Oh, sure, she gets into trouble trying to steal the sword for him, and she goes against Mom's orders and fights, but COME ON. All of that, every single last BIT of it, is off-screen. It's nothing.
On one hand, I'm pleased that it was just THE TRIO who set off to destroy the Horcruxes. That's a nice thing. On the other hand, I really, really wanted Ginny to show up and BE USEFUL. To PROVE her "worth" to Harry, and I don't mean that she didn't deserve him. I mean that I wanted her to be the character everyone said she was, instead of the LOVE INTEREST who must be hidden away from the main action of the story, who must be kept safe.
I don't mind they hooked up by the end (though according to the Wikipedia entry, Ginny gave up Quidditch to be a wife and mother. Erm...what? It's not that she's a wife and mother, it's that why on EARTH as an author would you visualize her playing Quidditch professionally only to have her give it up?), I just really felt that Rowling let the ball drop on this character. She wanted SO BAD for Ginny and Harry to hook up that she couldn't stand to put her in any real danger.
And here comes another beef:
This is the second time I've learned that an author has had the ending written down and squared away before getting on with the story. The first case is not worth mentioning except that it was painfully obvious that by time you get to the end of said author's story, the ending just makes NO SENSE. It SOUNDS cool, but sticks out like a sore thumb.
Now, I don't know if the epilogue was the very first thing Rowling wrote, or simply if it was something she wrote very, very early on. But she knew her ending.
On one hand, good for her! It's hard to write a book if you don't have a general idea of the ending. Believe me, I know. On the other hand, it's also a very, very, VERY dangerous thing to be married to one's original ending, because you don't allow for the tangents the plot could take, and you don't take risks that would otherwise be fruitful to the story.
Case and point: Ron, Hermione, and Ginny emerge unscathed. Of course they do! When you add Harry to the mix, it's Hogwarts' two power-couples! And Rowling wanted them to get married, have babies, and live happily ever after!
I don't mind the happily ever after. I really, really don't. It was cute seeing the kids, cute to see how Harry honored the important figures of his past. However, I suspect Rowling was a little too married to it. I never once worried for Ron's, Hermione's, or Ginny's safety. Maybe it would've been TOO MUCH to kill them, but when you knock off Sirius and you knock off Dumbledore, that's pretty much saying the gloves are off, right? Shouldn't each death eclipse the previous? Not in this last book: while some deaths were surprising, they were hardly on the scale of importance that Sirius and Dumbledore were. Ron, Hermione, or Ginny should have died.
Okay, fine, it's a kid's book. Maybe we can't do that, but there's still another reason to grumble about the epilogue, and that reason is that it answers no important questions.
Who took over as Headmaster? Did Harry, Ron, and Hermione finish out their last year at Hogwarts? What did they grow up TO DO in the wizarding world? The only really USEFUL piece of information we get from the prologue is that Neville is now a professor, and that Harry can't speak parseltongue any more. No word on the outside wizard/muggle world, except it's safe to assume Voldemort is definitely no longer a threat.
Grr. And while I applaud Rowling's treatment of Snape, I absolutely cringed when Harry told his son that Snape was one of the greatest Headmasters that ever lived. Yes, he was following Dumbledore's orders. Yes, he was a double agent. But the conditions he allowed at Hogwarts don't endear him to me as a great Headmaster, I don't care what he had to do to prove his loyalty to Voldemort.
Oh, there's so much I can pick on. The casual use of Unforgivable Curses. The fact that Teddy is snogging Victoire, who is James's cousin, but we're not really sure who her parents are (I'm guessing Bill and Fleur's, and Wikipedia seems to agree with me). Oh, and speaking of Teddy, it was hard to figure out why Harry wasn't raising him until I dimly remembered that Teddy's grandmother was still alive. The fact they kept wearing the locket instead of putting it in Hermione's bag (the One Ring lives! It was shaped into a LOCKET!)
Also not a fan of the title and what it stands for. Wait, I like what the Deathly Hallows really ARE, but I think the name was a poor choice. I saw Rowling had some alternate titles, and I must say, I prefer "Harry Potter and the Elder Wand."
See? I told you: picky, picky, picky!
Oh, and may I say that I really, really wanted Sirius to come back somehow? And more than his brief mention at the hand of the resurrection stone.
Overall, I really did enjoy the book. I'm quite satisified with the conclusion, though I still feel that the demand for these manuscripts has not only pushed Rowling into some bad writing habits, but also left no room for serious editing, which books five, six, and seven so desperately needed. And while I know Rowling knew the ending all along, I still can't help but feel that too much was made up as she wrote forward (and had she really known, could've sprinkled it BETTER through-out the books, like the Deathly Hallows legend), and in some cases, I felt things were too forced.
But I'm happy. I'd like to, one day down the road, re-read these books back-to-back. Take my time. Pick up all the little clues I missed. Until then, I look forward to the movies, and pray she doesn't write another Harry Potter book.
Harry Potter's story is over. Let it rest in the hands of fan-fiction writers. If there must be a return, there's plenty of material focusing on other characters. And that I wouldn't mind quite so much.
Oh, and for those of you wanting more answers from the epilogue, this is useful. There be spoilers, here.
Still reading: The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction by Justine Larbalestier