Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
Book Title: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
My Grade: A+
# of Pages: 759
Summary: The seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter.
WARNING! MY REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SURPRISED TREAD CAREFULLY!
My Thoughts: So a journey has ended. Yours, mine and Harry's. I'm starting this review before having read the epilogue because I'm still at work and need to kill some time. As tempting as it is to grab the book right now (I've been reading it intermittently throughout my shift) I want to finish this book with no interruptions in quiet reflection.
Out of all the Harry Potter books this is the one I've devoured the fastest because it had all the answers to my questions and quite frankly it was the best. I got home, got settled and started reading Deathly Hallows around one a.m. after getting it at midnight. Finally at six, with only a couple of snack and potty breaks, I found a somewhat reasonable place to force myself to stop and actually get some sleep since I would be working all this weekend. Coming back to the land of the living I ate a quick breakfast and dived back in. By the time two o'clock rolled in and I once again had to force myself to stop to get ready for work I was through 3/4 of the book. Somehow I managed to both finish the book (sans epilogue) and not manage to snap at customers during my five hour shift in which I probably got a nice solid hour of reading done. Adding that all together, I finished this book in ten hours, the last two I finished in double that. For me, that is another mark of a good book, the better it is and the more invested I am in it, the faster I read it. This wasn't meant to brag about what a fast reader I am, this was meant to point out how much I adored this book.
Now at this point I have finished the whole book including the epilogue and I can actually give my honest and full reflection of it. Having read that last page... I can't even describe what I felt. I'm sure it was what many other Harry Potter fans around the world felt when they too read: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well." I'm sure everyone was just as speechless as I was. And now that I'm here ready for reflection on not just the book but the entire series, I find myself speechless again.
Was this book so awesome because it finally addressed all those long unanswered questions? Yes. Was this book just fantastic because we finally know what happens to everyone? Yes. Was this book wonderful because Rowling was ruthless and took no prisoners? Yes. Was this book splendid because we knew all the characters and cared about them like they were real? Yes. Was this book so great because it made you laugh, cry, gasp, emote out loud? Yes. That was one of my favorite things about the book. Regardless of where I was, whether it be sitting on the couch next to my roommate, alone in my room, or standing in my shop, I found myself cheering and gasping and all other sorts of reactions, I was just that into the story.
The most emotional part for me, one of them at least, was when Dobby died. I don't know what it was about that, but I was sobbing and had tears streaming down my face. When they describe putting the socks on his feet, that was the part that opened the floodgates. I am one of those people that supports the theory that socks are a very imporant symbol in the Harry Potter series. I even did a report in one of my high school English classes on it. "Ron sat on the edge of the grave and stripped off his shoes and socks, which he placed upon the elf's bare feet. Dean produced a woolen hat, which Harry placed carefully upon Dobby's head, muffling his batlike ears." Rowling, master of subtle detail, still includes that brief mention of socks. It was that which really did me in.
Another thing that impressed me was how well the story flowed. Probably a combination of being a good writer and knowing, without a doubt, where the story was going and what she wanted to have happen allowed Rowling to keep the story smooth and not jerky. So easily, especially in the beginning/middle chapters in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's search for Horcruxes things could have become so choppy. And while time did pass quickly in brief sections it still flowed. A lot of writers, even good writers, can't seem to make something like that work, yet Rowling did, proving herself yet again.
I was also really impressed by her ballsy moves of killing off several main characters, especially right in the beginning. I thought it was going to be in the big final battle ('cause c'mon, you knew it was coming) that we lost all our favorites, not within the first few chapters. RIP Hedwig and Mad-Eye. That was one major way you got sucked in because you're thinking, "Oh my God! Characters I love are already dying! What the-" and then you keep going because you need to know if anyone else is going to kick it. For some reason though Rowling just loves killing off my favorite characters, Dumbledore, Moody, Fred (and George too in a way), Lupin, Tonks. I was especially angry over the Lupin/Tonks death. It felt like a sort of snub because, yay they're married! Yay, they're having a baby! Yay, he's a little metamorphmagus. Boo, both parents are suddenly dead. Rude. But I guess it made the whole thing hurt a lot more, and it did.
Honestly, I felt Rowling tied things up beautifully and not in that harried, "Oh yeah about that? Um... this happens! Yeah, that's it!" I think many fans feel vindicated (i.e. the Snape/Lily shippers, those who thought Harry was a Horcrux, don't mess with Mrs. Weasley) after reading this book. Of course there are probably some who are broken down and upset that what they thought was going to happen didn't. In the end we all got one hell of a story and went on one fantastic adventure. No matter what happened, no matter who died or who ended up with who this book was more than I could have hoped for, I was not disappointed at all.
Don't think this is the end of everything, there's plenty to look forward to. Discussions and debates with fellow Potter fans incorporating all this new and final information. That all-knowing and excited feeling you'll get when you meet someone who is reading Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone for the first time and getting hooked on the series. The last two movies. A possible Encyclopedia Potterica. New and different books from an amazing author.
All I can say now is: Jo, thank you.
Next Book: Female Spectacle by Susan A. Glenn • review
Back to the Book List.
Author: J.K. Rowling
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
My Grade: A+
# of Pages: 759
Summary: The seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter.
WARNING! MY REVIEW DOES CONTAIN SPOILERS SO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SURPRISED TREAD CAREFULLY!
My Thoughts: So a journey has ended. Yours, mine and Harry's. I'm starting this review before having read the epilogue because I'm still at work and need to kill some time. As tempting as it is to grab the book right now (I've been reading it intermittently throughout my shift) I want to finish this book with no interruptions in quiet reflection.
Out of all the Harry Potter books this is the one I've devoured the fastest because it had all the answers to my questions and quite frankly it was the best. I got home, got settled and started reading Deathly Hallows around one a.m. after getting it at midnight. Finally at six, with only a couple of snack and potty breaks, I found a somewhat reasonable place to force myself to stop and actually get some sleep since I would be working all this weekend. Coming back to the land of the living I ate a quick breakfast and dived back in. By the time two o'clock rolled in and I once again had to force myself to stop to get ready for work I was through 3/4 of the book. Somehow I managed to both finish the book (sans epilogue) and not manage to snap at customers during my five hour shift in which I probably got a nice solid hour of reading done. Adding that all together, I finished this book in ten hours, the last two I finished in double that. For me, that is another mark of a good book, the better it is and the more invested I am in it, the faster I read it. This wasn't meant to brag about what a fast reader I am, this was meant to point out how much I adored this book.
Now at this point I have finished the whole book including the epilogue and I can actually give my honest and full reflection of it. Having read that last page... I can't even describe what I felt. I'm sure it was what many other Harry Potter fans around the world felt when they too read: "The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well." I'm sure everyone was just as speechless as I was. And now that I'm here ready for reflection on not just the book but the entire series, I find myself speechless again.
Was this book so awesome because it finally addressed all those long unanswered questions? Yes. Was this book just fantastic because we finally know what happens to everyone? Yes. Was this book wonderful because Rowling was ruthless and took no prisoners? Yes. Was this book splendid because we knew all the characters and cared about them like they were real? Yes. Was this book so great because it made you laugh, cry, gasp, emote out loud? Yes. That was one of my favorite things about the book. Regardless of where I was, whether it be sitting on the couch next to my roommate, alone in my room, or standing in my shop, I found myself cheering and gasping and all other sorts of reactions, I was just that into the story.
The most emotional part for me, one of them at least, was when Dobby died. I don't know what it was about that, but I was sobbing and had tears streaming down my face. When they describe putting the socks on his feet, that was the part that opened the floodgates. I am one of those people that supports the theory that socks are a very imporant symbol in the Harry Potter series. I even did a report in one of my high school English classes on it. "Ron sat on the edge of the grave and stripped off his shoes and socks, which he placed upon the elf's bare feet. Dean produced a woolen hat, which Harry placed carefully upon Dobby's head, muffling his batlike ears." Rowling, master of subtle detail, still includes that brief mention of socks. It was that which really did me in.
Another thing that impressed me was how well the story flowed. Probably a combination of being a good writer and knowing, without a doubt, where the story was going and what she wanted to have happen allowed Rowling to keep the story smooth and not jerky. So easily, especially in the beginning/middle chapters in Harry, Ron, and Hermione's search for Horcruxes things could have become so choppy. And while time did pass quickly in brief sections it still flowed. A lot of writers, even good writers, can't seem to make something like that work, yet Rowling did, proving herself yet again.
I was also really impressed by her ballsy moves of killing off several main characters, especially right in the beginning. I thought it was going to be in the big final battle ('cause c'mon, you knew it was coming) that we lost all our favorites, not within the first few chapters. RIP Hedwig and Mad-Eye. That was one major way you got sucked in because you're thinking, "Oh my God! Characters I love are already dying! What the-" and then you keep going because you need to know if anyone else is going to kick it. For some reason though Rowling just loves killing off my favorite characters, Dumbledore, Moody, Fred (and George too in a way), Lupin, Tonks. I was especially angry over the Lupin/Tonks death. It felt like a sort of snub because, yay they're married! Yay, they're having a baby! Yay, he's a little metamorphmagus. Boo, both parents are suddenly dead. Rude. But I guess it made the whole thing hurt a lot more, and it did.
Honestly, I felt Rowling tied things up beautifully and not in that harried, "Oh yeah about that? Um... this happens! Yeah, that's it!" I think many fans feel vindicated (i.e. the Snape/Lily shippers, those who thought Harry was a Horcrux, don't mess with Mrs. Weasley) after reading this book. Of course there are probably some who are broken down and upset that what they thought was going to happen didn't. In the end we all got one hell of a story and went on one fantastic adventure. No matter what happened, no matter who died or who ended up with who this book was more than I could have hoped for, I was not disappointed at all.
Don't think this is the end of everything, there's plenty to look forward to. Discussions and debates with fellow Potter fans incorporating all this new and final information. That all-knowing and excited feeling you'll get when you meet someone who is reading Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone for the first time and getting hooked on the series. The last two movies. A possible Encyclopedia Potterica. New and different books from an amazing author.
All I can say now is: Jo, thank you.
Next Book: Female Spectacle by Susan A. Glenn • review
Back to the Book List.