tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post7742645462875053883..comments2024-03-14T11:50:14.761-04:00Comments on DarwinCatholic: Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsDarwinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-4062845054902413092008-11-28T00:51:00.000-05:002008-11-28T00:51:00.000-05:00I was more than a little annoyed at how, despite S...I was more than a little annoyed at how, despite Snape actually being a MAJOR hero through the story, he got the crappiest, most insulting ending in the book. <BR/><BR/>He lived his life in torture as a double agent, grappling with the inner feelings that Harry was not only the child of his one true love but also the result of a relationship that ate him from the inside and yet he did all he could to protect Harry and all he got was the unglorious and totally unfounded death that J.K. gave him. That really gets to me. <BR/><BR/>I'm also completely against the whole relationship between Tonks and Lupin. It just doesn't seem right. So many details like that seem so glaring against what is essentially a good story line.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-24375373774905797242007-08-03T14:22:00.000-04:002007-08-03T14:22:00.000-04:00I am curious - was anyone else bothered by the dea...I am curious - was anyone else bothered by the death of Tonks. I know that Rowling wanted the deaths of Lupin and Tonks to mirror the deaths of Lily and James. But Tonks death was pointless - her present at the battle scene was not necessary especially since she had a baby presumably still nursing. If Rowling was to be consistent Tonk's responsibility was to her child not joining her husband in battle.Chad Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17960440899433812771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-56331898612090898382007-07-30T17:38:00.000-04:002007-07-30T17:38:00.000-04:00DB,Not to worry, I did get the Sword of G business...DB,<BR/>Not to worry, I did get the Sword of G business--but like Mrs. D I did have to review memory of earlier books before deciding whther or not there was a plot hole there. Normally I don't like "dumbed down" literature, but I think a concisely-worded reminder that Neville had just proven himself a true Griffindor by that little bit of prestidigitation would have been appropriate at that point in the story. <BR/><BR/>Literacy, werewolf is a contagious, body-fluid-borne condition, as it was in the B movies. In interviews, Rowling has compared it to living with AIDS in the real world. It's mentioned in one of the earlier books that Remus Lupin contracted it after having been attacked by a werewolf as a boy. I'd have to go back and look it up, but it seems to me that it was mentioned somewhere that the perp was Fenrir Grayback. <BR/><BR/>BTW, I looked up Rowling's Wikipedia profile recently: for what it's worth, she's Church of Scotland and seems to have asserted at least once that her Christianity has guided the outcome of the story. Assuming the aricle's accuracy.CMinorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07305306030099439903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-23011027006005427472007-07-30T12:14:00.000-04:002007-07-30T12:14:00.000-04:00Yeah, especially coming out of a Brit, I basically...Yeah, especially coming out of a Brit, I basically figured the Weasley's were Irish.<BR/><BR/>On consistency of worldbuilding, the books are so far from good that frankly I could imagine someone who takes Fantasy really seriously as a genre not liking them. As it is, I think one is best of not thinking of the HP books as fantasy novels in the sense that one might label the Earthsea books or the Dark Is Rising books as fantasy. (Picking those two as being perhaps aimed at a similar age group.) <BR/><BR/>Rightly or wrongly, it doesn't seem to me that Rowling was even trying to come up with a consistent backstory and set of magical laws for her world. This tends to annoy me a bit. Certainly, I was always very careful about such things back when I was writing fantasy. But then, wildly inventive is not a description that would have been applied to my work...<BR/><BR/><I>Incidently, I think a lot of what passes for literature in English departments these days should be subjected to your classification of "good"--and rejected accordingly!!</I><BR/><BR/>I knew there was a reason I went into history/classics instead of literature... ;-)Darwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08572976822786862149noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-31565291979918323372007-07-30T11:52:00.000-04:002007-07-30T11:52:00.000-04:00Incidently, I think a lot of what passes for liter...Incidently, I think a lot of what passes for literature in English departments these days should be subjected to your classification of "good"--and rejected accordingly!! Didn't you forget the "politically correct" and "written by a woman" criteria? ;)Literacy-chichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08925734773412633965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-91382808651675313052007-07-30T11:51:00.000-04:002007-07-30T11:51:00.000-04:00Great review!(And, indeed, I'm pretty sure it was ...Great review!<BR/><BR/><I>(And, indeed, I'm pretty sure it was just this sort of last minute attempt -- unplanned before this book was written.)</I><BR/><BR/>I don't care enough about the series to mind spoilers, though I do enjoy them and will probably read all of them. So I read this, spoilers and all (not that I'm feeling that it spoiled all that much), though I'm holding out for the paperback. From what I've read, however, there is far, far too much of the on-the-fly creation of plot devices that were not planned or anticipated in the earlier books. Internal consistency is a big thing for me and is really important in fantasy in particular because of the necessity of creating a thoroughly believable fantasy world.<BR/><BR/>I don't think that the books are sustainably Christian in any meaningful sense of the word (final sacrifices notwithstanding), but a lot of books aren't, and they aren't condemned for it. Sure, the series is about good & evil, and written in a Western culture that is informed by Christianity to an increasingly debated degree. And we can do what we will with those facts.<BR/><BR/>One thing I enjoy is the humor in the books. I find myself laughing out loud sometimes, and reading my husband (who falls into the "doesn't care" or "finds them mildly annoying" categories) bits of dialogue to watch him smile. Unfortunately, the humor is sometimes unintentional--broomstick imagery can get a little phallic sometimes, after all!<BR/><BR/><I>(In a move by no means standard in books for teens, the Harry Potter books are completely free even of references to premarital sex.)</I><BR/><BR/>I was pleasantly surprised by this. Anticipating otherwise, I was hesitant to let my son read the ones I had not read (or at least seen) previously.<BR/><BR/>I may be alone in feeling that the repetition of the mother-love motif is a little sappy.<BR/><BR/>BTW, is were-wolf a genetic trait?<BR/><BR/>And did anyone else feel like the Weasleys were a happy Irish Catholic stereotype--red hair, lots of kids, poverty, & all? Or am I entering the conversation late on this one?Literacy-chichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08925734773412633965noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-57904025985376969392007-07-29T23:22:00.000-04:002007-07-29T23:22:00.000-04:00DB,I remember when Order of the Phoenix came out, ...DB,<BR/><BR/>I remember when Order of the Phoenix came out, and there was a big tempest about which main character would die. I was in agonies during the last quarter of the book, fearing that the character Rowling would off would be Neville. He's my fave, and I loved LOVED his chopping off the snake's head. <BR/><BR/>Though I confess I'd forgotten that the sword had come out of the Sorting Hat before, and so my belated reaction -- as in the morning after finishing the book -- was "Wait, what the--?"mrsdarwinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03446744635277205867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-76874578805724768752007-07-29T21:43:00.000-04:002007-07-29T21:43:00.000-04:00cminor,The Sword of G was pulled from the Sorting ...cminor,<BR/><BR/>The Sword of G was pulled from the Sorting Hat (which was G's originally, remember), a deliberate reference to Harry's getting the Sword in the Chamber of Secrets, and proof that Neville really *does* have the potential to be Harry's equal in everything.<BR/><BR/>This last was a major setup in the "Dumbledore explains everything" chapter in <I>Order of the Phoenix</I>.<BR/><BR/>Anyhow, the Sorting Hat is magical, has come up with the Sword before from a different location, and presumably does not have the same ideas about ownership that Goblins do.<BR/><BR/>DBAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-26741125583718670092007-07-29T18:15:00.000-04:002007-07-29T18:15:00.000-04:00Ditto what Jeff said.My eldest liked the first few...Ditto what Jeff said.<BR/><BR/>My eldest liked the first few books but has complained (unceasingly, it seems) about the later ones. Interestingly in view of the Wright quote, he described Rowling as "a good writer, but not a great storyteller." I'm inclined to agree: she's above-average when it comes to descriptive writing, characterization, and nomenclature and her prose is top-notch compared to a lot of young folks' literature, but she doesn't always seem to remember where she was going with some plot threads, and thus ends up with something like the last few chapters, trying frantically to pull them all together. It ends up having a feel a bit like something written by a really bright but desultory college student the night before the due date. <BR/><BR/>Another point on which my son has harangued us (and if he'd only shut up about it for a minute, I'd agree wholeheartedly) is that Rowling is definitely not at her best writing battle or romantic scenes. Which may have something to do with why she brought everyting to a grinding halt during the big final battle so she could take us on a philosophical ramble through Snape's psyche. <BR/><BR/>I'll give her credit for not leaving any really glaring plot holes, (although Neville whipping out what we can only surmise was the sword of Griffindor after it was returned to the goblin was pushing the envelope a bit)which would have been easy given the number of new loose ends she introduced at the end of Book 6. (I was betting on 1000 pages or more to wrap those up!)<BR/><BR/>I'm of two minds about the epilogue--my gut reaction while reading it was "Oh, now isn't that nicey-nice." But in retrospect, it not only wraps things up and provides some perspective on the lives of the characters after the events of the climax, it also points out that, even after the big crises, life does go on. <BR/><BR/>On the other hand, I think if Rowling were really serious about protecting her intellectual property from endless sequels, bootlegs, and fanfics, it might have been prudent to send Sherlock over the cliff for good this time!CMinorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07305306030099439903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-71090906232506535382007-07-29T14:30:00.000-04:002007-07-29T14:30:00.000-04:00Good review and one I pretty much totally agree wi...Good review and one I pretty much totally agree with.<BR/><BR/>SF author John C. Wright said in his review of the book that Rowlings is a very good craftsman, but not a great writer.Jeff Millerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-91037288155557772522007-07-29T12:07:00.000-04:002007-07-29T12:07:00.000-04:00There are those who've seen the epilogue as a poin...<I>There are those who've seen the epilogue as a pointlessly "cute" add on. These are probably the same people who can't imagine why the end of LotR "wastes" all sorts of time talking about the Shire and Sam's family. </I><BR/><BR/>...And then there are those who think that the epilogue is Rowling's terrible heterosexist attempt to reduce all her characters to baby machines. Which, again, is ignoring that family is one of the main themes of the series.<BR/><BR/>I have to say, I've been *really* impressed all along by Rowling's portrayals of familes, especially the big Weaselly clan--how often nowadays do you get such a relentlessly positive pictures of a large family? Mrs. Weaselly's transformation from comic character to avenger was unexpected and yet so awesome and appropriate.<BR/><BR/>I also think that the Dumbledore revelations were relatively well set up. Sure, in the early books he was just the twinkly-eyed old man . . . but there's always been a manipulative aspect to the way he handles Harry, dropping him clues and expecting him to solve things rather than outright helping him. This doesn't register so much as dodgy because it's standard Wise Old Mentor behavior. But if you think about it in real-world terms, it's somewhat disturbing, and I really applaud Rowling for exploring that.<BR/><BR/>(Of course, if you think about these books in real-world terms, you realize that wizarding society is absolutely abominable in its acceptance of mind-wiping Muggles. Consistency, alas, is not Rowling's forte.)rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11210644066689186493noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-67883426230952128552007-07-29T10:15:00.000-04:002007-07-29T10:15:00.000-04:00Great review!By the way, on the family note you me...Great review!<BR/><BR/>By the way, on the family note you mentioned, I loved how Harry urged Lupin to go back to his family.<BR/><BR/>Good point about the character changes indicated at the end of this final book. The other thing I found frustrating about this final book was how little action Snape saw over the course of the book. <BR/><BR/>I'm impressed at your ability to keep all the pieces straight over the years. We started reading the series around the same time as you, but I can't seem to keep all the bits in my head. :)love2learnmomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13522238.post-60849849244117758992007-07-29T04:10:00.000-04:002007-07-29T04:10:00.000-04:00There are those who've seen the epilogue as a poin...<I>There are those who've seen the epilogue as a pointlessly "cute" add on. These are probably the same people who can't imagine why the end of LotR "wastes" all sorts of time talking about the Shire and Sam's family. </I><BR/><BR/>Thank you for putting into words what has bothered me about folks dissing that!<BR/>I hate "and they lived happily ever after." I want to know "Oh, so and so got married, named the kids for X, does Y for a living and is happy enough with his life."<BR/><BR/>Must agree on the best line, though.Foxfierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10161683096247890834noreply@blogger.com