1 post tagged “harry potter”

The hype surrounding the arrival of a new Harry Potter book always put my guard up. Anything so commercially successful, says my inner struggling artist, must be a sell-out, less-than-worthy of my attention (and dollars). But I have to admit that Harry Potter has won me over. Like so many writers and literati, I want to find a reason to dislike J.K. Rowling and her imagi-spawn, Harry, Ron, Hermione, et al.

But I can't. There is something so lifelike and so . . . so damn normal about these characters that I cannot help rooting for them, cannot help wanting to know how their lives turn out, cannot help hoping that Harry would finally get laid or something. Okay, okay, being a young adult's book, I suppose that I'm insinuating my adult taste for the risque into a more innocent narrative. But I digress . . .

Deathly Hallows continues where the sixth book left off, with Harry nearing the end of his protective charms and Voldemort quickly closing in. Advance readers warned of "how to deal with all the deaths in the new book," and, I have to admit, I was a scoffer. How many could there be? Wellll, I was surprised! There really were quite a lot, and some of them were shocking. The first happened quickly and without any kind of forewarning. The unexpectedness of it caught me off guard. From there on, I expected a death at every turn, and, even so, the next major death made me cry. Now, for those of you who don't know me, I can be emotional, but I usually can disengage from a character enough to keep from crying in public. Not this time! There I was, bawling my eyes out in a parking lot while my daughter bought eyeliner, for Pete's sake!

Once again, Rowling's knack for effortlessly weaving in backstory helps immensely, as small forgettable aspects from earlier books were crucial to the plot. One really nice thing in Deathly Hallows is that Harry and company have noticeably aged. No longer are they concerned merely with school and their own affairs; now, with the death of Dumbledore in the sixth book, Harry and his friends are forced to confront the larger issue of "What is Best for the Wizarding World?" as they approach the problems in the seventh book. They even swear, albeit in a mild form.

Overall, Deathly Hallows was a wonderful way to wind up the series. Full of action, emotion, and then more action, Rowling ties up the threads from the previous six books neatly and, seemingly, effortlessly. And frankly, I wonder if this isn't what draws so much of the criticism from those who quickly dismiss Rowling as a commercial success. She makes it look sooooo easy, and we're all jealous. Deep down, we all want to be the next Rowling, and then we won't be bitching about the commercial success.