Saturday, July 28, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- J. K. Rowling

This isn't a review, just a few comments.

First of all, let me just say how gratifying it is to know that J. K. Rowling is a devoted reader of this blog and that she values my advice. Many of you will no doubt recall my review of the previous novel in this series (for those who don't, it's here). Ms. Rowling took my comments to heart, and she eliminated (at a rough guess) 85-90% of those annoying adverbial tags. For which I'm grateful.

I was also please to discover that Ms. Rowling is a Mickey Spillane fan and that she included a nice homage to The Mick on page 214:

"Harry," wailed Hermione. "How could you?"

"It was easy," said Harry.


Aside from that, what else is there to say? Well, the book's too long. I could cut it by 200 pages and not miss much. Not that the length is going to keep anyone from reading it. Are there deaths of beloved characters? Yes, and I was saddened by all of them. There were more than I thought there would be.

This book is mostly action, though there are some quiet moments, too. The final chapters, and the whole book, really, will make for some great action scenes in the eventual movie version.

I have to confess to great admiration for Ms. Rowling. To conceive a series like this and to cap it off with a book that ties just about everything up neatly and effectively is quite an achievement. Over the years she's made me laugh and cry, and I thank her for that. Like many others, I'll miss Harry and all his friends, but I'm glad I was along for the ride. I'll be very interested to see where J. K. Rowling goes from here.

6 comments:

Cap'n Bob said...

I'm a Real Man so I didn't cry, but I loved the series anyway. I just have two questions about the final book, and here's a SPOILER ALERT for those who haven't read it. 1) How did Umbrage get away? 2) How did Longbottom get the sword?

Unknown said...

Both good questions, to which I have no answer. I didn't even think about the Umbridge one, though the other did occur to me.

Anonymous said...

Umbridge didn't suffer nearly enough in either book she appeared in.

Bill's last paragraph said exactly how I feel.

Didn't Harry give him the sword?

As for the deaths (SPOILER ALERT), RIP poor little Dobby.

Unknown said...

I won't say who else died, but I was sorry to see any of the Good Guys go.

Cap'n Bob said...

SPOILER ALERT!!!
I should have sked my Pottermaniac daughter first. Dumbledore save Umbrage in the last book, and the sword came from the Sorting Hat. OK, than what was that beat up little person at the end when Harry and Dumbledore are talking? Voldemort?

Unknown said...

Yes.