Wednesday, July 25, 2007

WARNING! HARRY POTTER SPOILERS!

I finished the book at about midnight last night. The interesting thing about reading a series is that it's wonderful while you're in the middle of it--your need to know more about the characters is fed book after book, but when it's over...

I feel like I've lost a whole group of friends.

I am satisfied with this last book. I'm satisfied with the ending of the last book. I thought everything came together beautifully. Backstories that we've been waiting to learn more about came to the forefront and enriched the story. And when I think about this series, I think "rich". There is so much subtlety in the books that will never be captured in a movie. You cannot watch the movies and ignore the books and catch all of the ways in which everything is tied together. (And this is coming from a girl who loves the movies.)

I was so pleased that characters that I thought I'd never see again came back for one last hoorah.

Dobby. Dobby was my favorite, I think. A free elf, and when his end came, he was finally REALLY free. It was hard to read those pages (I yelled quite a lot when I realized what had happened).

I could go on and on about the characters, but I'm saving some of this for a Thursday Thirteen. I bet that will be a common theme this week.

The parts of the book where mothers were risking their lives to protect their children really got to me. I loved the part where Molly Weasley took on Bellatrix to save Ginny's life. I was so afraid that she would die in the process. I also thought it was really cool the way Narcissa (and what a cute play on words her name is for the Malfoy family!) "protected" Harry in order to learn about her son's whereabouts and get him out safely. That was totally unexpected.

The symbolism was beautiful (I keep saying beautiful, but that's the only way I know how to describe it) and very meaningful.

I ran across this article from Christianity Today that I thought was REALLY good. It's not often that you see a Christian periodical back the books up, but finally I guess someone actually read the books for him/herself and read between the lines. It's about time something like that happened.

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.


And that's the overall theme of this book, and in turn, this series.


P.S.--I would totally welcome a series about the next generation at Hogwarts. Think she'll do it?

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nicely put! I loved how Mrs. Weasley got in the action too...I was like "WHA!?" lol. And yes, I got sick when she killed one of my fave characters, too. *sigh* I am very very saddened that it is over tho.
And the article was fantastic btw. I bookmarked it so I can pass that around too ~_^
I heard that Rowling claimed that she "might" write more about the series, but only after a really looong vacation. I think she's earned it :D

Lisa said...

Great review. I loved it, I thought it was the best ending we could have had.

I'll have to go read that review, meanwhile, mine is up too!

Anonymous said...

It is probably redundant to say, but while I respect every one's right to their opinion, I cannot agree with comparing Harry Potter to Christianity - yes, the good v. evil, giving a life for another, etc. appears to be there (have not read, will not read the books - please forgive me), so many other stories to to. I'm even reserved in my opinion of the Narnia books, except that I fairly well trust the author. Cannot say the same with HarryP. But opinions are opinions, I reckon...I'll leave it at that, lest I start a war... :)

Mercy's Maid said...

The Christian symbolism is overt in the final book.

Whether or not you agree with the method in which the symbolism is presented is one thing, but anyone who *reads* the books cannot deny the parallels. It lends itself to comparison.

Anonymous said...

...I'm not denying any symbolism there, I can't, it wouldn't make sense to try since I've not read it, so that's not the issue; like I said, you can find the same issue in pretty much every book & movie out there

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

***THIS POST HAS A SPOILER ABOUT THE END OF THE LAST BOOK***

I red the last book in one day over a twelve hour span. This has happened to me with the last three books. I think for me Harry Potter provides a life story full of the good and bad we all go through but the whimsy and optimism we sometimes forget as adults.


It has been ages since I read a series of books meant for children that really spoke to me past entertainment as an adult. I agree with you wholeheartedly, though the book make no overt allusions to religion it would behoove those harry bashers to see past the fantasy of the story and look at the story. There is not often a body of work that so identifies with true friendship through hardship the way these stories do. You don't have to enjoy or even like Harry but before you say its evil because of the wizardry in the story lets take a moment and understand that it is all backdrop.

The meat of the story is that of a boy who is alone, find friends, learns about loyalty, forgiveness, honor and faith in the midst of terrible circumstances. In the end he does not sacrifice his honor to win. If you finished the book you'll notice the final spell Harry cast in one of defense. He could have tried to kill Voldemort with an unforgivable curse but rather he sought to disarm him instead. It was Voldemort who in the in killed himself when his unforgivable curse backfired. You'd think he would have learned the first time but truly evil people never do.

Just a Thought

Carrie said...

YES! I was actually looking for a review with spoilers! I haven't read the series. I read the first book -- loved the first half and started wearing out over the second half. Hearing that the series gets darker as it goes along didn't encourage me. However, the last book seems to be getting a lot of "Hurrays!"

I really appreciated your review. Thanks!

Cheryl Vanatti said...

Thanks for the link to the "Chritianity Today" article. I have a LONG personal story about my teaching involvement with parents and Harry Potter censorship so I'm always interested in that topic.

Additional thanks for taking a look at my Harry commentary too ;-)

Literary Feline said...

I thought it was a wonderful ending to a great series too. I am glad to see that there is some Christian support coming out for the books now. I have a friend who refused to read the books because her pastor told her they were evil and satanic. I hope she will read some of the articles out there in support of Harry Potter and take in a different view. She doesn't have to read the series, but I hate to see people discounting a book based on someone else's say so and without getting all the sides.

Framed said...

I enjoyed your review and the comments. I've only heard one person who actually read the book who didn't love it. Even she enjoyed large parts of it.

Victoria said...

Nice article on Deathly Hallows. As time has gone on, I've been quite surprised on how many negative comments people make about the Epilogue. Doesn't everyone remember that JKR said she wrote the final chapter last so she would always know exactly where she was headed? I assume it's the Epilogue that she had locked away in a safe and used as her talisman as she wrote, and wrote, and wrote. I just wish she'd written some more.