I do believe that if *you'd* liked it I would have felt even more alone than I've been feeling since Friday night.
As an admitted Snape fan I really expected there to be more of a ...protest...from my corner of fandom. I was shocked to the core by the positive reactions to the book. Okay, I confess I have never been a fan of this universe and it's true I cannot see the appeal of the books.
I stumbled into fandom, found I liked it there, and have simply sat and watched my fellow fen go nuts for each successive tome. Fanfic is my thing , meta my other thing, but I'm a little afraid to express my opinions in this fandom because I get the impression - forgive me if I'm wrong about this - that the majority of the highly, highly intelligent people reading these books do not even begin to see what I see as issues here.
As I said in response to another reaction post I feel like I've been the victim of a confidence trick - not just with Snape, though for sure he is actually a VERY good illustration of what I mean - but the entire series!
It seems to me (and yeah people will scoff and say 'duh!' to this) that she set up the story to be a certain way and never deviated from this over the course of the 20 odd years writing. I suppose for some people that not only seems self-evident, but also only right and proper. Whereas for me it illustrates the very thing that I see as being the central problem here - writing to an agenda, an agenda that may have been huge for you when you were a single mum in her twenties but even a few years later isn't nearly quite as...large anymore. I am hesitant to say that I think the author has issues that come across clearly in her books, but the author has issues which come across clearly in her books! And I think that it's really, really weird to STILL be eagerly illustrating these issues 20 some years later. It's like when she won't allow Snape to let go of his Lily obsession it's because she too can't let go of certain things. Insert here that I suspect that Snape/Lily was a stand -in for the author and her own issues with revenge and love. ( I have my theories about this, but won't bore you with them - also they might be offensive to people who'll assume I'm author bashing. But if I see an author's hand obscuring my view of the goings on well then I'm going to *notice* it and most likely ask for my money back!) And please to forgive me Ms Rowling but how can I help but psychoanalyse you when you practically *hand* me the tools so to do? And I don't *want* to get personal here, but sheesh Harry Potter *is* personal. I feel like I've been given a front row seat on this woman's personal fantasies and thanks, but no thanks. Do. Not. Want.
Harry Potter is the creation of someone with an obvious agenda and it shows - really shows. Clearly she must have struck a real nerve judging by the popularity of the books, but it strikes a different sort of nerve for me.
It's pretty obvious that the story could easily have been told in one book (except fantasy seems to require a trio of volumes, doesn't it?) and still be a pretty good story. I think so anyway. The fact that she chose to spread it out over 7 books is where it begins to fail for me. I can honestly well imagine enjoying the book(s) more if there were fewer books to enjoy (!) (The message may or may not have been palatable but at least it would have been digested - or spat out - in one sitting!
I said more than I meant to and far less too. But with this thing it's almost a case of both where do you start and how can you stop once you've started!!!
no subject
I do believe that if *you'd* liked it I would have felt even more alone than I've been feeling since Friday night.
As an admitted Snape fan I really expected there to be more of a ...protest...from my corner of fandom. I was shocked to the core by the positive reactions to the book. Okay, I confess I have never been a fan of this universe and it's true I cannot see the appeal of the books.
I stumbled into fandom, found I liked it there, and have simply sat and watched my fellow fen go nuts for each successive tome. Fanfic is my thing , meta my other thing, but I'm a little afraid to express my opinions in this fandom because I get the impression - forgive me if I'm wrong about this - that the majority of the highly, highly intelligent people reading these books do not even begin to see what I see as issues here.
As I said in response to another reaction post I feel like I've been the victim of a confidence trick - not just with Snape, though for sure he is actually a VERY good illustration of what I mean - but the entire series!
It seems to me (and yeah people will scoff and say 'duh!' to this) that she set up the story to be a certain way and never deviated from this over the course of the 20 odd years writing. I suppose for some people that not only seems self-evident, but also only right and proper. Whereas for me it illustrates the very thing that I see as being the central problem here - writing to an agenda, an agenda that may have been huge for you when you were a single mum in her twenties but even a few years later isn't nearly quite as...large anymore. I am hesitant to say that I think the author has issues that come across clearly in her books, but the author has issues which come across clearly in her books! And I think that it's really, really weird to STILL be eagerly illustrating these issues 20 some years later. It's like when she won't allow Snape to let go of his Lily obsession it's because she too can't let go of certain things. Insert here that I suspect that Snape/Lily was a stand -in for the author and her own issues with revenge and love. ( I have my theories about this, but won't bore you with them - also they might be offensive to people who'll assume I'm author bashing. But if I see an author's hand obscuring my view of the goings on well then I'm going to *notice* it and most likely ask for my money back!) And please to forgive me Ms Rowling but how can I help but psychoanalyse you when you practically *hand* me the tools so to do? And I don't *want* to get personal here, but sheesh Harry Potter *is* personal. I feel like I've been given a front row seat on this woman's personal fantasies and thanks, but no thanks. Do. Not. Want.
Harry Potter is the creation of someone with an obvious agenda and it shows - really shows. Clearly she must have struck a real nerve judging by the popularity of the books, but it strikes a different sort of nerve for me.
It's pretty obvious that the story could easily have been told in one book (except fantasy seems to require a trio of volumes, doesn't it?) and still be a pretty good story. I think so anyway. The fact that she chose to spread it out over 7 books is where it begins to fail for me. I can honestly well imagine enjoying the book(s) more if there were fewer books to enjoy (!) (The message may or may not have been palatable but at least it would have been digested - or spat out - in one sitting!
I said more than I meant to and far less too. But with this thing it's almost a case of both where do you start and how can you stop once you've started!!!