sistermagpie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sistermagpie) wrote2007-07-21 06:35 pm
sistermagpie) wrote2007-07-21 06:35 pm
Deathly Hallows
I feel weird writing this post, because I don't really feel like posting, yet it seems like I should, and then I think--what, do you imagine the public is waiting on pins and needles for your words? Get over yourself!:-D
Anyway, I didn't much like it. Perhaps my feelings will change, but stop here if you don’t want to read any negative stuff. I don't have any rants prepared or anything or want to harsh anybody's buzz. (But misery also loves company!) I was talking to someone who's asked me what I needed from the book, what I wanted to happen or what would have made me satisfied, and the truth is, I don't have an answer. I don't have a list of prescriptive criticism, or think things were done badly, or should have been done a different way.
Well, except one little thing, which couldn't be helped. When that white doe showed up I never doubted for a second it was Snape's Lily!Patronus (cause she's a lady!James!). We'd seen Arthur's and Kingsley's Patronuses talk, and oh, how I wanted that beautiful sparkly stag to come up to Harry and tell him to get this Quest going already in Snape's sarcastic voice.
I've never loved these books the way some do--which should not be taken as a criticism of people who do. I just mean that I know there are people who re-read the books over and over as comfort, and that's not something I ever did. I didn't ever want to re-read to spend time with these people or in this world. There are other books I do feel that way about, books that other people find meh. Basically, I felt like JKR was writing a story of good and evil, and life and death, that resonated with her and satisfied her, and felt like a triumph for her--just not me. So I was a bit left out of the story, objectively even seeing characters doing good, brave things, and just not sharing much in the emotions. More than once I felt like I was seeing more story outline/structure than story so that it seemed very contrived (a couple of times Harry himself seemed to admit it) and made it feel like nothing was building to anything.
What it mostly made me do is go over all the ways I was reading it wrong, making my issues more central than the author really considered them. I don't think I was ever so off as, say, a Harmonian banking on the Hippogriff o'love or anything like that, and some things that happened I did predict (Snape/Lily, obviously, and DDM!Snape). But in general I think I was reading Rowling a bit too much like a Tolkien fan, and maybe too much as a Jungian (not that I'm any expert on Jung, but I was reading from my own idea of his stuff). And I think when JKR said that she was Christian and if she talked about her faith we'd know the ending, I immediately began interrogating from the *wrong* Christian perspective and got that wrong too.
Contrary to what some may have thought at times-or not-I don't hate the good guys. Still don't hate them, just still would not want to spend time with them or re-read the books to spend time with them. The characters I liked the most I think less of now or am just kind of confused by, which is unfortunate. I find Harry affectionately naming his child Albus Severus downright creepy--but that wasn't the first time in the book where that kind of thing happened.
Not sure what I predict fanfic-wise. I wonder if people might not start writing some interesting stuff. I did at one point think how I wanted to take a favorite character and put him in a different story.
Oh, also I've been dreading the epilogue for years, because I've always hated epilogues. Even when I was too young to know the name for them I hated them. Some books I guess can make a case for them being appropriate. HP is really not one of them that I can see. There was no reason I could see for needing to see these people married with children. The one good thing I read about it was after it was leaked, before I read it, and I read a comment where someone said the epilogue read like any cliché H/G fic...or any cliché post-war H/D fic.;-)
Anyway, I didn't much like it. Perhaps my feelings will change, but stop here if you don’t want to read any negative stuff. I don't have any rants prepared or anything or want to harsh anybody's buzz. (But misery also loves company!) I was talking to someone who's asked me what I needed from the book, what I wanted to happen or what would have made me satisfied, and the truth is, I don't have an answer. I don't have a list of prescriptive criticism, or think things were done badly, or should have been done a different way.
Well, except one little thing, which couldn't be helped. When that white doe showed up I never doubted for a second it was Snape's Lily!Patronus (cause she's a lady!James!). We'd seen Arthur's and Kingsley's Patronuses talk, and oh, how I wanted that beautiful sparkly stag to come up to Harry and tell him to get this Quest going already in Snape's sarcastic voice.
I've never loved these books the way some do--which should not be taken as a criticism of people who do. I just mean that I know there are people who re-read the books over and over as comfort, and that's not something I ever did. I didn't ever want to re-read to spend time with these people or in this world. There are other books I do feel that way about, books that other people find meh. Basically, I felt like JKR was writing a story of good and evil, and life and death, that resonated with her and satisfied her, and felt like a triumph for her--just not me. So I was a bit left out of the story, objectively even seeing characters doing good, brave things, and just not sharing much in the emotions. More than once I felt like I was seeing more story outline/structure than story so that it seemed very contrived (a couple of times Harry himself seemed to admit it) and made it feel like nothing was building to anything.
What it mostly made me do is go over all the ways I was reading it wrong, making my issues more central than the author really considered them. I don't think I was ever so off as, say, a Harmonian banking on the Hippogriff o'love or anything like that, and some things that happened I did predict (Snape/Lily, obviously, and DDM!Snape). But in general I think I was reading Rowling a bit too much like a Tolkien fan, and maybe too much as a Jungian (not that I'm any expert on Jung, but I was reading from my own idea of his stuff). And I think when JKR said that she was Christian and if she talked about her faith we'd know the ending, I immediately began interrogating from the *wrong* Christian perspective and got that wrong too.
Contrary to what some may have thought at times-or not-I don't hate the good guys. Still don't hate them, just still would not want to spend time with them or re-read the books to spend time with them. The characters I liked the most I think less of now or am just kind of confused by, which is unfortunate. I find Harry affectionately naming his child Albus Severus downright creepy--but that wasn't the first time in the book where that kind of thing happened.
Not sure what I predict fanfic-wise. I wonder if people might not start writing some interesting stuff. I did at one point think how I wanted to take a favorite character and put him in a different story.
Oh, also I've been dreading the epilogue for years, because I've always hated epilogues. Even when I was too young to know the name for them I hated them. Some books I guess can make a case for them being appropriate. HP is really not one of them that I can see. There was no reason I could see for needing to see these people married with children. The one good thing I read about it was after it was leaked, before I read it, and I read a comment where someone said the epilogue read like any cliché H/G fic...or any cliché post-war H/D fic.;-)
The "wrong Christian perspective" again
He learned philios quite early on through Hagrid, Ron, and Hermione, later expanded to include others. Spending time with the Weasleys taught him the storgé which he had missed in his own family, thanks to his parents dying and the unhealthy environment at the Dursleys'. He'd been fumbling toward eros for a few books, with HBP!Ginny representing his finally getting it right after his blunder with Cho. (This is why I never subscribed to the Love Potion theory, despite the fact that I felt H/G was badly written in HBP.) And, I thought, true agapé was the last thing he'd learn, the thing he'd been struggling with ever since meeting Draco back in book 1. I thought Book 7 would be where Harry finally learned that he had to love the Slytherins even if he didn't like them, and be willing to save the wizarding world for them too. I also thought Harry would realize he had to forgive Snape and put that whole thing behind him--that he wouldn't be able to defeat Voldemort without doing so, in fact.
Maybe I too was thinking like a Tolkien fan there. After all, Frodo starts off on his journey to destroy the Ring for the sake of the whole Shire, not just those hobbits he likes.
Oh, and speaking of Frodo, do you think JKR was deliberately trying to do a Ring parallel in DH, between the Horcrux Locket Of Doom and the all-powerful magical artefacts which people are irresistibly tempted by?
Re: The "wrong Christian perspective" again
1. Love of enemies, shown by Harry.
2. What true virtue/Sainthood looks like, shown by Severus (Rowling came closer to this than she would like to admit, but she tried very hard to diminish and sabotage Severus's character, and that makes me angry at her. It was not necessary to damage the character in this way. I personally think he's *still* a saint, but he's a very, very damaged soul, as she has written him. Grrr!)
3. The power of forgiveness, shown by Harry and the other kids, possibly including Draco. But definitely Harry, because, like Severus, Harry holds grudges like nobody's business, and this is a lesson he really has to learn. Also, being a kid and the protagonist, he was likely (I thought) to learn it before Severus.
4. And, of course, I expected a loving sacrifice on Harry's part. Perhaps not on his alone, but definitely on his. I didn't quite get it; to me, the sacrifice Rowling wrote felt mechanical, and therefore like cheating.
It's probably not fair to compare Tolkien (whom I love) and Rowling. He was not writing for kids, but for himself, and was a genius with a coherent and loving worldview. Rowling, as it turns out, really was just writing children's books. But you can compare her to Madeleine L'Engle and, for that matter, Lloyd Alexander. They are head and shoulders above her in pacing and moral clarity.
I'm responding because, as a Christian, I, too, took her seriously when Rowling said she was writing a Christian story. She didn't do anything of the kind, IMHO. The only conclusion I can come to is that she's a Calvinist. I'm definitely not.
Re: The "wrong Christian perspective" again
I was interested to read lately that JKR's church is the Church of Scotlant, which on the US side of the pond is the Presbyterian church. If I'm not mistaken, isn't the Presbyterian church one that believes in predestination? Because it't always seemed that--regardless of all the bits about our choices making us who we are--in JKR's world some people are destined to be good (saved) and some are destined to be bad (damned) and that's just that. (Sorry, you freshly sorted little Slytherins. Too bad for you.)
I'm seriously wondering how much her own personal faith and religious beliefs colored this storyline, because this isn't my Christianity either.
Re: The "wrong Christian perspective" again
It's just a slightly different thing, where people might suffer for the way things worked out, and they might be responsible for it because of what they chose, but that really doesn't effect their personality or their destiny. That I think is partially why I've lately been hearing so much how Harry might "make mistakes" and "do bad things" but he always does the right thing "when it counts." There's no connection between those choices and other more important choices. Or with Snape, for instance, his choice to protect Harry doesn't lead him to the kind of redemption one might expect where he becomes a different man.
Re: The "wrong Christian perspective" again
It's just a slightly different thing, where people might suffer for the way things worked out, and they might be responsible for it because of what they chose, but that really doesn't effect their personality or their destiny.
I was going to say that I thought Dumbledore's backstory was supposed to show him being changed as a consequence of his actions. However, on further reflection, I'm not so sure about that either.
That I think is partially why I've lately been hearing so much how Harry might "make mistakes" and "do bad things" but he always does the right thing "when it counts."
Personally, I'd be more comfortable with that explanation if there was any acknowledgement, anywhere in the text, that the things he did were bad.
Re: The "wrong Christian perspective" again
"By the decree of God, for the manifestation of his glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death."
It's not my Christianity either. Now I'm curious whether people within the Calvinist tradition find the book more satisfying than non-Calvinists.
Re: The "wrong Christian perspective" again
I pretty much agree with your list of themes that you expected to see. I hesitate to elevate Snape as the exemplar of "what true virtue looks like," because that seems to imply that only his type is true. But I certainly think he's a strong and important example of a certain kind of virtue/Sainthood, and that he wasn't used as well as he could have been.
I honestly think she tried to transfer some of Snape's thunder as "the guy who screwed up and carried on" to new!improved!Dumbledore. Can't say it worked for me, though.
And, of course, I expected a loving sacrifice on Harry's part.... I didn't quite get it; to me, the sacrifice Rowling wrote felt mechanical, and therefore like cheating.
"Cheating" is a good way of putting it. I suspect this is one of the big dividing lines between people who like the book and people who didn't. For some, Harry's sacrifice apparently works and is very moving.
I'm responding because, as a Christian, I, too, took her seriously when Rowling said she was writing a Christian story. She didn't do anything of the kind, IMHO.
I can see some elements, but it didn't go anywhere near as far as I expected it to.
Thanks a lot for your comment! ^_^