Deathly Hallows

[sistermagpie]

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.;-)

Comments

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I caught myself last night still kind of wondering where that story was going to go, the one whose first half was in HBP! It wasn't even a complaint, it was just like I still can't put the two together in my mind.

It's funny that I happen to be reading another book that's kids fantasy at the moment, I was suddenly aware of how differently I relate to the characters in it, just because they're written a different way. The way JKR writes her characters is great for fanfic and I think are a big reason for such a big fandom-I'm not knocking them for what they are, because they have their own strengths. I just realized I was interacting with the characters differently and enjoying it.

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

what series and what is the difference with how the characters were written if I may ask?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's kind of hard to describe, but I just happened to be reading this series by Diana Wynn Jones--I think it's the Dalemark Quartet. It's not that the characters are so uniquely written, it's just it's...I don't know if I can even explain it. I feel a bit closer to the characters, like they're all more fleshed out and individuals. It's just a different style.

[alchemia.livejournal.com]

ah, like JKR's are more charactures or stereotypes? well if the reasons come together in clearer detail in your mind, I'd find such a meta post on it interesting.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I'll try to think about it. JKR does have a recognizable way of making characters--she creates vibrant people in a few quick strokes. Bold strokes, maybe. This particular book has fewer characters and I think they'd be more difficult to peg into types than JKR's.

[quivo.livejournal.com]

It wasn't even a complaint, it was just like I still can't put the two together in my mind.

I know what you mean. It feels like she crammed everything into this book all in the name of keeping the big mysteries secret or whatnot, and it just all didn't hold together at all. I feel like she really just lost a handle on the entire thing somehow, and should have been advised to step back and look at things and take things out or something. Or just clarify. Or just come up with a better frigging way of tying everything together.

I mean, honestly, the advertisers knew what they were doing, advertising whether Snape would be good or evil - that was pretty much the only *interesting* Big Mystery left. After that, there was the Lily thing, which was thin, and the Hallows thing, which was even thinner. I wonder when the hell she got the idea for the Hallows, honestly, because she definitely didn't capitalise on the visible ones sooner. If not drawing some attention to Dumbles' wand, she could have made the Cloak seem, I dunno, more like some mysterious object rather than this wicked useful prop for sneaking out and having sex beneath with.

The way JKR writes her characters is great for fanfic
That's definitely it, I think. I love how accessible it all is, honestly- just kinda wish things had been a little more put together in the plotting department. ESPECIALLY after reading better-plotted stuff, I feel she could probably have done better. It's definitely not the kids' fantasy thing - Eoin Colfer does just fine for himself in that genre, and so does Garth Nix.

And I do interact differently with characters from other stories- for the most part, I let them just be, and if they aren't really taking me along with them, I usually just stop reading. And that can be bloody cool, especially if you're reading something good.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's definitely not anything to do with it being kids' fantasy--this way is obviously right for this story, it's just a different way of interacting.

I groaned when the Hallows were introduced. With the whole Horcruxes vs. Hallows and yet more magical objects I didn't really care about, I felt like Harry and Voldemort were engaged in a battle of Supermarket Challenge.

[quivo.livejournal.com]

I felt like Harry and Voldemort were engaged in a battle of Supermarket Challenge.

LOfuckingL. Or Pokemon - GOTTA CATCH EM ALL, you guys! I mean, honestly, I can dig a magical object. I loved the philosopher's stone, and the Goblet of Fire (well, that a little less, but I liked the contest it introduced despite the hairy corners). But Jesus H. Christ.

(Speaking of another crappy joke: guess who now puts the H in Jesus H. Christ. It's our boy, 'ARRRAAY)

(Or perhaps not Supermarket Challenge- Ready, Steady, Cook, anyone??)

[artystone.livejournal.com]

I'm under the impression that the Hallows came first, then she came up with the idea of horcruxes somewhere midway through her outline. Of course what happened then was that her conclusion depended on the Hallows. It was very annoying to me that horcruxes became an afterthought in this book, every once in a while she just threw one in just so she could get rid of it quickly.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I think you're right that's the way she thought them up. The Hallows seemed more her central mythology about death, the thing that it was all about for her. The Horcruxes were just thrown in without much interest--I mean, does anyone care about Ravenclaw's tiara? No.