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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.;-)
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From:
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Yep. Even Slughorn, who arguably got the most ... positive treatment, had to be told what he needed to do by McGonegall, was always falling behind everyone else and showed up with reinforcements when the battle, for all intents and purposes, was very nearly won (and are we really supposed think Slughorn brought other *Slytherins* with him when Harry specifically tells us that he and Charlie seem to have shown up with the friends and families of every student who stayed behind -- and we also know that no Slytherins other than Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle willingly stayed behind? yeah, I think ... not). There wasn't a single person associated with the House who was allowed a truly *shining* moment that had to do with making a right choice for the right reasons and doing it of their own volition and not because someone they loved was in danger or because someone else told them to or because they were doing penance.
And maybe that's my expectations, but I honestly feel as an editor that this wasn't something I just brought to the table myself.
Well, this is where I'm having such a deeply conflicted reaction to how Snape's story ultimately unfolded. Because I've no doubt that we're supposed to view his conduct as heroic and that he really changed, etc., because after all, Harry Potter wouldn't name his kid after someone who was anything less than noble and true and good and yet ... what we're *shown* of Snape doesn't strike me as particularly noble or heroic. *Dangerous*, yes, but danger isn't the same thing as courage. He was fixated on Lily their whole lives, his inability to keep his mouth shut directly contributed to her death and he was miserable enough about it that Dumbledore was able to emotionally blackmail him into being a spy.
I'm not articulating it well, but I think, for me, it comes down to that thing I have about people needing to do the right thing for the right reasons before I'll consider them honorable -- it's not just what you do, but *why* you do it that matters from a moral perspective (this is, after all, why criminal law concerns itself with the question of motive/intent -- if it was just about the fact that a crime was committed, there would be no *degrees* of crime). And Snape's "why" seems to me to be more about trying to assauge the terrible guilt he feels that opening his mouth essentially got Lilly killed than it is because he really changed. I mean, his guilt is how Dumbledore turns him and in the end, I do think that it's because it was *Lily*, not because Voldemort really needs to be put down like a dog or because a ruthless pureblood agenda is whack (and I don't think it can be glossed over that bringing Voldemort down is also getting *revenge* for his having killed Lily).
*waves hands* I just don't know. I mean, on one hand, I do kind of like it when stories recognize that love *doesn't* always cure all, that some damage runs so deep in some people that even their capacity to feel and express love can't make them 'whole'. OTOH, this is a series that had as one of its central ideas the notion that love is the greatest, strongest, most ancient magic of all. So I don't think I'm being wacky to think that Snape's love for Lily might have made him, I don't know, an actually decent, honorable person.
From:
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I'm not so sure. Apparently JKR did an interview on the Today show this morning where she seems to be agreeing with our view that Snape really wasn't heroic. I didn't see it and am just hearing this second hand, but when asked if she "always intended Snape to be a hero" she said "Is he a hero? I don't see Snape as a hero... he's very brave, but..." "Would he have protected Harry if he hadn't loved Lily?" "No, not at all."
So it seems like she's clamping down pretty easily on more lofty ideas about Snape, which doesn't surprise me given the way she seemed to be doing that throughout the book. I don't think it made him a very honorable or decent person--in fact, he seemed to continue to make the same bad choices he always had. It's not like, for instance, he uses his time in the Order to get himself some good relationships. On the contrary, he continues to focus only on Lily. He really was alone, not wanting friendship with the good side, but having made the choice to let his "own" side go down as they might. Even the high regard he seemed to have among Slytherin students seemed to be an opportunity wasted. Or maybe they're all just incapable of having healthy relationships at all.
From:
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So it seems like she's clamping down pretty easily on more lofty ideas about Snape, which doesn't surprise me given the way she seemed to be doing that throughout the book. I don't think it made him a very honorable or decent person--in fact, he seemed to continue to make the same bad choices he always had. It's not like, for instance, he uses his time in the Order to get himself some good relationships. On the contrary, he continues to focus only on Lily. He really was alone, not wanting friendship with the good side, but having made the choice to let his "own" side go down as they might. Even the high regard he seemed to have among Slytherin students seemed to be an opportunity wasted. Or maybe they're all just incapable of having healthy relationships at all.
Which is the point where I *headdesk* and wail to the Universe that JKR didn't know what she had in her hands, or what to do with it. She admitted that Snape was a "gift of a character", but she didn't do anything with him. Fandom has done more with the redemption theme. JKR just tossed him in and hid his motivation extremely well - tossing pearls into vinegar. Oy, the perils of writing an epilogue at twenty-something, and finishing the story at forty-something!
A great line for the regretted dead love would have been Snape trying to emulate Lily in order to please the memory he holds of her, not just try to undo his part in her death by coming close to sacrificing himself over and over again. Starting out as pleasing her memory would have evolved into Snape who is truly and loftily good. I really thought she meant for that evolution to have taken place, Lily or no Lily.
She had that story, right there in her hands, and she let it dribble through her fingers! I wish I could write like this, add in the clues, have people hanging on my every utterance, instead of continually not coming up with much of anything exciting. Egad, I'm Salieri to Rowling's Mozart!
Then it came up again when Lily was targeted, and this time, I think because it meant her actual death, he made the other choice and chose her over the Death Eaters. But still, imo, without all that much of a change.
Because you can't undo death. Rowling made that choice early on, and her creations have to live with it.
Dumbledore seemed to train him to at least be familiar with the way other people thought...
Yeah, like his very own pet Slytherin.
...and once he'd latched on to his love he was able to do what he had to do, but I don't think there was so much of a transformation. He seemed to continue to cling to his original stunted mindset for the most part.
*headdesk* *headdesk* *headdesk* Salieri!
From: (Anonymous)
no subject
So this makes me wonder two things:
1) What inspired her to write thousands of pages of story in which good people are born good and bad people bad - and then good defeats bad? Did she really feel like she needed to get that out there?
2) I wonder if these books would be as popular as there are now if she was better able to express her true intent with the characters - i.e. no subtle shadings or real internal struggles. I'm guessing a lot of her adult readers have perhaps been reading more into it than she had intended?
-Cindy