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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:
no subject
I remember commenting elsewhere recently about reading the books as a fan, or as another writer trying to appreciate themes and continuation. I really only started reading the HP books after GoF came out, and when I entered the fandom (shortly before OotP came out), the first place I frequented was the SugarQuill; where everyone's fannish reading of the books was actually quite similar to my own (minus, you know, the almost-complete lack of Ginny), and an ending like shown in DH was all but predicted. Of course, when OotP came out, my readings of the books kind of changed, became more serious, which continued into HBP when I expanded out of the SugarQuill area of fandom.
But I've come to the conclusion that I'm not particularly surprised, or disappointed by DH because, although OotP and HBP had me believing we were headed for an entirely different resolution, DH's resolution was actually something I had seen after GoF, and would have continued to see if not for the prior two books. It's why I'm not that upset about the ending, because my first reading wasn't such a bad one, it was just...really different.
Which doesn't say much for JKR on the subject of continuity, does it? I thought I read somewhere once that she actually had most of the last book written out by the time GoF came out, which would explain a lot, but I might have that wrong. Times when she said that Sirius's death and OotP were important, and that HBP did what she wanted it to do, it was all in terms of plot...but a lot of the themes set up in those books ended up being shafted when turned into plot points. It's taking those two books into consideration that really shows how the series got away from her. She probably wasn't aware that she was even creating new themes in her efforts to set up a plot.
She spoke of House Unity in OotP, but to her that was probably entirely Gryffindor-Ravenclaw-Hufflepuff related...in terms of Slytherin, I just got the feeling that she was replaying the drama with the four schoolheads (Slytherin had a disagreement with the others and left). Draco, oddly enough, became an actual character in her attempts to explain why he was a) such a crappy Death Eater, and
b) worthy of saving from a burning room -- and I really did get a sense of "worthiness" being required, not in Harry's thought process, but more as in the general writing style (Draco had been trying to save the Trio, Goyle did nothing but stand around stupidly, hence they were saved; whereas Crabbe was casting Avada-Kedavra's and Fiendfyre's all over the place, and even trying to save him wasn't an option). She probably didn't count on Draco's actually becoming a character (if anything, it's like she might have gotten carried away giving fanservice to the Draco fans while she structured his part in the final plot).
I've got to think more on this.
From:
no subject
I think part of it was that I always assumed that as the hero Harry would have to be struggling with personal flaws and truths and in the end he really wasn't. He was good from beginning, and pretty much the way he saw things was okay throughout. The few times he had pity for somebody who was an enemy was just proving how amazingly good he was, not a hint to the direction he needed to move in.
From:
no subject
Remind me not to let my kids or grandkids play with JKR's kids.