Letters to the Editor
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...roughly 12 hours later...
What a great way to spend a Saturday... I just finished Deathly Hallows, and came back to Salon to read the review I wouldn't let myself read until afterwards.
What a delicious ride... I started by reading the first two books before they were released in the U.S. by ordering them from Amazon U.K., back in '98 and '99.
I had one, and I mean *ONE* primary thought coming into the last installment; would one character remain true to who I believed they really were, or was what I assumed to be Rowling's intentional misdirection and red herrings their ultimate destiny?
With 200 pages left to go, and these questions still hanging in the air, I went out and got a bottle of champagne... well, those last pages were a wonderful ride, and I'm not going to say anything more than that. :)
Damn, I'm sorry it's over... I also saw the new movie. "Order of the Phoenix" this weekend, and it was great... I mean *really* excellent! The director of "The Girl in the Cafe" knocked it out of the park. At least we have two more to look forward to...
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I lost my faith in Rowling during the last four pages of the Seventh Book
I'm sorry, but why did she feel the need to take a swipe at Draco's hairline? When did Harry Potter turn into Sex and the City? I read these books with dedication, but in that instant the whole series left a really bad taste in my mouth.
That being said, hoorah for Alan Rickman!
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Potter Review Pantload
First, I would like to preface this by saying I am not a die-hard Rowling fan.
I found this review laughable on many levels. It seems to me that the reviewer is confused on many points, mostly dealing with theme and the presentation of evil within the novel.
One oddity was the conflicting critique on the one hand damning the "school novel" genre, then lamenting that there wasn't enough school in the book. This is but a small example.
Another has to do with the Tolkien obsession the reviewer has. To claim that the Horcrux was a lift of the concept of the one ring in LOTR is to miss the whole point of both the ring symbolism in Tolkien's novels AND the presentation of evil in Rowling's novels. LOTR seemed to me to make a point about the corruption of power. The Ring was a power that everyone desired at the cost of their own soul... not at all like the horcruxes, which were the solo act of a single man desecrating himself to gain immortality. I think it would be more cogent to aliken the horcruxes to radioactive material than to any Tolkienesqe ring symbolism.
I find Rowling's writing style to be far more natural than the effected Kalevala-theft of Tolkien or Lewis' tedious metaphorising. Lewis' "The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe" was a fantastic book. The rest in the series became more tedious as time went on. And I challenge anyone to make it through "Out of the Silent Planet" without laughing at the ham-handed nonsense Lewis subjects his characters (and readers) to.
To claim that the Potter books lacks the "shiver of awe" is absurd. It may have done so for A.S. Byatt, but that doesn't mean it is not there for millions of others. Bryatt may as well claim that differential calculus doesn't exist because he never employs it.
Last of all, I was very amused by the reviewer's mention of Delores Umbridge. Umbridge seems more evil because of her normality. She typifies the "banality of evil." After all, who killed more people: a serial killer like Ted Bundy or a bureaucrat like Adolph Eichmann?
These are but a few problems within the review. Space concerns restrict me from going into further detail. In essence, the review was silly.
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I watched some woman
Scold my son who immediately flipped to the last page. Mind, this is a total stranger in public. I almost tore her face off. I really hope all the characters die in a bus crash. Potter fans are bigger assholes than Dead Heads and political bloggers combined.
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'grow up' misses the point
The point about spoilers in reviews being, you can't just not read it when there are people who get their jollies shouting out who lives and dies outside (or inside) bookstores on release night. This was a known and widespread phenomenon since at least the release of the last Harry Potter book. Shame on Salon for feeding that frenzy.
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Jumpin Jehosephat
I really can't explain why I get sucked into reading all these letters, reacting to them, and then posting one myself. I guess not having to buy a stamp facilitates the madness.
Anyway. Spoiler-haters: Get a life. Puh-lease. (I, for one, not intending to read the book since I find Rowling's writing laborious, simply wanted to know what happens. I'm disappointed to find no list of the various deceased. Oh well. I guess I'll wait for the movie, or one of my kids' friends to spill the other beans since my pair ceased being particularly entranced once they passed age 7 or 8. We saw Order of the Phoenix yesterday, and, hey, guess what? I found out that Sirius Black died.)
The How-Dare-You-Cover-Cultural-Phenomena crowd: Again, get a life. Culture, including pop, is a vital part of being alive. I think Salon devotes plenty of space to Iraq, Bush, and what all. Is ice cream evil?
The Laura-Miller-is-a-Lousy-Reviewer anonymous guy: It seems you have something to prove.
I think there were some other really annoying themes, but I'm losing my head of steam here.
Anyway, glad people (kids AND adults) are enjoying the books, and I think it's great that people are queuing up in a book-buying frenzy. I'm a little frightened by all the Wizard Rock devotees, the fan fiction and whatnot, but, hey, it takes all kinds of flavored beans to make the world go round. At least they have a hobby.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Anyone expecting to find anything of value on CNN deserves to be pummeled by Potter-mania. I get more out of Glenn Greenwald in a day than I would in a year of watching the so-called Cable NEWS Network.