The Official Harry Potter Book Discussion

[Jean]

oh Matt that's great! we're going to read it simultaneously (I've already started, but this way it's somewhat slower than reading a normal paper book would be)

[Darkthoughts]

My Dad just popped by to say "Hi" as hes off to France tomorrow...and sneaked off with my copy of DH!!

[sarajean]

that's awesome. my dad wanted me to tell him what happened, since he hasn't read any of them, he's only watched the movies and listened to my little brother and i discuss them for the last 10 years. i refused.

[Vasagi]

I just got to the "climax" of HBP. I cried.

Even though I knew it was going to happen, it still caught me very much off guard.

Cried after the climax ... you're soooo emo

[Matt]

Its actually quite common

[Mordred Deschain]

I just got to the "climax" of HBP. I cried.

Even though I knew it was going to happen, it still caught me very much off guard.

I already knew the big climax too, Matt but I was surprised when it happened as well. And I too cried. Just wait till you read Deathy Hallows. I bet you'll cry through the whole book like I did.

Apparently we are both big babies.

I think I already know what is going to happen. I saw an interview with the writer and she made it quite clear about it ending.

[Dora]

I finished last night and I loved it. Although at one point I told Matt I was on information overload.

I think Dobby choked me up the most, his death seemed more violent than the others. All the others just kinda dropped - ya know.

I also loved how Longbottom evolved, and the way everyone showed up to fight. Although I do kinda think Voldemort went down like a punk, but maybe I was just to tired to appreciate it.

[sarajean]

I think I already know what is going to happen. I saw an interview with the writer and she made it quite clear about it ending.

don't be so sure.

[Matt]

I have absolutely no idea and that is the way I want to keep it.

Book 6 was really good imo

Actually--I saw something in a thread somewhere but I am really trying to forget it and I closed my eyes before I saw too much

[sarajean]

:console:

i hope it wasn't the truth, matt.

my friend kim got MAJOR spoiled whilst standing in line at an in n out the other day by some punk kid...she had JUST told him that she hadn't read it yet, and he started mouthing off about major plot points. she called me almost in tears. "tell me that doesn't happen!"

[OchrisO]

I was fully ready to go to jail if anyone did that to me, and made it very clear when people started in like they were going to talk about it.

[Hannah]

Dobby's death hit me the hardest too. I cried!

[Jean]

Dobby's death hit me the hardest too. I cried!

that's what I'm doing now: I have just reached this part.

**************

reading for hours non-stop

**************

No no no not Lupin!!!

I have already lost Mad-Eye, I can't lose Lupin, too!

oh Lord please no

[sarah]

guess who got the reprieve?

oh thank goodness! I want a full report on your reread, sarajean.

[sarah]

Everyone who is a fan must pick up this weeks issue of Entertainment Weekly!

[Ruki]

i finally finished it. i want another one now.

[sarajean]

i finished my reread. i'm still a little disappointed with the epilogue, but not as much as i had been originally.

i was telling will and maerlyn that my favourite line in the book was from chapter 4: "And then, out of nowhere, out of nothing, they were surrounded." that was when i got real and scary for me. i loved that. will said it was like reservoir dogs for wizards and he was totally right. i'm going to be using that "out of nowhere, out of nothing" in my everyday speech for years to come, i can tell.

things that struck me upon my second read through: i was really impressed with how arthur stood up to "runcorn" in the lift. i really loved how brave he was in that moment. i still don't know why jewelry isn't considered clothes. jkr said grindelwald was already dead, so i don't know when she brought him back. was merope the one who managed magic late in life? disconcerting to have a conversation with the dark lord about your love life. snape's last words were still creepy...he came off like a pedoperv.

i can't imagine the new Albus Severus/Scorpius fanfic which will now be referred to as AS/S. lovely.

[Mordred Deschain]

When did jkr say grindelwald was dead, I thought the only info available is Dumbledore defeated him in a duel, but there is no mention of his death. It says he was imprisoned in the prison he created for his enemies, but no mention of his death? By the way, I do think that some of the book is a bit boring. Not awefull. But for that time when there popping around and staying in the tent, let's just say it didn't seem interesting to me. When Ron finally rejoins, it starts getting good again.

[sarajean]

It’s the one about Grindelwald, which I’m sure you’ve been gearing up for us to ask.

JKR: Uh huh.

ES: Clearly -

JKR: Come on then, remind me. Is he dead?

ES: Yeah, is he dead?

JKR: Yeah, he is.

[Jean]

That's why I always thought authors shouldn't be listened to when they speak of their books outside the books, and that only what happens in books really matters.

[sarajean]

*shrugs* she was always so emphatic about what she said in interviews, and very careful about what she gave away, so i just took it as canon.

[Jean]

*shrugs* she was always so emphatic about what she said in interviews, and very careful about what she gave away, so i just took it as canon.

Certainly, but still there can probably be no canon but the text.

Anyway, I finished reading it yesterday. It's so absolutely great.

Some random observations:

Learned for the first time - maybe I just hadn't noticed it before - that Hermione's middle name was Jean. Though I know it sounds differently from mine, I am still immensely pleased; then again, it reminded me of sarajean .

I also knew, and it put my mind at rest to some extent, that there was at least some literature in wizard's world, and the kids were not entirely deprived of tales:

„Oh come on! All the old kids’ stories are supposed to be Beedle’s aren’t they? ‘The Fountain of Fair Fortune’ … ‘The Wizard and the Hopping Pot’… ‘Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump’…“

(the literary virtues of those tales seem to leave to be desired, though, so I am still suspicious of the condition of belles-lettres there).

The dialog is brilliant as ever.

„Remembered you’re not at school, have you?“ said Scrimgeour breathing hard into Harry’s face. „Remembered that I am not Dumbledore, who forgave your insolence and insubordination? You may wear that scar like a crown, Potter, but it is not up to a seventeen-year-old boy to tell me how to do my job! It’s time you learned some respect!“
„It’s time you earned it.“ said Harry.

I also know now what the trick Mary Poppins used is called:

„Yes, they’re here,“ said Hermione, and to Harry and Ron’s utter astonishment, she pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, some maroon socks, and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak.
„How the ruddy hell –?“
„Undetectable Extension Charm,“ said Hermione.

Not only the epilogue takes place nineteen years later, but also does nineteen pop up quite unexpectedly elsewhere:

(Fred: ) „Mind you, if all the alleged sightings of him are genuine, we must have a good nineteen You-Know-Whos running around the place.“

Flying on the dragon and escaping fire rolling after them (different events) both reminded me of Shrek One... say sorry.

Now some principal points.

Mad-Eye was swept under the carpet. After his body wasn't found, nobody cared what happened to it, and, actually, it gives me hope. I know it may be absurd, but I still believe he is somewhere, without the Eye, but still alive: he wasn't mentioned in the Epilogue, but nobody saw him dead, either - and in the Epilogue nobody confirmed he was dead. So he is alive to me, and will always be.

The death of Lupin wasn't anything worthy of the character, either. It would seem, if someone so much loved (I believe, by almost all) has to die, he at least deserves his death to be a high point of the story, but we don't ever see him die, only dead.

The core of the whole story is, for me, the problem of trust. It is too formidable for me to tackle now, so I only want to make this point so far. Trust betrayed, and mistrust misplaced, and mistrust justified, and trust rewarded, they are all there. The same goes not only for the character, but also for the reader.

I trusted Snape all the time, because I loved him and sympathized with him; also because Snape a good guy would make the story more interesting than Snape a villain (which it did).

I trusted Dumbledore, too - unconditionally.

The biggest problem with Dumbledore is that he - exactly like Roland - still believed, to the very end of his life, that bad things can be done "For the greater good". Harry is alive, as Dumbledore "guessed" he would be? And his guesses were usually correct? Nice. If he had "guessed", though, that the boy-who-survived would not survive this time, would he have done anything different? Dumbledore is exactly someone who would let a boy fall. Unlike Voldemort and Roland, he knows very well "of house-elves and children’s tales, of love, loyalty, and innocence," but would it stop him? Oh please.

Lupin, honor incarnate, would never have approved of that. No wonder he was so cold with Dumbledore in POA. He had too clear a notion of what was fair and noble, and what was not. Of course, one may say that by those very scruples he poisoned the last (and the first) weeks of his married life - or that the over-scrupulous don't win the war. OK, he died, my favorite wolf, and waved me a goodbye by naming his son Teddy, thus making him related to bears.

And, at last, the epilogue

Like sarajean, I didn't like it in the least, - to me, too it reads like fanfiction, which is sad.

If such epilogue - sugary Tale of Consolation - had to be written, it could at least have given everybody a honorary mention.

Where is Luna? The core ka-tet consisted of three people, but the bigger one of six. We know about Ginny and Neville (thank God for that last!), but not Luna. What the hell?

How is George doing without Fred? They were more than just inseparable, remember, they were twins?

What became of Nevill's parents?

Where did the names Hugo and Rose come from? Did Ron and Hermione ran out of names of the dear perished ones? I don't insist on calling a kid Nymphadora, but still?

Is Sirius as happily forgotten as Mad-Eye? (Though, of course, Mad-Eye is alive...) I can only hope that the elder son's middle name is Sirius, just like that of the younger one was Severus (and that is something I am really, madly, deeply thankful to JR for).

[Mordred Deschain]

Ya I was going to say, I've only watched one interview with her, but most of the info I go on is what is in the book. Heh...I was wondering what the hell was going on. Okay, so anyway, I don't understand why she would say that when he's not dead. Unless she was just trying to be elusive.

[sarajean]

Where is Luna? The core ka-tet consisted of three people, but the bigger one of six. We know about Ginny and Neville (thank God for that last!), but not Luna. What the hell?

sai rowling stated in an interview last week that she is a type of wizarding naturalist.

What became of Nevill's parents?

alas, they were tortured beyond any hope of recuperation, and spent the rest of their days in st. mungo's.

Where did the names Hugo and Rose come from? Did they ran out of names of the dear perished ones? I don't insist on calling a kid Nymphadora, but still?

is she a LOST fan? the only other thing i can think of is that maybe she just gave them H/R names for their parents?

[sarajean]

for Jean