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Jul. 22nd, 2007 08:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solitary_summerBits & pieces, in vague chronological order.
# Dudley. I really liked that bit, because it shows again (and the earlier books were a bit lacking in this respect) that in Rowling-verse change and evolution of character is possible, even if it's one of the so far 'bad' guys and that a child's future isn't wholly predetermined, after all.
# The first thing that made me literally catch my breath was Hermione telling Harry what she'd done to protect her parents. It's a bit on the ethically questionable side (unless she asked them, and they agreed to let her do this), but removing every trace and even memory of herself from their lives in order to not only protect them but also keep them happy in the (not unlikely) case of her death is such a brave and mature thing, it makes you ache for these children who had to grow up so fast...
But again, as much as I love Hermione, she's probably another person who should be careful with too much power. I can rather too easily see her like Galadriel saw herself as owner of the ring.
This said, though, I love Hermione in this book. Without her they wouldn't even have made it out of The Burrow.
# I liked the wedding. Lots of funny moments, aunt Muriel, the Lovegoods and the gnomes, the new Flutterby Bushes, which for some reason amuse me greatly, especially in combination with the gnomes, and we needed a bit of light-heartedness before months of hiding in tents and looking for horcruxes.
# I've already read complaints about Remus's supposed OOCness, but I don't see it is that. He doesn't have a great history of standing up to people he loves; I can totally see Tonks talking him out of his scruples and into marriage, and I can very much see him being bothered by his conscience and regretting it afterwards - not so much the marriage itself, perhaps, but certainly Tonk's pregnancy (er, birth-control charm? do they fail, too? I wouldn't like to believe that Tonks tricked him into the pregnacy...), especially in a time when the life for the child of a werewolf was going to be even more unpleasant than it'd have been otherwise. Think marriage between a Jewish and non-Jewish partner in the 1930ies and 1940ies.
# That's not something I actively noticed in any of the earlier books, maybe because the school year predetermined their structure to a certain extent, but I liked the pacing of this book, the changes between action and slower passages; the long fruitless search, changing camp night after night, which I've already seen one reviewer describe as boring, but IMO is necessary for character development and because without it the reader would be breathless before the big finale; you need a stretch of quiet for the last chapters to have their full impact. And I really enjoyed the The Prince's Tale - The Forest Again - King's Cross sequence; the endings of the earlier books tend to be so action-driven, almost hectic at times; I like that in this book it isn't about rushing into things blindly, but a different, more self-aware kind of heroism.
# Hermione/Ron is ok, or would be, if Ron ever got over his neuroses & complexes., quoted from my HBP review. And he does! ::cheers:: I admit I was something between bored and slightly irritated when the obligatory fight between Ron and Harry broke out yet again, but in retrospect it's realistic that at least someone would lose his nerve in such a situation. And I loved, loved, loved Ron's return. That took a lot of love and trust, and I'm really glad that he had it in the end. I'd been rather indifferent towards Ron so far, but I really started to like him in this book.
Although, on a side-note, the Harry/Hermione shippers must have managed to seriously get on JKR's nerves. Weeks and weeks together in a tent, alone, and then - 'I love her like a sister'. That's almost a bit evil... :)
# Even the Malfoys were kind of almost likable in the end. It's been made rather obvious that Draco probably wasn't going to be destined for big heroic redemption and self-sacrifice, his character remained too shallow and two-dimensional until book 6, and I rather doubt the Malfoys Sr. suddenly saw the light and the error of their ways, and probably would have been happy to continue supporting Voldemort if they hadn't fallen from grace, but that they're willing to put their son's life and safety above Voldemort and his cause rather than sacrifice him makes one (and I think is meant to do so) at least feel a little bit of sympathy towards them.
And that Draco is in the epilogue at least makes Dumbledore and Snape's sacrifices not entirely futile.
# Now, Harry. I'll admit something here, for all he is the books' protagonist, I never really liked him all that much. Whatever he's gone through, whatever brave and amazing things he'd done in the earlier books I always (and I guess the adult reader is more likely to do so that a child would) found him a bit annoying; his temper, prejudices and mood swings, his way of jumping to conclusions and rushing into things. OotP's capslock!Harry can serve as an example.
By the end of this book, I loved him a lot. He'd started out with everyone calling him a hero, idolised for something he'd had no active part in and people continued to either fawn over him or envy and hate him for; he goes through some seriously ugly shit year after year, continuing to struggle with and resenting this image of him everyone's got, and somewhere in the midst of all this he does indeed grow up. There's still a lot of temper in DH, but his confrontations both with the minister and with Remus are more adult already. Overcoming even his anger at Dumbledore, being able to accept that even the last and most trusted parent figure is only a fallible human being, he gains a maturity and calm beyond his years, and walking up to Voldemort, fully aware of what's going to happen, without anger or resentment, Harry really becomes the hero everyone believed him to be in the beginning. He becomes truly great there. It's pretty damn epic, and if perhaps it's not the most realistic way for a 17 year old boy to behave, I really don't care.
And when in ch. 35 Dumbledore greets Harry with 'You wonderful boy. You brave, brave man.' it's very deserved. (And there was the lump in my throat again, if it'd ever disappeared...)
# Snape. It should have been obvious that there could have been only one reason for Dumbledore to trust Snape so unconditionally - love. I must admit I never thought of that; I certainly was still baffled even (or especially) after the last book; like Voldemort, even after all the talk about the importance of love; even after the 'worst memory', it never occurred to me that Snape's motivation throughout this, for the last sixteen years, might have been his love for Lilly.
(OTOH, I'm kind of pleased that I was almost right about the how Dumbledore's murder happened, even when I was berating myself for wishful thinking at the same time.)
And dear god, the death scene. I rushed through the book so fast that the significance of Snape's final words only struck me much later.
Really liked the whole The Prince's Tale chapter, that she chose this way to tell Snape's story and what it turned out to be. I don't understand the complaints about how this is too sweetly romantic and somehow makes Snape a lesser person. It's a tribute, JKR is redeeming Snape here as best as she knew and is possible with all the obvious flaws in his character. In her world love is really the most important thing, and if that's a bit simplistic and easy to ridicule for some people, I guess there are worse messages to give to children. Or adults, at that. There is enough hatred and cynicism in the world as it is.
And maybe the death scene could have been more dramatic in the big self-sacrifice way - I'm not sure it should have been. The big sacrifice is Harry's and there shouldn't be anything to distract from that. I expected something different too, but in the end it was fitting. And really, what more sacrifice does he need to give? A chapter later it becomes clear (if it hadn't before) that the last sixteen (and most certainly the last seven) years of this man's life have been one huge sacrifice. One might argue that his life had already been forfeit when he joined Voldemort, and anything after that was gifted time and a chance to redeem himself, but that probably didn't make looking after the child of the woman he loved and couldn't save and the man he despised any easier. Or watching Voldemort torture and kill people without being able to save them, as per Dumbledore's orders, for (and I don't use the phrase ironically) the greater good. Kill Dumbledore. Snape had felt remorse (which makes a difference, if it can even mend a soul torn apart in the making of a horcrux), had changed, certainly didn't want to do this, that much was obvious. But it didn't matter, any more than Harry not wanting the complications of the life he was thrust into. That he also hated teaching was probably a minor complaint in comparison. Even Harry recognised what he'd done in the end. One can only hope he finds some peace now.
Loved the glimpses into his life that for a change didn't come through Harry's eyes, though. The conversations with Dumbeldore especially... Would you like me to do it now? [...] Or would you like a few moments to compose an epitaph? Even in such an emotional context - or maybe because of the tension I sat up and laughed out loud, almost incredulous.
Memories freely given instead of stolen. Nice touch.
And the 'and he was probably the bravest man I ever knew' bit in the epilogue almost made me sniff again. I love that at least posthumously Harry was able to reconcile himself with the memory, if not the living man.
# He and Voldemort and Snape, the abandoned boys, had all found home here....
So I hadn't been so far off noticing the similarities; wrong only insofar as I'd been unaware of Snape's motivation and the fact that he'd already made his final decision a long time ago and it had nothing to do with Dumbledore.
# We knew JKR was using Harry's POV, but only now, when all is finally revealed and the author's voice becomes more recognisable in the conclusion, it becomes really clear how masterfully she's been expanding the world through Harry's eyes in every way, year after year. Hermione was right about the house-elves all along, even if her efforts maybe took on some a bit extreme forms. (Then again, she was what, 14? 15? If you're not enthusiastic about your causes at that age, when are you going to be?) Kreacher's story really drives home the point about how perverse the house-elves system is; worse than slavery even, because a slave can rebel, whereas the houselves are magically conditioned to obey and punish themselves if they don't. The sorting/house system is problematic. Dumbledore isn't a saint nor JKR a sloppy writer totally over-looking his faults and weaknesses. I loved how all the pieces of this complex and complicated character suddenly came together with the revelation of his past. And using this technique for Snape's arc was an absolute brilliant mixture of hints and obfuscation.
# I don't have problems with the body count. I regret Remus and Tonks (although I don't see their fighting and leaving the child behind as irresponsible - they were both fighting for their and their child's future, after all); it's a war and it was clear from the first pages onward that people would die. Actually I was prepared to see one of the trio killed, and thought Hagrid was dead twice... And not every death can be meaningful, heroic and described in detail.
# The epilogue that everyone seems to hate. Actually I don't have that much of a problem with it. It closes the circle and takes the story back to the simpler world of the first book. If maybe the last books aren't exactly children's books, the ending does remind one that the series never ceased to be - also, if not mainly - for children, a bit of a fairy tale that recquires the 'happily ever after' after the trials. And after the heroism of this book's finale such an epilogue doesn't seem trite to me. For me, it gently leads the reader out of the world of Harry Potter in the only way possible, because anything more would take away from the ending proper. The epilogue may be disliked, but I doubt anyone would really like to read about how Hermione divorced Ron five years later and Harry became a depressed alcoholic. There could have been something about career choices, but it had to be brief and the leitmotif obviously is 'life goes on', albeit with some changes and lessons learned. After showing us an increasingly complex world over the course of seven volumes JKR knows, and knows the reader (at least the adult reader) knows, that in reality it's not going to be as simple as that. But that wouldn't be finishing a story, but starting a new one...
[And if we look at this in a real life context - of course there has to be rebuilding on every level, but after a war no one particularly wants to talk about what had happened, people want to get over it and sweep it under the carpet as soon and as fast as possible. Look at Germany in the 50ies. The mood is kind of fitting - the 68 revolution is going to be brought about be the generation attending Hogwarts '19 years later'. ;) ]
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Date: 2007-07-22 08:42 pm (UTC)I didn't think Remus was out of character, but it was still tough to hear him say he regretted marrying Tonks. I know he didn't mean he didn't love her and I agree with you about his reasons to act that way, but man, they were, like, my favorite ship, that was harsh. I don't think they were irresponsible and stupid for fighting either, it's just like you say, they were fighting for a better world for their son to grow up in.
Agreed about the pacing, agreed about the Malfoys, and YES, I'll admit it too, I never liked him that much either, and I truly grew to love him through this book. His walk to the Forbidden Forest *is* heroic. And I love it how JKR sometimes refers to the boys as "boys" and sometimes as "men": in Fred's death scene, there are "three men" gathering around him, and Ron is one of them. That's what they are, after all: shifting between kids and grownups.
Ok, Snape's final words. Was it because he wanted to see Lilly's eyes again, or am I just being sappy and missing something important? Because I did some rushing too...
Again, I agree: The Prince's Tale was not sappy at all, in my opinion. Although I'm well knows as Miss Sappy, so maybe my opinion is not all that qualified, ahem. Anyway, yes, loved the epitaph bit too. The "what about my soul" made me slobber, though. And "Albus Severus" too. I'd have loved it if Snape could have died being sure that Harry understood what he had done and why, but I don't see how JKR could have really fitted that into the book. I liked the death scene, so understated and yet quite powerful, with his pale, deah-like face and eyes, so dead that Harry is surprised anyone lives behind them.
Liked the epilogue too, wouldn't have minded a couple of pages more, like you said, career choices and such. But it's good to have good, old-fashioned closure (quoting the NYT reviewer here who, OMG, published her review on Friday, containing such spectacular spoilers as "people die" and "not everything is what it seems" - perverse :P)
You know what I'm doing now? I'm rewatching the first movie, and I can't stop squeeing! Especially every time Snape looks at Harry, it's all so different now.
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Date: 2007-07-22 09:05 pm (UTC)You're not being sappy, it's definitely about Lily's eyes. i've seen it called creepy, but I think it's just incredibly sad...
I also found the 'what about my soul' bit sad & touching, because it showed that Snape had really changed and regretted and loved, if his soul is a concern to him, rather than just a matter of which side to kill for.
I'd have loved it if Snape could have died being sure that Harry understood what he had done and why.
Me, too. I like to pretend that he's in some version of afterlife where 1) he finally found peace and 2) saw that Harry called his son after him and Dumbledore and called him the bravest man he'd met. He deserves as much.
I'm tempted to re-read all the books and look for hints, but so far a bad conscience and mass of never-read books has kept me from it... :(