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7 responses to “Finished Harry Potter…”

1. 2007/07/22

   rac

   Graham beat you by two hours – he finished about 8.30am this morning!

   “Nice to see themes of compassion and forgiveness feature prominently” he says.

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2. 2007/07/22

   anna

   Just finished. I was planning to wait and get it from a bookshop, but then I read your comments and it was there in Tesco’s this afternoon so…it’s all your fault that the little bookshop in town got done out of a sale, Alec!

   Still thinking about this one, but “brought to a proper conclusion” is just right.

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3. 2007/07/23

   bartb

   I’m glad to see the story come to a proper conclusion (though at least one of the plot twists on the way there felt quite out of character — UC abg gryyvat gur gebyy gung gurl’q arrq gur fjbeq sbe n juvyr ybatre?).

   The last couple books somehow grated a bit (but not for a reason I can immediatly put my finger on; is it the writing style, Harry being whiney, or something else entirely?), so in that sense I’m glad to see the end of it… but the underlying theme of hope and friendship, though, made it work for me, and makes me a bit sad to see it end.

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4. 2007/07/23

   Weez

   Did I win? Finished it at 2:30PM Eastern (US) time on the 21st, having read the whole thing on the plane on the way home from Birmingham. Much better than the last couple of books which had way too much teenage angst. Oh, and what about youth in Asia anyway?

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5. 2007/07/23

   Mel

   I’m surprised you read the book that way, Alec. The way I read it, it dealt a great deal with the idea of continued existence after death, it assumed the existence of souls (which are mentioned explicitly many times), of the effect of one’s deeds in life on one’s immortal soul, and the distinction between soul and mind (again expressed explictly).

   Although the books aren’t consistently well written (I think someone finally persuaded her of the value of ruthless editing), they are consistently well-plotted and based on a many-layered and internally consistent fantasy world, rather like LoTR and Star Wars (all three stories share exactly the same cast and plot, by the way). So perhaps that explains why everybody gets to read different things into it. And /that/ explains why all three stories are so popular.

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6. 2007/07/23

   alecm

   Hi Mel:

   > it assumed the existence of souls

   Yes, and it also assumed the existence of magic, and so I tend to factor out both of those when looking for underlying meaning.

   To factor out one and leave the other would strike me as wrong; but seeing past that to some interesting moral questions is not hard – even if as Geoff[1] notes it gets a bit CS Lewis with the “to accept death provides the means to conquer it” stuff.

   Well, maybe, but it depends what you mean by conquer.

   I don’t dislike all the stuff about magic and souls and the obvious lines drawn between good and evil; I believe the former are necessary, fantastical, “pretty” elements that frame the story as part of larger magical mythos, and the latter is oversimplification to the same end.

   Rowling at least touches upon some hard questions: lbh zhfg xvyy zr / uryc na byq zna nibvq cnva naq uhzvyvngvba – and I think the resolution of Snape redeems the previous two books. Chggvat “Xribexvna” be “Fpuvnib” vagb Jvxvcrqvn jvyy rkcynva jul V’q rkcrpg n ernpgvba va gur HFN.

   That said: it’s always been pretty safe to assume that Harry when acting of his own accord will stomp off righteously in the wrong direction; from these observations much future plot could be inferred. 🙂

   —
   [1] http://geoffarnold.com/?p=1616#comments

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7. 2007/07/25

   Neil

   Took me a little while as we didn’t get it until Sunday and had to share. But I really enjoyed it. I do think some of the plot devices were a little contrived, but not in too serious a way. And I hope it will survive a re-reading. Of the whole series. 😉

   My summary – Very gripping, very moving and enjoyable.

   I have to say though – that I hadn’t even picked up on the Euthanasia aspect. I just didn’t see it like that.

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