The Days and Nights of Harry Potter, Part 3 (Still No Spoilers)
Posted July 21st, 2007 by Rich Heldenfels
I'm done, and more or less content …
I read about 100 pages after filing the previous post, which let me still get some sleep. Then I resisted the urge to read the entire day today, fitting in trips to the bank, post office, library and grocery store, and some grilling tonight. But I was never that far from going through more pages, and read a good bit while we watched "The Bourne Supremacy." (The movies feel even more grimly efficient on revisiting, because each clocks in with less than two hours of narrative, a feat many big movies don't try to match these days.)
But tonight, when I probably should have been sleeping, I instead made the last long haul to the end. (Also, by the point the haul began, the story was getting more intense.) I have some issues with it — including Rowling's excess love of long explanatory passages of dialogue, especially one near the book's end. But I was still reasonably satisfied how it went; she knows how to frame an action scene, there are lessons to be learned about wisdom and sacrifice, and the epilogue is a nice touch. And while no book is truly sequel-proof, "Deathly Hallows" puts a pretty large period on the Potter saga.
More than that I'm not ready to say, since lots of people are still plowing through the text and clinging to cones of silence. In a week or so, I'll revisit in more detail, both about the things I liked and the things I didn't.
Meanwhile, I have some non-Potter notes I've been meaning to file, including some thoughts about "Mad Men," the intriguing new series on AMC; the magic of Barbara Stanwyck and maybe a few more words about "Saving Grace." And I'll be posting a link to Sunday's story about cancer and "Funky Winkerbean," possibly with a few more comments about the story.
July 22nd, 2007 at 12:59 am
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August 29th, 2007 at 10:47 am
Are you going to post your thoughts on the last Harry Potter book, or did that go into a column in the newspaper?
August 30th, 2007 at 10:06 am
I was waiting for a point when most people had had plenty of time to read the book, and then time just got away from me. I'll try to post something soon. There's still interest. Because of your inquiry, I asked at a local bookstore last night if the book was still selling. The answer was yes, and that the previous books are moving, too — for people who, like me, were slow to catch up to the series.
September 10th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Thanks for the response. I hope you will be able to post your thoughts at some point. I haven't bought the book yet. I am waiting for it to come out in paperback. I got it out of the library.