okay, who’s ready to talk about it? I AM! I AM!
-
PLEASE NOTE: This is NOT a Feminism 101 blog. This is Feminism Intermediate-Advanced. Visit the Feminism page for more information about MY feminism. ____________________________ Want to join in the discussion? Read THIS DISCUSSION POLICY before leaving comments. THIS IS MANDATORY!
a
-
Recent Comments
Gisele on Feminism Friday – P… RoseleeMason on Feminism Friday – Killin… RoseleeMason on Feminism Friday – Killin… Nicola on Hard Candy Ramiro on okay, stop what you’re d… I Am A Racist, Sexis… on International Day to Eliminate… cclare on canada day – celebrating… c* mare on Feminism Friday – P… ;* on does luck exist? Ted Pease on International Women’s Da… Da on Feminism Friday – Woman,… Da on Feminism Friday – anti-f… Claire on Hard Candy The Economics of a H… on Feminism Friday – Reflec… Du on does luck exist? -
Top Posts
- Feminism Friday - Reflections on Barbie
- Hard Candy
- hate speech vs. freedom of expression
- holding your hand is not my fucking job
- professional pick-up artists run woman-tricking business to help guys get laid
- Feminism
- more thoughts on false consciousness
- notes and quotes on standpoint theory
- Feminism Friday - False Consciousness
- Feminism Friday - Intersectional Identity
Archives
- March 2008
- January 2008
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
-
Spam Blocked
-
Blog Stats
- 237,452 hits
Me too! Fire at will!
What, a Hewlitt-Packard 7th-generation clone?
She made me hope against hope, that Harry wouldn’t die, and then she got me to accept that he would, and turned that around again.
Is she a genius! She had me wrapped around her finger. Best HP so far!
Oh…Please don’t spoil! I just started reading…but soon, very soon I will def be ready to discuss
IF YOU HAVE NOT READ IT, DON’T READ ANY MORE COMMENTS!!!!!!!
………………………………………………………………………………
OK, Evil Fizz, hiya! And Aaron! right, I was happy with the end, that Snape wasn’t bad after all b/c I was totally convinced that he was, although I did think that he loved Lily so I was right on that count. However, I was a bit disappointed in the Jesus-ness of the whole thing, although I was impressed with the loophole she found with the blood thing. I had suspected that Harry was a horcrux, so I wasn’t surprised by that, but I was sure that Harry was going to die, so although I object to the Jesus-ness, I was quite glad that she found a way for Harry to live after all.
I love that she didn’t leave us hanging and told us what happened when they grew up, although I still want more details, like what their jobs are (I definitely saw Hermione becoming a prof at Hogwarts, but apparently not) and stuff like that.
I also liked the way she tied everything together – like the Elder wand, maybe that’s why Voldemort couldn’t defeat Dumbledore when they duelled in the Ministry of Magic in HP5? I also like the whole wandlore bit, thought that was interesting, the wand chooses the wizard stuff.
I wonder, when you are a writer, and you know that the book you are writing is going to be turned into a movie, how does that affect your creative vision? do you start to see the actors as your characters? do you write with the nagging thought of “will this make a good scene?” in the back of your mind? do you start to envision what the actors will do to convey emotion, tone of voice, delivery of dialogue? I’m curious if it would make one a better writer, or a worse one (like in the case of what’s-his-neck who wrote the Hannibal Lecter books)?
I can’t believe how many characters got killed. I was really sad about some of them.
what say you?
oh, and I also loved that Snape’s Patronus was the same as Lily’s. very sweet.
I agree…I was stunned that so many characters died. I had tears in my eyes when Dobby died. I think that was one of the most powerful moments in the book for me…
I love how Dumbledore and Snape were so complex. We deal with so many polarized characters in real life…it was nice to see that these characters were not perfect and that they had a lot of depth. (Uh oh…cue the Harry Potter nerd alarm weeeeoooooo
)
I liked pretty much everything except for the epilogue. It’s not that I didn’t want to know who married who and how many kids they had, but it left so much out! I also wanted to know what the characters did with their lives outside of having babies – what their jobs were, how the world had changed, and whatever happened with the treatment of magical creatures? I was looking forward to the whole house-elf business as a change to really delve into racism/speciesism, and that thread just kind of faded away.
I did really like the idea that even as Harry and co. were searching for Horcruxes, the students back at Hogwarts were continuing their own fight. And I loved the radio show Potterwatch – would have liked to hear more episodes to fill in the holes. All in all, though, I was happy and satisfied and sad! A very good ending to the series.
I’m with Chrissy, I liked most of the book except the epilogue. It felt… tacked on to me. Plus, honestly, it pulled me out. Ginny is 16 and Harry is 17… and they end up married with a bunch of a kids? Come on!
Plus, it left so many other things unanswered- I know it was supposed to sort of bring us full circle, but it felt weird to me. Plus, why in the hell do they still use the house system after everything that happened?! I was sure that she was suggesting they were going to abolish the house system when Harry looked in and saw that everyone was sitting with each other, all mixed up, and when three of the houses stood up and forced Slytherin to leave. I thought it was sort of supposed to be recognition that the house system breeds unhealthy competition in the school. But, apparently not.
The lack of closure on the race/species issue bothered me a lot, and I’m actually in the process of writing about it on my own blog. I felt completely cheated by that. Boo.
I absolutely loved this book as a way of showing the grey areas- in the past books, Snape and Dumbledore have been portrayed as extremes- Snape = Evil, Dumbledore = Pure Good. It was really nice to see them fleshed out, and it made previous things make a lot more sense. I think that some of the deaths in the final battle were a little rushed, though- Lupin and Tonk’s deaths really didn’t hit home for me nearly as much as, say, Dobbie’s death did, because we barely have time to register them, and we don’t actually get to see how they died, so that felt a little rushed.
[...] Thinking Girl’s discussion of book 7 as well as her discussion of the books in general and of the fifth movie [...]
ok, i don’t even read the books, but i do watch the movies so i’m invested. (and yeah, i knew dumbledore died at the end of 6, so i figured what the hell just go for broke spoiler-wise.)
from what i hear in a bunch of places, the epilogue seems to be indeed disappointingly suburbia-like (check out slate.com for some funny jabs at this).
also, can i just gloat and say that i – who does not read the books – told my sister – who does read the books – that snape might turn out to be good in the end. she was all like, *whatever! not possible!*, and i was all like, you’ll see.
ha!
I wasn’t bothered by the “Jesus-ness” (and I’m an atheist). The wizarding world doesn’t have to accept Harry Potter as their savior in order to have their sins forgiven and attain everlasting happiness. But perhaps a thank-you would be in order.
I thought it was unrealistic of Harry to not at least embrace Ginny for a few minutes before going up to the Head’s office. I know if I had just gone through that ordeal, the first thing I would want to do is have physical contact with the person I love most in the world.
I am so glad that Harry grew up to be the sort of person who doesn’t hold back; he tells people (like Scrimgeour) exactly what he thinks, and, finally, in book 7, he asks questions. He was going to get answers damnit.
I could have done without the epilogue. I just don’t care how many children were born in the future, and besides, it was obvious who was going to marry who. No big revelations there. It was too far into the future for me to have an emotional reaction.
I have never found the naming of children after existing or dead family members cute or endearing. In fact, it’s downright annoying (my husband’s name is the same as his grandfather’s and two uncles’) and kind of creepy.
I’m glad that Ron and Hermione were original. I wouldn’t be surprised if James Potter II’s full name is James Sirius Lupin Harry Potter II. *gag*
Also! The attack on Dumbledore’s sister, Ariana – did anyone else think that the book implied she had been raped by the three muggle boys, or that she was “just” assaulted? Would JK even go there? It was a very creepy and sinister section regardless.
Oh I definitely thought she was implying rape. Assault by boys on a girl and the nature of the assault isn’t explicitly stated? Definitely rape.
Then there was the street harrassment of Hermione after they apparate from the attack at the wedding.
Plus, Fenrir Greyback’s behavior and statements were that of a sexual predator, don’t you think?
good call Roy! I completely agree – and indeed, the epilogue would definitely have been a good place to show that strained relations had been somewhat mended or at least progress had been made, good one Chrissy.
even the treatment of squibs and muggles is gross by some in the books. I definitely got the sense that some wizards looked at squibs as having some kind of horrible disability, when really they are just the opposite of muggle-born wizards. and of course the ominous sense that I think was intentionally instilled in us by JKR that Grindlewald, and Voldemort himself, were engaged in a genocidal discourse against muggles.
I agree that the attack on Ariana was about rape, and also that Greyback seemed sexually predatious to me. I also kind of assumed that James Potter II’s middle name would be Sirius. I have to admit that I was a bit touched that Albus’ middle name was Severus… but I think Harry made it quite clear that he knew Snape was not evil. I was glad he cleared that up so publicly.
The Jesus-ness that bothered me was basically just the died-and-then-came-back-alive business. I mean, great story, but it’s been done a few times already. who knows, maybe it was a nod to the wacky fundy christians who are so bloody upset with Harry Potter being evil and whatnot.
I agree, Roy and Eric, about how good it was to see the complexity in the characters in this book, esp. Snape and Dumbledore. People are not just good or bad, we all have both mixed up inside of us.
I was disappointed with the epilogue too, come to think of it, because I wanted more, and maybe because I’m in denial about it being the final book. I love the character of Harry Potter, and I love the story so much, I really wish that I could know more about what happens to them all. I suppose perhaps they just buckle down into a nice quiet peaceful life, and the friendships they forged with one another remain strong throughout their lives. which is nice. but still. I feel pouty about it all.
English as second language warning.
Didn’t like the epilogue, found it uninteresting, too much like a standard ending of bad sugary fanfictions.
Dobby made me cry. Surprising, because I couldn’t stand him, for me he has been the Jar Jar Binns of the series. That obviously changed in this book. I’m amazed at how good Rowling is in getting visceral reactions from the readers (on the other side, I find her a less-than-good plotter).
Loved Kreacher, I’ve always been fond of him, but it got better in DH.
Slytherins are still a bad lot, though a bit less demonized, Draco doesn’t use Avada Kedavra and is saved by harry, but still the bad lot, in spite of Crucio!Harry, I find this a little incoherent. She could have easily used Theodore Nott, the son of a Death Eater, in the Howgarts Battle, but she seemed to forget.
On theodore, from author’s site:
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/extrastuff_view.cfm?id=5
http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/faq_view.cfm?id=88
Snape/Lily, well, I take my hat off, because she managed to keep Snape in the grey side were less than likable characters do the right thing. It was an obsessive love, and he didn’t mind killing husband and son of beloved if she was alive. That’s creepy, but makes me more fond of the character than if he’d been whitewashed.
Loved the camping chapters, I knew when the doe patronus appeared it was Snape’s. Who else could be?
TG and everyone: I’m glad I could come back from vacation for this! I agree with many points already mentioned, especially:
1) The epilogue was unnecessarily sugar-coated and incomplete — and it would have been a better book without it.
2) The race/species relations thing was rather abandoned, seeing as how it didn’t figure into the ‘happy ending’ in the epilogue at all.
3) Yay for ‘good’ and ‘evil’ characters being complex!
I was sorely disappointed that Draco didn’t shape up in the end. I was convinced (by the Sorting Hat’s New Song, HP3?) that the Slytherins would have to join in the battle for Voldy to be defeated. I was hoping that the young Malfoy, at least, would show a bit of backbone and help. The “everyone is redeemable” point would have been nice, in my mind.
Re: the assault on Ariana: I didn’t read that into it the first time, but I certainly imagine that — three boys ganging up on a girl. It’s almost a given that she was raped. Of course, “rape drives woman insane” sounds like a trope to me — anyone else think so?
I was a bit ruffled by the Jesus-y-ness of the resolution, too, although it was foreshadowed by Lily’s sacrifice for Harry, now that I think of it. I feel like I should have seen it coming.
I thought Kreacher’s ‘remediation’ could have been more complex — the treatment of him seemed too simplistic, and smacked of infantilization. This ‘treat the house elves well and they’ll be happy to serve you’ reminds me an awful lot of justifications of slavery I seem to remember from history class.
Anyway, I’m full of it this evening. I’ll shut up now and let everyone else dissect and have fun. ^^
Okay, so I finally finished reading the book, and it was indeed great! Anyway, I’ll start addressing some points right away.
First of all, the biggest disappointment by far was the epilogue. I’ve heard that this written a long time ago by Rowling, and I think it shows. I agree completely with Roy in that it was pretty tacky that you find out everyone in a relationship then got married. I mean, admittedly, it would have been nice to imagine this, but still pretty tacky to read it. Also, did anyone else think there was a LOT of emphasis on marriage in the epilogue? I found that strange. In addition, I have a feeling as to why the epilogue was such a big disappointment: First, as Stupendousness said, it was too far into the future to really care. I think I would have preferred either getting a small glimpse, or just JKR leaving it to our imaginations. Also, I’m going to have to make a comparison to Tolkien’s LOTR. Both are very long stories, and I found the ending to LOTR far better than HP. Why? I believe it’s because Tolkien had the climax and then gradually brought things down as the heroes went across Middle-Earth and visited old friends and then–except for the incident at the Shire–sent Gandalf and Frodo off to the Undying Lands. JKR, on the other hand, essentially had the story end in the same chapter the antagonist was defeated. Simply put, it all ended far too abruptly. I wanted more, as I’m sure many people did.
Anyway, that’s my rant on the epilogue. There were other things I was going to address, but they’re all pretty much the same things all of you brought up. I’ll just say that I, also, thought the boys raped Ariana. Nevertheless, those are my thoughts on the dreadful conclusion of the fantastic series.
in hp7 when aberforth explains what happened to his sister he says there were younger then 10 (not rape) also he say trying to make her do more magic and force it out of her and thats why she refused to go to hogwarts