I have been devoting all of my spare time since Saturday morning to reading the final installment of the Harry Potter story, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I just feel the need to get a few things off of my chest about it, if you have not read it yet move on as I do not want to be responsible for your spoilage….
From the very first chapter I was hooked, I have a great wife who took Alora to play gym while I camped out in my back yard and read for an hour and a half. I was pulled along on an emotional roller-coaster with peaks of laughing out loud to valleys to almost being moved to tears.
As I watched Harry loose everything that was important to him, even Ron at one point, I couldn’t help but feel for him. I have had those moments where everything seems to be heading downhill, why is it those things always happen in groups?
The final chapters kept pulling me along and I was thrilled to learn that Snape was truly a tragic hero who was pulled between loving the Lilly he saw in Harry and hating the parts of James that he saw. He was truly one of the bravest characters in the story.
On the other hand it really felt like the final chapters and the epilogue were terribly rushed, I thought it may have been because I was speed reading them at midnight so I could get to bed but I have since learned that many people share my feelings. I have read many great stories and at then end of a good book I have a very satisfactory feeling but this book didn’t give me that satisfaction. There were still so many gaps that I didn’t see filled and questions that are left unanswered. It was well worth the read but I am a little disappointed, not simply because the story is at an end but because it didn’t end as well as I had hoped.
2 responses to “Deathly Hallows — Spoilers enclosed therein”
What will my fellow right-wing conservative Christians rally around to protest now that the Harry Potter series is finished? I feel like we collectively missed the boat on this one culturally, much like Christians in the 70’s and 80’s missed it with Star Wars or with The Wizard of Oz.
There just seems to be something a bit phony and hypocritical about Christians rushing in droves to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy (which was chock full of wizards and magical themes), but wanting to protest Harry Potter. Why, is it because Harry Potter was written by a non-Christian, but Lord of the Rings was not?
Why not look at the thematic elements of good overcoming evil, of love conquering hate, or how the choices we make in life matter – all of which have foundation in scripture? These were all part of the morality play presented in the land of Harry Potter, which well-reasoned and thinking people understand is a work of fiction, just like the Rings trilogy.
Most of the people I know of who would have protested HP would protest JRRT as well. But I guess I do know a few who love fantasy but not HP.