dancingleaf (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dancingleaf) wrote2007-07-23 08:11 am
dancingleaf) wrote2007-07-23 08:11 am
(no subject)
I too finished my Harry Potter this weekend - I bought the book Saturday afternoon so got to it a bit late but finished Sunday am.
I'm still deciding how I feel about it. SPOILERS AHEAD!
About all I want to say is that the conclusion reminded me that this is a children's book. I guess I got caught up in the hype and speculation and forgot. The neat tidy ending is both satisfying - loose ends tied up, explanations given, but it was unsatisfying in a way .... - the bad guys die, the good guys go on to have marriage/children as their reward. because children are the only true reward? uh yeah right? way to perpetuate that stereotype. But then... parents and children reading this would of course interpret that as the only fitting reward.
I knew somehow that Harry would end up having a family (if he lived) because that was the thing he wanted most. I am perfectly capable of creating imagined professions for the trio. (Harry was the silent partner in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes - so either Ron or Harry or both might have joined the surviving twin - but Harry has definitely gone on to obscurity. He was never comfortable being famous so those people who are speculating that he went on to a career as a professional Quidditch player - sorry I can't see it.) Hermione, I see as a confirmed academic so she's probably writing history texts, or involved in higher educational pursuits.
Ginny had very little role in the last book. Which is very sad. She gets to marry Harry. She doesn't go on the adventure, she doesn't fight the bad guys - she just marries the hero???? But then again... she never had much of a part to play other than last minute love interest.
So... I suppose I am satisfied, a trifle disappointed maybe but...satisfied overall. The hype and anticipation is at an end. I guess that is the most disappointing thing of all.
I'm still deciding how I feel about it. SPOILERS AHEAD!
About all I want to say is that the conclusion reminded me that this is a children's book. I guess I got caught up in the hype and speculation and forgot. The neat tidy ending is both satisfying - loose ends tied up, explanations given, but it was unsatisfying in a way .... - the bad guys die, the good guys go on to have marriage/children as their reward. because children are the only true reward? uh yeah right? way to perpetuate that stereotype. But then... parents and children reading this would of course interpret that as the only fitting reward.
I knew somehow that Harry would end up having a family (if he lived) because that was the thing he wanted most. I am perfectly capable of creating imagined professions for the trio. (Harry was the silent partner in Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes - so either Ron or Harry or both might have joined the surviving twin - but Harry has definitely gone on to obscurity. He was never comfortable being famous so those people who are speculating that he went on to a career as a professional Quidditch player - sorry I can't see it.) Hermione, I see as a confirmed academic so she's probably writing history texts, or involved in higher educational pursuits.
Ginny had very little role in the last book. Which is very sad. She gets to marry Harry. She doesn't go on the adventure, she doesn't fight the bad guys - she just marries the hero???? But then again... she never had much of a part to play other than last minute love interest.
So... I suppose I am satisfied, a trifle disappointed maybe but...satisfied overall. The hype and anticipation is at an end. I guess that is the most disappointing thing of all.