Well, it was her superb review that caught my attention, and gave me a little inspiration. Seeing how many waves 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' has created, I decided to do a little review of my own. However, let me do it in a different way. I'll list three reasons why I love it, and three reasons why I don't. Readers BEWARE: Harry Potter 7th book spoilers ahead!
I have to be honest, I didn't LOVE the book. I didn't go gaga over it. And I certainly wasn't one of those standing in a mile-long line at TESCO and Carrefour at 5 in the morning to get my grubby hands on a copy. It's not that I'm not a fan, it's just complicated. Let's just get on with it, shall we?
I shall begin with the good things.
3 reasons why I loved 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'1. The fast-paced storyline - I must say, I'm impressed. While Rowling did have a weird habit of being over-descriptive at the first few chapters of her last 3 or 4 books (thus making the book a tad too draggy) she didn't overdo it this time. I was given a pleasant surprise as she jumped into an exciting incident within the first 50 pages of Book VII. The idea of identical Potters zooming around on magical modes of transportation did provide an adequate kickstart to the story. *Nods head in approval*
2. The deaths - No, I'm not being sadistic here. I don't enjoy death, (don't take it too literally) but the swift elimination of characters such as Mad-Eye Moody, Dobby and even Hedwig did give the book a realistic feel to it. This was what I did not like about the previous books. It was as if Rowling was stretching the fabric of her story to keep as many of her main characters alive. I see that in book VII, her tight clench on whether the key characters live or die loosened somewhat. This is a good thing, people. I don't think we should spare characters just because we like them. To only kill them one by one, so that we don't suffer too much grief reading the book doesn't work either. Her practice of killing off characters sparingly created plenty of speculation that Harry Potter himself will die prior to the book's release. Well ironically, the occurence of 'death' involving the main character is one of the reasons I hate the book. Read on to find out more reasons to dislike the book.
3. The revelation of Snape's past - This one was the bombshell for me. Seriously. Who would have thought? I did expect some sob story that would redeem Snape from the passionate hate everyone had for him since the first book of the saga, but I did not expect the story of his past to be this juicy. Think about it, Snape being capable of love, and his unrequited love for Harry's late mother, resulting in a love triangle between Severus Snape, Lily Potter and James Potter? Twisted, but sweet. It was ingenious of Rowling to have thought of it.
3 reasons to hate the book
1. The relevance of the title - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. That was the title. Ever wondered when the mysterious 'deathly hallows' appeared in the book? really late. Really, REALLY late. If it was so insignificant to the storyline that you could postpone the introduction of the deathly hallows to the very-extremely-far-from-the-first-chapters, why make it the name of your book, Rowling? Perplexing and confusing. I finished the first chapter, and the second, and the third, and the........ and a nagging feeling at the back of my head reminded me 'deathly hallows? what the heck is that? did I miss the introduction of such an integral part of the book? It is the title of the book, after all, isn't it? Thought the title didn't tie in well with the story. Relevance, please, Relevance.
2. The love stories - Harry and Ginny. Ok. I didn't think it was a very interesting couple to begin with, but I digressed. Book VII proved my suspicions - the love story just wasn't good enough. It was irritating even. (No, Soraya, I did not hope fervently that Draco and Ginny would one day fall for each other ;P) The sad, brooding longing Harry had for Ginny from the beginning of the book was corny, bordering on ridiculous/ludicrous, the conversation between them made me wish I was watching paint dry instead, and the snogging on Harry's birthday created the nauseous sensation to perfection. 'She kissed him like she never did before.' To quote the book. Sigh. Rowling, Rowling. Please refrain from using cliched, overused phrases from the passionate, lusty romance novels in the Harry Potter series. It just wouldn't do. I don't need to reminded that you could have gotten the same description from a book entitled 'Desire: Mr Seduction' that laid in the shelf of a thrift store for the past 50 years because nobody wanted to know in the remotest instance what the book contained. (the marriage between Ron and Hermione came across as desperate as well. The falling in love, courting, flirting was not developed in the previous books. I think Rowling was just trying to appease the readers by throwing them together under the names Mr and Mrs Weasly. *shakes head in disappointment*)
3. The epilogue - Oh puh-lease! Oh My Gosh. The epilogue STANK. I can still shudder thinking of it. The epilogue didn't cut it. I really think the book would have been much better without it. Let me tell you why. It had loopholes the size of a sumo wrestling rings. Read closely, people. While waiting at platform 9 and three quarters, the Hogwarts alumni, (at least the key characters, anyway) all end up MARRIED. Come on... what about bachelors and spinsters for life? Marriage isn't just so easily arranged you know. The era where mothers employed matchmakers to execute pre-arranged marriages is long over. Why would all of them end up married? Why would they have reason to, anyway? What about the rampant occurence of divorce? Why are they all happily married?all of these very same key characters end up married TO EACH OTHER. Come on... (second time) What are the odds that high school sweethearts end up hitched? Must they be tied down with the same person they dated in Hogwarts? After NINETEEN years, they remained faithful to that very same person they sat next to in the classroom. Believable? For one or two occasional cases, maybe. But for ALL the key characters? Very unlikely. ALL of these key characters appear at King's Cross because they decide to send their children off. Come on.... (third time) All of them had children? ALL?Have they heard of sterility, or difficulty to conceive? What about family planning? Be realistic, people. Many couples remain childless, you know. Some choose to, and others cannot due to natural reasons. there's never such an idealistic situation as painted by Rowling in the epilogue. What about the fact all of their children are about to begin their first year at Hogwarts? This tops the list of ridiculous situations. ALL of them had children, and HAD THEM AT THE SAME TIME? I am too lazy to repeat the two words 'Come on...(fourth time)'. What are they? Beings who have reproductive systems that functioned like clockwork? Potter, Weasly and even Malfoy having children in the same year? Coincidence or what?
Ok. So did I love or hate the book? This book is not my favourite, but it wasn't all bad. I give it a 6.5 out of 10, maybe a 7 on a good day. After all, it IS the last book of the installment. I think some 'close one eye' to the gaping flaws of the book is in order here.
I apologise if I offended any Potter fans. I would welcome some of your views. This blog post of mine is just my opinion. Don't let me spoil the Potter experience for you.
For your information, I was a hardcore Potter fan 4 to 5 years ago. I memorised all I could about the series. I knew the spells, the characters, what happened, mounds of speculation, the whole I'm-such-a-fan attitude. The end of my potter obsession came when I got sick of the series. I bought some of the books and read them over and over and over and over. And over. And over. And I just couldn't have taken it anymore. Sad, isn't it?
There you go. An objective review of the last book in the Harry Potter series. I took in the two sides of a coin, the two sides of the story, the reasons to love, and the reasons to hate Harry Potter.
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