Comments on: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

By: Swapna

Swapna — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:08:17 +0000

Ah finally someone else brought up ‘that math’s thing’! but you never apologized to me!!! *Sniffs*

(now let me see… 3 + 8… erm…)

By: Payal

Payal — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:15:42 +0000

@Anamika: Sorry about that maths thing — other people complain too, but I was sick of filtering out offers of drugs and “enhancements”! If it makes you feel any better, even I as blog admin have to fill it out!

As for the book, well, yes, some time has passed and I feel less mad at JK now

By: Anamika

Anamika — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 05:53:43 +0000

What a super review. I must admit that I lapped up the book as fast as possible and was very pleased with it, as my comments on Proteeti’s review show. But the passing of time since that first, euphoric reading has brought more objective distance and I tend to agree with your review. (Damn, I’m so easily persuaded either way!) The surreal bit with Dumbledore and the epilogue were a bit too bad-Hollywood filmy for me!

And as for adult male readers of HP, I know at least two men who made considerable schedule changes to read the book on the first day!!

And I just realised you test our maths before we can post a comment! Ouch. The sum of 2 and 6. Let’s see…

By: Payal

Payal — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 20:59:55 +0000

Ooh, interesting. I certainly know more women who read it. But I think in general women read more than men, at least those I know.

Oh, and Alpana, you really need to update some day!

By: alpana

alpana — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 10:57:00 +0000

I also thought the deathly hallows was what saved harry from death. the blood thing bit only confuses me.
on an aside–do you think among adults it is only women who read HP?

By: Payal

Payal — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 09:11:24 +0000

Actually, I still don’t understand why the Prophecy was so important. I’m to lazy to read the book again, so if anyone can elaborate…

By: Swapna

Swapna — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 08:35:50 +0000

Yeah the James problem is perhaps a non-problem now. I still think though that he could have been younger / more dynamic. (ooh, just checked Wiki, and the role is played by a 49 year old!)

Re James-and-not-Lily, maybe JK’s just old school! (And WHY would you wanna stop seeing the Doctor!!!! *Aghast*)

Re Phoenix movie, yes, dare away, it is better than the book! What I didn’t like though, the execution of 12 Grimmauld Place, that they didn’t show Sirius’ mom, that they glossed over the Longbottom connection with the prophecy!

By: Payal

Payal — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 18:27:59 +0000

Well, we just saw Order of the Phoenix, and are we agreed that they fixed the James problem in it? (Off topic, but I liked the movie! Dare I say better than the book?!)

Re James/Lily, yeah, I think you’re right. Though I get slightly disturbed that the focus is so much on James and not on Lily.

By: Swapna

Swapna — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:30:29 +0000

Re all this Lily and James stuff, I am beginning to come round to the idea that all would have been fine if James’s quartet was not hyped up as a holier than thou.
Maybe they were just ordinary people, and essentially good (you know Auror-level good) but mischievous people. Doesn’t demean Harry in any way… great kids need not have great parentage always!
Maybe we were led to believe that they were great because we only saw them through Harry and Dumbledore’s eyes.
(Oh and by the way, re James, just saw Goblet of Fire yesterday, and, did you see James? He’s an old balding fellow there! Whereas I think the book sort of indicates he still had the messy hair when he died!)

By: Payal

Payal — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 10:26:27 +0000

@Anita: I knew you’d love the book!! You liked Half Blood Prince too, didn’t you? And yes, I admit to nit-picking. Though… ouch… I was hoping no one would use the term “sour grapes”! Anyway, a lot of the stuff I wanted to say seems to have been covered by Kat who got here first, so I won’t repeat! Though I have to say, to credit JK for merely having the ambition to undertake the marathon and bring it off, and “retaining her sanity” for it, would be quite unfair to authors who have persevered on far more, well, ambitious projects! Stephen King springs to mind (Dark Tower series); Robert Jordan (who, incidentally, is suffering from amyloidosis, and his median life expectancy currently is four years); George RR Martin (disturbing, yet stunning); Steven Erikson (still looking for book 1!); Terry Pratchett (no intro necessary)… And if one sticks to children’s fantasy, Tamora Pierce may not be a household name, but she has created two totally unrelated fantasy worlds with different varieties of magic. Her 14 Tortall books link the lives of four amazing women — Alanna, Daine, Keladry, and Alanna’s daughter Aliane… *stops for breath…*

Er, so, where was I? Yes, while I enjoyed reading DH in general, I can’t help comparing it to the rest of the great fantasy I’ve read. And though JK (I have to stop calling her JK and stop watching Doctor Who!!) is a wonderful storyteller, why do our eyes glaze over and we lose perspective when faced with the Harry Potter marketing blitz?! The plot was never groundbreaking, the characters stereotyped, the scope limited (which I suppose was mainly to simplify it for a young audience). Yet she told a fantastic story, and it changed the children’s fiction scene. I agree about credit where credit’s due, but also not to go overboard with it. Because the Potter books stood up and banged a lot of pots and pans together shouldn’t be the basis on which we judge them!

I based my conclusion about Deathly Hallows on one simple question: This can’t be the best the author of Prisoner of Azkaban can do, can it?

(Off topic: Funny, but Rick Riordan seems to be the exact opposite of Rowling—he has a great story, but isn’t half the storyteller!)

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