Thanks Kansas! See…we’re not all just anti evolution bible thumpers after all!

I have so much to say about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that I need to break my thoughts into at least 2 posts. I figure since it’s a week out most people have had enough chance to finish the book, if not than stop reading now as I am going to discuss all the major plot details, it’ll be great.

My Experience: Reading the book was a bittersweet experience. I, now lacking the ability to stay up past midnight, awoke early on Saturday morning with all the excitement and anticipation of Christmas morning. Off to the scary Wal Mart I went and promptly acquired my copy. I raced home literally giggling and giddy. Sick, I know. As soon as I started reading I was enthralled but at the same time sad: because the excitement that comes from the first frantic reading of a Harry Potter book was about to happen for the very last time. I can never read that book for the first time again and can never have exactly that same magical experience. I read as fast as I could, taking much needed breaks to spend time with Josh and his parents and to let the material digest. By the time I was rounding the last two hundred pages I became sad again, as I knew within in the next few hours I would have all the answers. 12 hours after beginning the book I was finished, emotionally drained and exhausted but finished. I was happy for my fictional friends in the book, but sad for myself that my journey with Harry Potter was now over.

Overall Impressions: My initial reaction to this book is that it totally kicks some ass. Right off the bat it is so fast paced and action packed that I could hardly believe all that was happening. It seems like we jumped into the action without any exposition at all. The first 200 pages or so were some awesome reading, and the same can be said for the last 200 or so. There were times when I thought the action dragged or there were unnecessary diversions from the plot, but perhaps as I begin my second reading of the text and can take in the details I will see more in some of those parts. I was confused by the epilogue as I think a lot of people were, but was happy to know the end results seemed to be positive, if not a little too childish. I haven’t decided where the book will fit into my lists of favorites. I think HP COS is my least favorite, but then when paired with HP HBP it becomes a little better. I still say that HP OOTP is my favorite, but I think once I reread this book again it will certaining be a close call for favorite.

Favorite Parts: My favorite part perhaps of any of the books is the chapter where Harry once again visits Snape’s memories in the penseive. I was really left totally stunned at the end of that chapter saying to myself, “Snape was good…”. I never once predicted the exchange between Dumbledore and Snape where Snape is asked to kill Dumbledore. It seems old Dumbledore knew more than he let on. That was really emotional. I also enjoyed Fleur and Bill’s wedding, it was nice to get all the characters back together again before things took an awful turn. I think the Battle of Hogwarts was an amazing piece of writing as I was literally cheering them on. By now I think we all have such a vivid picture in our mind’s eye of what the wizarding world looks like that I could picture the battle scenes perfectly. The last altercation between Voldemort and Harry was really powerful and wasn’t how I pictured things to go, so I was pleasantly surprised.

Parts to Reread: Since I read this book so fast there were parts that I just really didn’t process as I was reading them. The entire storyline where they go to the Ministry of Magic to retrieve the locket using polyjuice potion seemed to get a bit disorganized at times. I was really having a hard time keeping track of things. I also found it more difficult than I imagined to keep track of the horcrux and what was destroyed when and what is a horcrux and what isn’t. There ended up being a lot of items to keep track of between the horcrux and the hallows, I really need to spend more time rereading those sections to absorb the details.

Least Favorite Parts: I didn’t care much for Lupin trying to join up with Harry, Ron and Hermione and leave Tonks behind. During that scene I was almost positive Lupin had betrayed the Order and was working with the Death Eathers. Good thing he didn’t, but I didn’t like that he died. Of course, as soon as Harry became Godfather you knew they were in for it. I really didn’t care for the chapter where Harry and Hermione go to Godric’s Hollow to meet Bathilda Bagshot, only to find that it’s that damned snake waiting to attack them. I would have much prefered for Harry to be able to talk to her at least for a few minutes before being attacked by Voldemort once again. I didn’t love where they go to retrieve the cup from Gringott’s, but it wasn’t all that bad. I think as I go back and reread these parts I’ll be much happier with the end results, once I actually have the motivation to read all the words on the page!

Epilogue: I had heard there would be an epilogue ending this book, but from what I had read it was more like a list of what happens to all the characters in a few years. The epilogue we ended up getting was really vague and not all that great. I could have done without it. In some interviews J.K. Rowling has done since last weekend she says she originally wanted to be more detailed, but it didn’t work as a chapter in the book, so instead she wrote this rather vague little snippet into their lives and were able to see that they are happy and successful since we saw them last. There are rumors of an encyclopedia that will detail all the characters and their lives which should round things out nicely. Although the epilogue was a bit of a disappointment, it was nice to see that everyone falls in love and lives happily ever after.

My next post will detail some of the interesting plot elements and some things I picked up on while I was reading. It should be arriving this afternoon or tomorrow, so stay tuned.

Obviously there are spoilers here! 

I finally got to see HP OOTP last night at the Alamo Drafthouse. I’d been looking forward to it for so long and it was definitely worth the wait. I know I’m more obsessed with Harry Potter than your average citizen but this was an awesome movie. I was cheering them on the whole time and of course got a little sad towards the end. The pacing was good, although some reviewers would say it felt a bit rushed, but maybe that’s because they don’t know how much goes on in the 5th book. For the most part I thought all the really important story elements were present, perhaps not in as much details as I would have like to have seen, but it was great.  A few things were a bit out of order, but the context in which they were presented made sense in the course of the movie.I loved the dementor attack scene, it really felt quite terrifying and I thought the hearing scene at the ministry played pretty true to the book. I would have like to have spent more time at 12 Grimmauld place at the beginning and at Christmas time, but unfortunately those scenes were cut. Honestly, I was just hoping that the necklace we hear so much about in book 6 would have made a brief cameo in a case or something. I really hoped to see St. Mungo’s, but really, aside from meeting the Longbottoms and seeing Lockhart again there wasn’t too much plot going on there.

At Hogwarts things were back to normal, the Umbridge character was really great. By the end of the movie everyone was gritting their teeth and grumbling at her just like I did when I read the book, she is totally an awful character. The girl cast as Luna Lovegood was just as etherial and dreamy as I’d hoped, and she was just perfect in the roll. A disappointment was that there really didn’t seem to be a big part for Ron. We don’t get to spend too much time with him, or with Seamus and Dean outside of D.A. meetings. D.A. meetings were totally fun and I thought they highlighted Harry’s skill both as a wizard and as a friend. He really seemed motivated to help his friends.

There were some liberties taken with the plot. I thought the OWLs were really kind of blown over and the sequencing with the fireworks just seemed strange. Although I absolutely love Fred and George, and their fireworks display doesn’t disappoint, totally awesome destructive. Snape’s memories in the pensieve were handled pretty well in the course of the occulumency lessons, but again, I would have liked more detail. I really loved how flashbacks were used through out the film to show Harry’s dreams and memories, they were a really nice effect.

The scenes at the ministry in the Department of Mysteries were totally awesome. I loved how eerie and dark everything seemed. The sequence with the prophesies falling was just stunning and the battle scenes between the Death Eaters and the Order was so cool. Of course Sirius falling through the veil was absolutely sad, but the following scenes were Voldemort and Dumbledore battle were just incredible. Dumbledore totally kicked some ass. One thing I really thought was spectacular was how Voldemort possesses Harry after the battle with Dumbledore, it was so scary to watch Harry struggle like that, and the movie really emphasized that Harry has the ability to love, which is why he will always be more powerful than Voldemort.

This movie will certainly fit in well with the first four movies in the series, but I’m not sure yet where it will rank between the best and the worst. Sometimes it’s hard for me to judge the movies on their own, because I basically have every detail of the books memorized. I sometimes try to think how someone who has never read the books will feel while watching the movies…will they follow along and get the details and significance? Perhaps, but perhaps not as much as I would…and people probably aren’t as distracted by things that are missing or skipped over…like house elves for example? I know Josh enjoyed the movie and had a good time. He wasn’t so keen on having a 3 hour compare and contrast session between the book and the movie with me, but perhaps after it comes out on DVD.

If I had some predictions as to what’s to come for book 7, I would say definitely pay attention to the last scene between Harry and Luna where they discuss losing things only to have them come back to you in some way. Perhaps that refers to Sirius, perhaps to Dumbledore, we can’t be sure yet, but by next weekend we will know all the answers.

I’d love to hear your opinions on the movie, what you thought about the film over all and how it compares to the books.