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San Francisco, 12:29 AM
Sun Nov 22
10 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/19/09
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11/19/09
#calendar
11/19/09
#calendar
11/11/09
When Harry looks back at his life, we see what's important to him. While he may have had many a thrilling adventure, invented wondrous charms and defeated many dark, misshapen threats, what was important to him?
Peaceful domesticity with the woman he loves and the children he adores.
And pained, pained regret for the sexual tryst with Draco which he never had the nerve to consummate whilst they shared the school hallways of Hogwart's. Of course. #harrypotter
11/11/09
I had to review that book for a magazine, and, seriously--it is as though some cliche-obsessed hack snuck into the editor's office at night and rewrote the last third of the book without telling anyone.
It was such a shame, too, because the first two-thirds were really good. #harrypotter
11/11/09
I think if you treat the book like a traditional narrative you're spot on. I tended to treat the whole thing as just one big meta-genre criticism. #harrypotter
11/11/09
I think even from that perspective, it's not a very robust criticism. #harrypotter
11/11/09
Although maybe that's a good thing, to be warned - I won't get too excited about the first 2/3rds.
(Sigh. I hate when that happens to a book. And it happens so often.) #harrypotter
11/11/09
11/11/09
I wasn't really interested in reading this particular book but now I think I must, so I can see for myself #harrypotter
11/11/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
Harry's ideal reward wasn't to be a power-broker, god-like ruler, or anything of the like -- he wanted a normal, happy family life. What's wrong with hard work and sacrifice paying off?
Considering what real life is like, it takes considerable imagination to be able to envision that future.
I need to add ... I HATE any time that an author or artist takes time to publicly congratulate their own work. That's for me to decide for myself -- not for them to tell me.
11/11/09
And anyway, his book is already a best seller. #harrypotter
11/11/09
Not only that, he doesn't understand the character of Harry Potter -- he's placing his own desires for power on the character.
11/10/09
Achieving victory -- and surviving to see that victory -- meant you could go home to family, friends, work, love, and a normal life. For a lot of heroes, that's exactly what they were fighting for.
The series' ending shows Harry, an orphan brought up without love and whose dearest wish was to have a loving family (as seen in the Mirror of Erised in the first book), as having achieved that dream. He's a happy and loving father, husband, and a successful wizard.
JKR didn't fail to answer the question; she just answered it in a way you thought was stupid, Mr. Grossman, but such a question is easily applied to any number of Greatest Generation heroes:
Here's a young man who can fight like hell; he helped defeat the greatest evil of the 20th century when he was 18 (19, 20...). What's the rest of his life look like?
If he was lucky, it looked a lot like Harry's.
I wonder: what's a happier ending than a character getting what he's always dreamed of?
11/10/09
11/11/09
[neilgaimanboard.com]
Also, while there are facile similarities, in execution they are very, very different. #harrypotter
11/10/09
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11/11/09
What leads you to the "auror" conclusion? #harrypotter
11/11/09
11/10/09
As for the epilogue of HP, how else would it have happened? HP is all about the importance of love, and family. Harry's lack of both these things is what has haunted him his whole life. Unless Harry had died, did anyone really think Harry wouldn't marry Ginny, have some kids, and try to have a big happy Weasley family of his own? That's all he ever wanted. #harrypotter
11/10/09
11/10/09
11/10/09
Then I contemplated how people who have been through horrors in their teens can imagine no better future than normalcy; that perhaps for someone who spent their entire teenage life fighting for freedom and justice and saving the world, being able to create a nice, normal home for their kids might be the absolute pinnacle of their hopes.
So then I thought, cool.
And now I think Mr. Grossman has had a failure in perspective. #harrypotter
11/10/09