Finished!

[beowabbit]

I finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which my lovely plumtreeblossom gave me) last night on the T. Spoilers and commentary in my first comment below. (I didn’t want to just put them behind a cut-tag, since some people have LJ configured to auto-expand cut tags when they go to somebody’s journal directly.)

There are spoilers in the comments.

Comments

Re: HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!

[cathijosephine.livejournal.com]

Thinking back on as many literary instances of deus ex machina that come to mind (and taking us out of the Potterverse for a minute), the most effective and impressive use of it that I can recall happens during the climax of Jurassic Park. It comes without foreshadowing from an entirely unexpected but ultimately plausable source, and it happened only the once, not repetedly until becoming a routine band-aid for narrative

I felt the exact opposite, not because it happened more than once, but because Crichton uses it the exact same way in so many of his later stories. Andromeda Strain, Congo, Sphere... they all had the same first chapter and the same last chapter, filled out like mad libs with the middle not much more original. But I think I read too many of his books in too short a time as an adolescent. I was so disappointed when I saw the man behind the curtain for the first time...I guess I still blame him.

This is an authorial choice that I've no right to bash because the culture within her universe is hers to dictate.

But from a single mother? Ouch.

But in spite of all, I consider the series something of a miracle in the way it brought back enthusiasm for reading among young people.

I totally agree. I'm not a fan of JKR, despite the fact that I've read and enjoyed all of the earlier 6 and eagerly begun the seventh (thanks to you, since Jay lent it to me:) ). The fact that people (like my family) started reading and talking about books totally impresses me.