"Better a fallen rocket than never a burst of light."
~ Tom Stoppard, The Invention of Love

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007)


The last book in the Harry Potter series isn’t my favorite, although I enjoyed it more this time around. I was better able to recognize some of the groundwork the book lays for its bigger moments, and I also think scenes from the movies gave me a greater appreciation for certain passages I wasn’t crazy about in the book (premise spoilers.)

Gone is the familiar Hogwarts backdrop.  Harry has given up school in order to track down Horcruxes, the magical MacGuffins of evil that, once collected and destroyed, will finally allow Voldemort to be defeated.  Ron and Hermione, being Ron and Hermione, of course aren’t about to let Harry go it alone, and so they join him on his quest.  As they struggle with their baffling mission, try to elude the nefarious wizards and witches who are after them, and battle the dark magic that seeks to influence them, they inch ever closer to the final battle to come.

Like I said, I think I better understood what the book tries to do reading it this time. Parts of it are frustrating – seemingly-endless camping scenes, the trio going around in circles in their quest – but that’s because those things are frustrating for the characters as well. It’s like Harry’s anger in The Order of the Phoenix, which feels over-the-top because it is over-the-top for character. Here, the enormity of our heroes’ quest and the little guidance given to them is overwhelming for them. And so, things drag, and they second-guess themselves and bicker, and they take one step forward and two steps back. I won’t say that necessarily means it’s a thrill a minute to read, but the book very successfully conveys the feeling it’s trying to get across.

And the book gets into some interesting things. Harry learning some less-than-inspiring speculation about Dumbledore’s past is interesting, as it makes him question so many of his own past experiences, given what he learns about someone he’s so looked up to (even if some of those specifics are even more unsettling to read now than they were in 2007.) I like all the stuff about the Hallows themselves and Harry’s increasing preoccupation with them, the ongoing plot about the corrupting effect of the Horcruxes is good (albeit a tiny bit One Ring-ish,) and I enjoy reading about how the wizarding world has changed since the events of the sixth book and how the trio has to evade those who are after them (Hermione once again proves how thoroughly indispensable she is.)

I’m still mixed on some of the sadder moments in the book, as well as the climactic twist. I won’t get too much into the details of all of it here. I’ll say that, while some of the sad moments hit exactly as they’re supposed to for me, otherwise feel somehow simultaneously overwritten and underwritten, making them feel more like intentional tearjerk gambits than organic moments. And as for the twist? Again, I understand it a little more this time and see the reasons woven into the story to justify it, but it’s still not my favorite. Not that I know how I would’ve preferred the series to end. But that’s the hard thing about endings, isn’t it? So often, I can’t articulate what I’d like to see – I only know I’ll recognize it if I get it, or perhaps more significantly, if I don’t.

That epilogue is still silly, though. The book would leave a much better taste in my mouth if it didn’t conclude with that saccharine “Where Are They Now?” scene, and I’m not sure if anything could make me change my mind on that.

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