Oh, that's really interesting. I'd love to know what you expected. Basically, I agree with Sydpad, who said she was deeply disappointed in spite of having guessed a lot of the particulars (Severus loved Lily, Harry as a Horcrux, dead-and-resurrected Harry, and so on.)
What bugged both of us, and many others who commented, was the sheer meanness and mechanical feel of the resolution Rowling wrote. No redemption, no forgiveness or reconciliation, no house unity, no thought or action on Harry's part - just blind obedience - and so on. To get specific, I'd worked out that Harry had a horcrux in his head, but I thought he would replicate his mother's sacrifice by offering to die to save someone else (specifically, Snape). I thought he would actively choose to do this, thus showing love and forgiveness for an enemy, and that love would be what destroyed the horcrux. I wasn't sure whether Harry would survive or not, though I hoped he would.
So the differences from what I expected and what Rowling wrote were these: Active, thinking Harry who acts out of love, not obedience to Dumbledore/despair. (I really, really didn't like the suicide scene. I know a lot of people found it moving, but it left me cold. I don't understand people praising as life-affirinming a book that justifies teen suicide.) No Hallows - the horcruxes were problem enough. It was poor writing, and not playing fair with those readers who thought the books were structured like a mystery, to introduce the Hallows at the last moment, and they added nothing to the plot. I thought Harry and Severus would work together to destroy Voldemort, and I really thought the students and staff from other houses would work together to destroy the other horcruxes. I thought the wizarding world would actually begin to change after Harry's victory, and that people would understand that racism against Muggles led naturally to racism agains Muggleborns! I thought the "magical brethren" might have something to do with the victory! I thought we'd see Fawkes again. And on it goes-
But my chief problem with what Rowling actually wrote is the character of Harry, and how he did, and did not, develop. I just didn't like him in this book, and I didn't like that *everything* he did (his vindictiveness toward Snape, his torture of Amycus, his passivity, and so on) got rewarded. I thought these books were a coming-of-age tale, and that we'd actually get to see Harry grow up. He didn't. He didn't have to change, in a serious way, at all. That meant that, as far as I was concerned, there was no story - no plot. There was just a lot of action that didn't mean anything.
It's really too bad that the fandom didn't give you anything. There is so much creativity there - Wizard Rock! My sister and I now have a band! - and it also got me writing fiction again, which I think is a good thing. And I made some friends, too. All that is very good. But it does still hurt to go back to some sites I used to visit, like the Hogwarts professor, where everyone is praising these books to the skies and no one seems to understand why a reasonable person might be disapppointed in them.
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Re: THE RUINING OF A CLASSIC
Date: 2009-07-30 05:02 pm (UTC)What bugged both of us, and many others who commented, was the sheer meanness and mechanical feel of the resolution Rowling wrote. No redemption, no forgiveness or reconciliation, no house unity, no thought or action on Harry's part - just blind obedience - and so on. To get specific, I'd worked out that Harry had a horcrux in his head, but I thought he would replicate his mother's sacrifice by offering to die to save someone else (specifically, Snape). I thought he would actively choose to do this, thus showing love and forgiveness for an enemy, and that love would be what destroyed the horcrux. I wasn't sure whether Harry would survive or not, though I hoped he would.
So the differences from what I expected and what Rowling wrote were these: Active, thinking Harry who acts out of love, not obedience to Dumbledore/despair. (I really, really didn't like the suicide scene. I know a lot of people found it moving, but it left me cold. I don't understand people praising as life-affirinming a book that justifies teen suicide.) No Hallows - the horcruxes were problem enough. It was poor writing, and not playing fair with those readers who thought the books were structured like a mystery, to introduce the Hallows at the last moment, and they added nothing to the plot. I thought Harry and Severus would work together to destroy Voldemort, and I really thought the students and staff from other houses would work together to destroy the other horcruxes. I thought the wizarding world would actually begin to change after Harry's victory, and that people would understand that racism against Muggles led naturally to racism agains Muggleborns! I thought the "magical brethren" might have something to do with the victory! I thought we'd see Fawkes again. And on it goes-
But my chief problem with what Rowling actually wrote is the character of Harry, and how he did, and did not, develop. I just didn't like him in this book, and I didn't like that *everything* he did (his vindictiveness toward Snape, his torture of Amycus, his passivity, and so on) got rewarded. I thought these books were a coming-of-age tale, and that we'd actually get to see Harry grow up. He didn't. He didn't have to change, in a serious way, at all. That meant that, as far as I was concerned, there was no story - no plot. There was just a lot of action that didn't mean anything.
It's really too bad that the fandom didn't give you anything. There is so much creativity there - Wizard Rock! My sister and I now have a band! - and it also got me writing fiction again, which I think is a good thing. And I made some friends, too. All that is very good. But it does still hurt to go back to some sites I used to visit, like the Hogwarts professor, where everyone is praising these books to the skies and no one seems to understand why a reasonable person might be disapppointed in them.