Wednesday, July 14, 2010

36 Days later (but really 31)...

I'm finished. Harry Potter is done for quite a while.
You know, I've never read them all together before. It was lovely. Harry aged 7 years in little over month. Wow.
Deathly Hallows, particularly the last nine chapters, is such an emotional roller coaster. I can't imagine what it's like for people who score higher than 2% emotion on Harry Potter Wand Quizzes. Anyway, the last nine chapters of DoH, the Battle of Hogwarts and everything surrounding it after they become bank robbers, rates as a favourite section out of all the books. I'm waiting to reach it as soon as I start HBP. Also, you can tell it's a favourite section because of the density of dog ears in it compared to the rest of the book. So, without further ado, a cascade of quotes to end my journey.
...there were six Harry Potters gasping and panting in front of him. Fred and George turned to each other and said together, 'Wow - we're identical!'
I feel like there's a lot less humour in this book. Well, not feel, because there is. So this is a little gem of the small amount of humour in the book. Thankfully, that which is there is good. (Something about Severus Snape and shampoo comes to mind....)
'Always the tone of surprise.' [Said by both Ron and Hermione]
This little quote is lovely. Ron says it a fair bit to Hermione in a few of the previous books, but I only picked up on it because I read them all in a row. I just love how many references there are to previous books in DoH. It's great (another one is coming)
...each [g] felt like a friendly little wave glimpsed from behind a veil.
Enough said. Lovely writing.
'Yes - yes - a boy,' said Lupin again, who seemed dazed by his own happiness.
This scene made me so happy when I read it. I loved that Lupin had a kid, I loved that he and Harry were friends again, and I loved the punctuation of happiness in the midst of a grim story. But I'm always a little saddened byt he fact that Lupin could be dazed by his own happiness. It's a slightly melancholy image, whilst being happy at the same time.
'Potter belongs in my house!' Beneath the disbelief and anger, Harry heard a little strain of pride in her voice, and affection for Minerva McGonagall gushed up inside him.
I love that this line was written. And I love it when McGonagall screams when she thinks Harry is dead, and I love it that she duels Voldemort. It's been confirmed in the last month that McGonagall is one of my favourite characters.
...the Snape-shaped hole in the window.
'Are you a wizard or what?'
As promised, the throwback to other books. In this case the first, but this time reversed. Quite brilliant.
'After all this time?'/'Always,' said Snape.
Always. What a beautiful answer, from a character I still dislike. Haha.
...to think that people had years, time to waste, so much time it dragged, and he was clinging to each second.
What poetic language. I thought as I read this that I'm really glad she wrote this book last, which sounds stupid, but it's how the thought got phrased. What I mean is...her writing has gotten better, I think through the books, so that a lot of DoH is just really wonderful writing. This is one example. As an aside, the scene right after this (the resurrection stone) brought me to tears, but only the first time i read it.
Sorry for the length of this post but, you know, it is the last one. So, that's it. Now you can expect sensible, reasonably lengthened posts that aren't bordering on obsessiveness. Thank goodness for that.

2 comments:

Keira:) said...

I was, and still am, a huge fan of the Harry Potter series and the last book was, in my opinion, written beautifully. Did you enjoy the twist at the end with Snape and did that change your views on him or did you still dislike him afterwards? I hope you like Harry Potter more then Twilight:)

alyssa said...

I did like that twist, and it totally changed my views but I still don't really like him. I more respect him. Haha I definitely like Harry Potter more! I haven't even read twilight - I have seen the movies, but I can tell just from them that Harry's better :)