Harry Potter, Deathly Hallows (spoilers allowed)

No. This Yawn apparently can read.

 

Good point. And he didn't accuse anyone of unabashed liberalism.

 

Seriously, it's no stretch to read the series as the Death Eaters/Ministry as conservative and Dumbledore and gang as liberals.

 

JKR just said that Harry was her favorite. I do think she also very much liked Hermione, but she said Harry was her favorite in the USA Today interview: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2007-07-25-jk-rowling_N.htm?csp=34

 

The only book that his whiny attitude really bothered me was 5, it got old and fast (maybe because of how long the book is?). Otherwise, I felt it was incredibly appropriate for a character that has gone through what he has gone through. Sure, Neville lost his parents, but he didn't spend 10 years living out of the cupboard under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house. Plus, the immense amount of pressure on Harry as "The Boy Who Lived" could do that to anyone. If anything, the way he handled everything made me like him more. I understand the point, but it personally doesn't bother me. I complain when I feel sick (as do most people I know), I imagine I would whine living his life.

 

I agree that his whining was worst during five, but it seemed present to me throughout the series.
And if it were just some whining, you could live with it. But I hate how he turned to unforgivable curses several times. You can say that made him human, but I say it made him no better than the Death Eaters.
Really, what was his redeeming characteristic? Love, as Rowling would certainly say?
What love, though? His mother's love saved him, not the other way around.
He didn't show genuine love of anyone else, really, other than when he went to die.

 

Start with Book 1 when he declined to discard pitiful Ron Weasley for Draco Malfoy. Over and over he did the right thing instead of the easy thing. Stuck by his friends. Showed modesty and bravery.

True, he Forrest Gumped his way through many of the books, but it was his qualities more than his actions that helped him persevere.

 

Uh oh! JK's contradicted herself!

In a web chat, she spelled out the story a little more. And confused me on that last part, cause she earlier said Ron was an Auror. But here are some of the other highlights:

*The new gov is headed by Kingsley Shacklebolt
* Ginny Weasley, stuck with her athletic career, playing for the Holyhead Harpies, the all-female Quidditch team. Eventually, Ginny left the team to raise their three children -- James, Albus and Lily -- while writing as the senior Quidditch correspondent for the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet.
* Luna Lovegood becomes a famous wizarding naturalist who eventually marries the grandson of Newt Scamander, author of "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them."
*"I Did It My Way" by Sinatra would've played at Dumbledore's funeral.

Here's the link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/books/07/30/potters.afterlife.ap/index.html

 

I'm sure someone (likely SEVERAL someones) has probably pointed out the contradictions to her, seeing as she stated quite firmly in front of many television cameras that Ron became an Auror. Maybe he did both -- pitching in at the joke shop for a while until the wizarding world straightened itself out, then joining the Auror department later? I dunno, it's the best fanwank I can come up with.

 

Who really cares about the contradictions anyway?
If that stuff were written in the books, it would be one thing. But she can say whatever she wants about what Harry and his pals did later.
Obviously she had to have done some changing of what was going to happen in her mind before she finished writing it anyway. I know she has said the whole idea came to her almost fully-formed, but it didn't come in 4,000 set-in-stone pages (or whatever the total length).

 

Being a partner in the joke shop doesn't mean he wasn't more of a financial partner and full-time at the Ministry.

 

I read it! Started it Wednesday night and took advantage of yesterday's day off.

I liked the book and like many of you here, loved when Mrs. Weasley offs Bellatrix. Very much a 'mom thing' to do.

I was absolutely sobbing when Harry went on his death walk, but I chalked that up to my beyond-raw nerves from the bridge collapse.

For some reason, I found the Malfoys somewhat anticlimactic if you will. Can't really put my finger on it. But Ron punching Draco was a nice touch.

I thought the spiders were going to kill Hagrid. If I remember from the last book, the spider who dies (name escapes me, starts with an A), was the only thing keeping the other spiders from killing Hagrid.

I think, keeping in mind it is a kids/young adult book, it was pretty darned good.