Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

(I have a strict no-spoilers policy, so if you haven't finished the book, don't worry about reading the following.)

About two weeks ago, a truly fantastic thing happened. The last Harry Potter book came out. My best friend and I dressed up and went to a midnight release party and had a wonderful time. We got to the Barnes and Noble at about 6:00 in the morning to get our tickets at 9:00, went and crashed until about 4:00, then got up and went to stand in line at about 5:30 in the afternoon. We actually overdid it a bit, because other people came to stand in line at about 10:00. (But being there so early meant that we got to meet a very nice reporter who interviewed us for the paper.) Perhaps the most exciting part of the evening prior to 12:00 was the drunk (or possibly high) lady who tried to cut in front of us. Those of us who were already in line were rather annoyed by this and the fact that the manager didn't seem to notice that the woman was not exactly sober. But in the end the drunk started cussing us out (in front of her eight-year-old) and the manager made her move farther down the line.

Reading the book took me about 12 hours (counting a two-hour nap at 4:00 AM). I absolutely loved it. In spite of how sad it is, it is probably going to be my favourite book of the lot. And, yes, I did cry.

Now, I know a lot of people don't like these books. I avoided the books myself until GoF because of all the hype. And until OotP I would have agreed that the books had rather repetitive plots and uncomplicated characters. But it is important to realize that the books mature, and the plots of the last three books cast the others into a very different light. As for the characters, it is important to remember the ages of Harry, Ron, Hermione, and others in each book. That's actually one of my favourite things about these books. Unlike many fantasy novels, the characters, their strengths, and their faults are much more believable.

If people still dislike the books for reasons similar to those I've mentioned, I understand. In that case it really is a matter of whatever floats your goat. However, I'm afraid it irritates me when people say that the books promote witchcraft or lawlessness. There are plenty of books, TV shows, movies, songs, operas, etc. that contain magic and rule-breaking and some of them really DO encourage those things. So if you're really worried about witchcraft, go pick on something that does a proper job of encouraging people to stand naked in buckets of eels' eyes by the full moon to cure freckles. Otherwise, condemn them all equally, don't single out HP just because it's popular. And please do read the books/see the movies and TV shows/listen to the music BEFORE passing judgement?

Finally, there is one theme in these books that I find most interesting. It is the idea that one's choices determine who one is, rather than ability, circumstances, or birth. I think that this is something that our culture likes to think it believes, but doesn't really. For example, if someone does well in school, we say that that person is smart (as compared to China, where they would say that that person works hard). And if someone does something wrong, we are rather quick to believe that that person is insane or was mistreated and is therefore not responsible for his or her actions. And just look at how many people are on medication for their (real or imagined) ADD! So we are really quite biologically deterministic in the end, despite our efforts kid ourselves into thinking otherwise. I really think JKR did a fine job of emphasizing free will in these books, right up to the end.