Potted out after Potter
(warning - this post is not meant for those who haven't yet finished reading the last Harry Potter).
I was shell shocked. Shattered when I closed the pages of Harry Potter. There is something gut wrenching about this book. I am not even sure if this is children's fiction, even though it involves those barely out childhood and their teens.
It is a brilliant piece of writing, moving inexorably and relentlessly to a conclusion one somehow senses, but never really fully expects. The death, the betrayal, the devastation at the end was completely unexpected. And yet the book ends on a note of sacrifice and courage, and indeed hope.
Rowling's series will grip the imagination of generations of children and adults to come. Because it is a narrative that draws on what C.S.Lewis has called the domains of "deep magic". The stories might appear childish, funny and at moments light hearted, but underneath like a strong current runs the serious and now chilling stream of awareness that these are not books about magic, wizards or even about boarding school.
These are books that point to the deepest fears and conflicts faces by humans - and in this case children: death of those loved, betrayal, the consequences of love, the consequences of the choices of evil over good, and good over evil. Above all the concept of sacrifice - a thread that runs constantly through the series.
Whether she intended it or not, Rowling's series is perhaps one of the most deeply spiritual stories one can encounter.
4 Comments:
I too was deeply touched by this book, and feel it is the best of the lot actually. I find three things that touched me most in the story.
One was the way Dumbledore drank that draught that caused him so much suffering, and Harry, while loving him so much having to keep feeding it to him despite suffering as much to have to do that to him, just an amazing analogy of what sometimes we have to do in our lives to our loved ones, and in turn what they sometimes have to do to us.
The other one was of course the way he gave up Ginny to be most effective at his mission.
And of course Snape, how could he.... after so much trust invested in him by D? I feel hate and rage at him as strong as Harry's.
This book taught me a helluva lot, and I agree with you, JK is up there with CS Lewis - she's really put her finger on a subtlety that only the rarest can sense.
Really hope she doesn't stop writing after HP, and I am pretty sad the next one is going to be the last. Looking forward to it, I am sure it will be magnificent! Am a little scared of it too, I am not sure who we are going to lose, and what kind of pain Harry is going to go through....
I agree - that scene of Dumbledore and Harry really got my guts. I almost found it difficult to read and actually stopped half way. There was an awful sense of how serious this was going to be. It resonated deeply about what love can sometimes mean. The scene with Ginny that followed was for me almost what I expected.
The book is awesome in terms of what it means to be "committed" to something that is greater than you. Harry increasingly embodies it and I find his courage so inspiring. I am almost scared of encountering the next book and the pain Harry has to face (without Dumbledore, Sirius and Ginny).
I hope she keeps writing. It is so rarely that an author can touch the subtleties of such deep things of deep magic. In this she is perhaps even more compelling than C.S Lewis, cos one senses the absolute chill of confronting evil and the agony of love and sacrifice.
Kerry thanks for the comment. I don't seem to be able to get to your blog - which appears to be there.
"Kerry" is of that class of lowlife known as comment spammers. They are trying to get their sites noticed by search engines, by littering the internet with links "back home". I'd suggest deleting the comment. I have to do the same on some of my sites.
On the other hand, you DO have really interesting stuff here. Even spammers can't be wrong all the time ;-)
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