Did anyone else feel let down by OOP?

[emmamariebee]

No: HPFGUIDX 63960

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "John Hatch" <john at s...> wrote:
>   -Ron_WizardChess_Weasley writes:
> 
<snip from Ron_WizardChess_Weasley> I was just not impressed by OOP 
the way I was by the first four books. Maybe it was the lack of 
sleep between going to work and trying to stay up late when I got 
home to read it but... I was finding that eventually the only reason 
I kept turning the pages was to find out who died. In fact the only 
part of the book that I did really enjoy was Neville . . . Overall I 
felt let down and disappointed. Did anyone else feel the same way? 
Let me know.

<snip from John Hatch> First, I will say I think you're brave for 
posting this :) Seriously, it is refreshing to know there are people 
who won't love something no matter what. Having said that, I can't 
say I felt even remotely the same way. I actually thought OOP was 
the best of the five books. JKR has written a brilliant tale, IMO. I 
loved reading every minute of it. Now, I might argue that this book 
wasn't as fun as the others, because of the almost constant presence 
of Professor Umbridge, who just made life a living hell for 
everyone. However, the fact that I blame Umbridge and not JKR is a 
testament to her writing skills. I found myself loathing Umbridge - 
not loathing JKR for creating her and taking the story down this 
path - I hope that makes sense. John

Me: 
Oh, God, I'm really struggling with this one. On the one hand, I 
loved the complexity I saw emerging at almost every level: Harry's 
struggle with his own demons of anger and self-absorption; 
Hermione's precocious and subtle understanding of interpersonal 
dynamics that--maddeningly!--doesn't carry over to her black-and-
white assessment of the house-elf situatiion; Ron's longing and 
sudden choking on the verge of realizing his dream of being a 
quidditch hero; the twins' emergence as real heros (in addition to 
being total goof-offs); Ginny's developing wit & wisdom; Neville's 
coming into his own.  

And then there's Sirius, who got even more complex and then got 
bumped off. And I was devastated . . . and then I began to wonder if 
I wasn't being toyed with a bit.  What was the point of this death 
after all?  JKR, when she said little else about the book, did make 
it a point to let us all know that Someone Was Going to Die. And, as 
Ron_WizardChess points out: We all read, breathless, wondering who 
it was going to be . . . so might there have been a little element 
of Do-Something-Really-Big-To-Really-Get-Their-Attention?

On the other hand, I think like John: the mere fact that I wept as 
much as I did at Sirius's passing is, to me, a real testament to her 
gifts as a writer--that she could create a character that I could 
care that deeply about.  So, maybe I'm wondering about the 
manipulation factor only because I'm still in the early grieving 
stages . . . maybe in a few months, it will all make a little more 
sense.  

BTW, is anyone else dreading what's in store for Lupin? No family, 
shunned by the wizarding community, and now his two dearest friends 
murdered . . . I'm scared to death that JKR is winding up for 
another zinger here . . .

Em, who swears she's going to have big black dog tatooed over her 
heart