Media-Created Suspense and the OothP Death

[ggershman77]

No: HPFGUIDX 64031

Here is one thing I was thinking about that I didnt like about 
OotP.  I think this is something that has heretofore been unseen in 
the literary world, and is a direct result of the merger between 
Rowling as an author and the media as publicity.

What was the major element of suspense for you when you read this 
book?  For me, it was to find out who dies.  Now let's think about 
this for a minute.  How did I know someone was going to die?  
Because that is all the media has been talking about since the press 
releases for OotP came out.  The suspense while reading the book was 
to find out who was going to die.  And Rowling supplies many red 
herrings along the way.  Arthur Weasley, Hagrid, McGonagall and 
Sirius all were possible candidates for death at some point in the 
story.

My point is that in the other books, the suspense, the motivation to 
continue reading the book, was generated by the story itself.  CoS 
and PoA were real page-turners.  I couldnt put them down.  But 
OotP's main inertia came not from the story, but from the external 
media hype about the death.

I did not like this.

Your thoughts?

Greg

(this post will also be posted on http://hpprogs.blogpost.com - 
Harry Potter Prognostications - as soon as Blogger lets me back in)