OOP SPOILER THREAD: Is Anyone Else's Head About to *Explode?*

[errolowl]

No: HPFGUIDX 64511




Ah Cindy! Wonderful time for the Big Bang ain't it? Oh, but then, you 
*have* to be contrary.

Cindy, starting trouble for the sake of it (Oh of course!) confessed:
>>But, oh, how it broke down in the middle. I started skimming at 
Chapter 28, actually.<<

Cindy! You didn't really did you!? *gasp!*. It must have been
fallout from all those anger management sessions... you poor dear. But
you're really spoiling for a fight now aren't you? There,
there..calm
down. I kinda know what you're feeling. I was screaming with
frustration through most of the book, and at the end – why, at
the 
end I was more frustrated than ever. An over dose of frustration will 
make you go "well <shrug> so what?" to almost anything. 

But here it was *good* frustration you know. Frustration that so much 
was happening – and yet we are no closer to the to the end of the 
tale at the end of the book than we were at the beginning.  
Frustration at having too much juicy information being handed to me
– and never being followed up. At totally understanding
Harry's
anger and desperately cheering him on during the angsty bits - though 
it drained my energy and left me limp. At having new characters 
introduced when old friends were in the background. At Dumbledore for 
being so distant to Harry. At Hermione for being so nearly perfect. 
At Sirius for being such a git and for still managing to retain my 
affection. At James for turning into this complicated character. And 
at snape for being so sensitively insensitive. And frustration at not 
seeing Lupin grieve for Sirius...Oh the list goes on. 

But I LOVE it! Weird, twisted me.

It's the first time in ages that a book has managed to get me so 
stirred up. The first time that a book emotionally drained me to this 
extent. And I'm still trying to get my head to stop throbbing.
There was no closure, but the characters grew up. And I no longer 
have to defend Harry to myself. I'm totally with him. I like him
more
than ever.  

JKR is getting even more subtle. And sadistic. How many kids picked 
up on the degree of Lupin's anguish at Sirius's death?
Massively underplayed and powerful. And she didn't set out to 
patiently describe every emotion nor set out in bland statements why 
Harry was so angry. She assumed an understanding of the characters
– 
and I liked that. Scope for my imagination to take over. And the 
guilt Harry bears now. Its frightening. You're right – this
is most 
certainly NOT a "childrens" book. (that *is* what you were
saying, right? Ahem? Course, Draco's taunts were the most serious,
darkest parts of the book. I'm not arguing that ;-))

OOP does not fit the mould. It does not even strictly tell a story in 
the sense of beginning, middle and end. It is just a chunk taken out 
of Harry's life. It does not talk down to children. Neither does
it talk up to adults. Its weird and wacky and scatterbrained. And it 
improves with every reading. Wicked!


Errol
Who appreciates the weight of Dicentra's warning to the community
at large, but who just had to thrust his nose in.  – oh, and I
second Dicentra - wonderbreadweirdo, stick around, won't you?