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

[susanbones2003]

No: HPFGUIDX 64566

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "errolowl" <errolowl at y...> wrote
> 
> 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!
> Erro
> 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?

Errol,
Since you seem to have a handle on this whole mess of a book that JKR 
has handed us, please tell me, is it a limitation that you want to 
bang your head against a wall each time you turn a page and another 
awful thing has happened? Is it an indication that you should 
certainly be reading something less challenging, say "Lemony 
Snicket?" Where everything comes out alright in the end? How does one 
overcome all the horrible sadistic events? How does one go on? How 
does one go back and read the first 4 books without feeling an utter 
sense of loss, loss, loss!! And we must take all this with the 
knowledge that the death we have just experienced, (written so well 
that you feel the same hollow feeling Harry felt, the same throbbing 
emptiness that makes you want to scream or alternately just not exist 
anymore)this death was just to prepare you for the next round? It's 
not only Harry that has been spared too much knowledge so that he can 
have a happy childhood, it was us too. And now what do we do?
JenD