What JKR Finds Important

[Ilana Lydia]

No: HPFGUIDX 116097




   
  Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this, everyone!

   

  I see I'm in the minority with my suspicions <grin>--but that's alright.  Del voiced some of my concerns in his posts, particularly his first reply to mine which talked about Harry's out of control behavior towards his friends.  I agree that it was in these passages, where Harry was yelling at Ron and Hermione for the umpteenth time with no provocation that I had to put the book down and take a break from reading it because it became too uncomfortable emotionally for me to proceed.  I also agree that Grieving!Harry was much easier to sympathize with than Angry!Harry.  

   

  It's odd, because I simultaneously found myself liking OOP the most, and finding it the most difficult book to get through.  The words "depth" and "emotional resonance" have come up with this installment-I think that holds true.  I found it happening for me especially with POA on, but by the time we hit OOP, I felt Harry had grown up for good.  

   

  Annemehr wrote-

   

  "The claustrophobia, I felt too.  Actually, I think it was effective
  writing, because it was what Harry was feeling -- the world closing in
  on him, his options, preferences, and emotional supports removed.  As
  I said, I think this is what is going to force him to grow up as he must.

  As for how clearly the story unfolds -- you have a point.  It can get
  better after repeat readings;"

   

  Ilana responds-

   

  I'm glad you pick up on the claustrophobia.  It felt much more intense than in the other four books.  We're always in Harry's head, and Harry is always a thoughtful, reactive kind of guy, but somehow in OOP we're in a pressure cooker now.  

   

  The book was clearer the second and third time through, as you say.  I felt, however, that there was deliberate distortion of the storyline based on Harry's emotional states at the time.  I was frustrated because I wasn't getting the whole story.

   

  Legobaty writes-

   

  "JKR could have been creating distance between the reader and Harry, so in the event of his possible death at the end of the series, we could be able to see the story as a series of events that happened to a certain character, rather than the WRONG series of events that happened to OUR hero, but I think it's more likely that JKR wassimply describing a Harry as he is in the fifth book - 15, moody (hormones!), under incredible pressure and starting to really feel it and struggle to accept his lot."

   

  Ilana responds-

   

  You've spelled out one of the possibilities I was hinting at, but didn't want to name-yes, JKR could have been using distance to help remove us a little from Harry in the eventuality of his death.  I do see you're point, though-and it sounds like most tend to agree with you here-age and stress and circumstances do account for a lot of what we saw.   

   

  Legobaty wrote-

   

  "One last point - if Harry is the one who dies at the end of book Seven, who's to say we need to distance ourselves from him?  We may find out with him what the "next great adventure" is over the other side..."

  Ilana responds-

   

  Excellent!  I'm up for that!  I think JKR may be hinting towards that with the veil, too.  And if you're going to tee off the radical right, why not do it all the way?  ;  )  

   

  I apologize to anyone else who I did not specifically respond to-I'm not ignoring you!  I'm responding via digests, and I took crummy notes.  So Sherry, Del, Kethryn, Annemehr, and Legobaty-thanks for writing-and anyone I missed-thanks to you too.

   

  Ilana




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