HBP Review in Globe and Mail

[shihtouji]

No: HPFGUIDX 134875

SPOILERS




































I don't know if anyone else in Canada (or elsewhere!) read Andre 
Alexis' review of HBP in Saturday's Globe and Mail Book section, but 
some of what he says has been bothering me, and I'd like to hear the 
list's reaction.  I'm sure most of you don't set much store by 
newspaper reviews of the Potter books--I doubt a bad review would 
stop any of you reading it--but I'm interested in what others have 
had to say about HBP, and found this review particularly compelling, 
since the Globe published a front-page mini-review on July 16, and 
was rapped on the knuckles for it by the silly injunction brought 
about by those 14 people in BC for whom July 16 came a few days 
early.  The Globe was pretty ardent in supporting the new book--but 
this review wouldn't make a non-fan run out and buy it.

Some of this may have already been discussed--I haven't had time to 
read all the posts--but Alexis spends a good part of his review 
discussing DD's death, and how little it moved him, and how he 
suspects that DD isn't dead at all--and hopes that he's right.  

Now, it's why he hopes he's right that bothers me.  It's not out of 
any great love for DD--in fact, he seems to think that all of JKR's 
adult characters are rather one dimensional.  He says, for example,  
that "DD has never been much beyond a cardboard cut-out with the 
word 'wise' written on it."  He goes on to note that DD's death 
was "as suspicious as Gandalf's was in TFOTR"--and then suggests that 
DD's death is "pivotal" to evaluating JKR's work.  Because, for 
Alexis, "[i]f DD is dead, then the character has been (all along) 
nothing more than a prop, not at all wise or clever, and his death a 
rather cheap effort to elicit emotion.  On the other hand, if DD is 
still alive, then he has finally acted in a way that confirms his 
vaunted skill as a magician and his powers of imagination."

However, JKR has come down quite firmly about this vis a vis Sirius's 
death (and James and Lilly's for that matter).  She says that once 
you're dead, you're dead--no crossed fingers, &c.  For DD to "pull a 
Gandalf" would seem to me to be a cheap parlour trick, and would 
seriously lessen the entire Potter series in my eyes.  I'm willing to 
accept, hard as it is, that DD is gone for good, and that Harry now 
had to rely on his own instincts, rather than letting DD confirm his 
actions (as he does a lot in HBP).  Giving DD that drink tho' it was 
clearly killing him was one of the hardest things we have see Harry 
do thus far--and he have seen him do some hard stuff--but it shows 
that Harry can stand on his own when he needs to.  Moreover, I keep 
in mind two details from *PS*--1. That Ron sacrificed himself in the 
chess match so that Harry could carry on--DD seems to have to do the 
same thing here, I think because Harry can't hide behind DD when the 
final encounter with LV arrives. 2. DD himself doesn't fear death, 
and sees it as "the next great adventure"--surely DD wouldn't muck 
around with fooling everyone into thinking he's dead.  DD doesn't 
work that way.  He has suffered in the past, and his sufferings have 
all been quite real.  

But does anyone else out there share Alexis' point of view?  I'll 
grant that he's not one of the Potter faithful--I wouldn't call his 
review a rave, tho' he does say it's readable, and "more compelling" 
that GOF or OOP.  

Cheers
Noel.