Ginny VS Harry / Re: HBP Review in Globe and Mail

[fanofminerva]

No: HPFGUIDX 135744

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hickengruendler" 
<hickengruendler at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "fanofminerva" 
> <drjuliehoward at y...> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
> > <delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> > > Julie wrote:
> > > "According to JKR's interview with Mugglenet/TLC, she is 
writing
> > > according to a genre."
> > > 
> > > Del replies:
> > > Agreed, but according to the same interview she also 
incorporates 
> > what
> > > she feels needs to be there:
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > Emerson and Melissa were apparently satisfied with the 
romance, 
> but
> > > I'm not. I can't be satisfied with a romance that happens 
> > *entirely*
> > > off-screen. Especially not when on the other hand we see Ron 
and
> > > Lavender snogging every 5 pages during half the book (or so).
> > >
> > Julie now:
> > I see her use of romance to develop the adolescent character, 
and I 
> > think this is why much of it is implied.  Except, of course, for 
> > the "snogging" (being American, I loved that word!  Conjured a 
very 
> > different image than simply "kissing" or "Making out."  It was 
> > almost like they were trying to suck each other's face off.)  
THe 
> > snogging created tension in the characters that could not have 
been 
> > created as well in implication.  However, I don't think we are 
> going 
> > to get much of the characters romatic fantasies, internal 
dialogue, 
> > etc., because this is a fantasy/action book.  I do understand 
that 
> > many people want much more of the romance, which is why this 
fanfic 
> > is so popular.  I just don't think they are going to be 
satisfied 
> > with what they get in this septology.
> > 
>  
> Hickengruendler:
> 
> But I don't think this is true. Even if we exclude the internal 
> dialogue, and I might add that we got internal dialogue about 
several 
> things in course of the series, including Quidditch, that does not 
> explain why we didn't got any *external* dialogue between Harry 
and 
> Ginny. Why don't we see them talking with each other? Or Harry 
> confiding in her? Or them simply eating chocolate frogs together, 
> enjoying their time? (see, it doesn't even have to be deep 
> conversation. I just want to see them interacting with each 
other). 
> Taking all the books together (before the Spiderman scene in the 
> end), there is exactly one scene, where Harry and Ginny have a 
> conversation without anyone else present, namely the one in the 
> library in book 5. Heck, Harry had more pagetime alone with 
*Tonks* 
> than with Ginny, at least they had two scenes together without 
anyone 
> else present. And in one of them Tonks did not much more than 
telling 
> Harry about her metamorphmagus powers and that she thinks that the 
> Dursley house is a bit too clean. And yet this is a very lively 
and 
> interesting scene.
> 
> There is nothing in the books that suggest that Ginny is anything 
> more than the object of Harry's teen lust. And the thing is, I 
> wouldn't have minded this, since I find it pretty realistic and 
since 
> it still has the opportunity to develop into more. But the problem 
> is, that JKR obviously wants us to believe, that there is already 
> more, as the last scene clearly suggests. And this is where she 
IMO 
> failed. In the last scene Harry and Ginny talk, as if they were 
> deeply in love, caring for each other on a level that goes way 
> beneath the surface and that they are obviously soulmates. But I 
do 
> not find this obvious at all, because there is no emotional 
> investment leading to this. There is no bond between Harry and 
Ginny. 
> I see a stronger bond (of course in a non-shippy way) between 
Harry 
> and Neville or Harry and Luna or Harry and Remus, because of the 
> times we see them interact. What I see is a teenage boy who lusted 
> after a pretty girl, and a teenage girl, who is happy because her 
> childhood-crush finally acknowledged her. Really, the relationship 
> between them seems as "deep" to me as the one between Fleur 
Delacour 
> and Roger Davies after the Yule Ball.
> 
> You are saying that romance doesn't have as much room in such a 
> story, but this can't explain why the romance between Ron and 
> Lavender got more screentime than the one Harry had with his 
> supposed "ideal" girl. And if JKR really wants to include such a 
> noble hero scene like the one in the end, than she should make the 
> reader care about this ship, so that the scene feels earned. And I 
> can't say that I care about the H/G ship, or about Ginny as a 
> character, very much.
> 
> Hickengruendler

I do not think she has failed.  I just don't think the romantic 
pairings are as important to JKR as the main storyline.  She simply 
can't include everything that all of her fans want to read.  IMO she 
has made it quite clear these are not romance novels, so these 
details will not be there.  They have not been there in the previous 
six books and I doubt very seriously they will not be in book 7.  I 
can understand why you are disappointed if this is what you are 
looking for.  Unfortunately, I predict your disappointment will 
continue. She has set up much bigger fish to fry in book seven that 
who gets together and how.  If she departs from her genre of books 
one through six and writes a romance novel for book seven, I will 
join the ranks of the disappointed.

I am a psychologist so of course I love hearing how people relate in 
all types of relationships.  I like the internal dialogue, emotions, 
cognitions, etc.  However, I like things being implied and left to 
my interpretation.  Just a difference of opinion.