Deathly Hallows: My Review (SPOILERS!)

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 172294

> Ali:
> I think I might well get some strong contentions on this opinion, 
but that's
> just how it is.  JKR has yet proven to me that Snape isn't evil.  
In fact,
> while I always thought Snape wasn't good, I never even thought 
Snape was
> evil *until* this book.  Let me explain that one before I get 
buried under
> the flames.
> 
> Before DH, Snape was a man who stood for something.  He did what 
he wanted
> and didn't worry about what others thought.  He wasn't nice, but 
his methods
> had reason.  True, his teaching Neville was less than desirable, 
but I've
> had teachers who've yelled and thought that served as motivation.  
Snape
> just wasn't evil; he was just awful and mean - he exemplifies 
Sirius' remark
> that the world isn't divided between good guys and Death Eaters.  
In DH, he
> was a guy who always went after the dark arts, wanted to be a 
Death Eater
> from very early on; he was someone who chose that over his friend
> Lily.  (And don't even get me started on how much I dislike Snape-
Lily.)  In
> the end, I feel like JKR wanted me to believe that "Snape turned 
good for
> the love of a woman," but what I felt was that this man decide to 
*switch
> sides* for his own purposes.  He didn't turn good; he bargained 
with
> Voldemort to save Lily first.  Had it worked out that Lily was 
saved, I
> doubt that Snape would've worked for Dumbledore.  Working for good 
didn't
> make him any less evil.  Pah.  (Yes, start sending the flames my 
way.  I
> accept that my view is entirely unpopular.)

Magpie:
No flames from me. If you want support, that's what I got out of it 
too. A very small redemption, one that leaves me looking back on 
Snape's behavior throughout the books and finding him a lot less of 
a character than I thought he was. And I thought Snape *was* good. I 
never doubted for a second he was DDM. I had argued with Dana that 
being a double agent doesn't mean you can't also have had a true 
epiphany and become a different person. I still believe that's 
possible, but her description of Snape was the correct one.

And I must add I find Harry's naming his son after this guy frankly 
bizarre. It's strange enough naming him after Dumbledore given the 
weirdness there. But naming your kid after the guy who treated you 
badly all your life because he hated you and got your parents killed 
with less than total regret, because it turned out he protected your 
life as part of his obsessive love of your mother the whole time? 
Yeah, that's...creepy. 

I also found Luna and her father creepy. I basically ended this book 
glad to leave the world behind the way I found it, which is where I 
seemed to be leaving it. 

-m