Initial critique of DH

[persimmon76]

No: HPFGUIDX 172748

Whew! First off, I'm sure many of my comments will be redundant. 
I've 
fallen woefully behind in reading everyone's reviews and comments, 
but 
want to post a message with some initial thoughts on DH myself. For 
the time being, I'll limit myself to disappointments and regrets in 
this last installment of the series. NB, in the main, I found it a 
very satisfying read.

Several people have given JKR accolades for her character 
development 
and depictions of relationships between and among characters. I 
certainly agree this praise is warranted, for the most part, but 
what 
on earth happened to Lupin in DH? Lupin has been one of my favorite 
characters since he was introduced to the narrative. I always 
understood him as a thoughtful person, though too eager-to-please 
with 
respect to his friends. I perceived him as a calming force among the 
Marauders, and in OoP he seems to exert a similar influence over 
Sirius. Lupin seemed to be the conservative one (in action, not 
thought) - the nay-sayer whose reluctance to commit to foolhardy 
plans 
showed insight and forethought. 

I was frankly shocked by his whole "Shall the three become four?" 
speech to HRH. It seems so reckless, so cavalier; do you think Harry 
read him right, that he was feeling "a bit of a daredevil" 
(paraphrase)? I'm willing to extend only so far the notion of "well, 
but it's a time of war and people aren't at their best." Did Lupin's 
behavior in DH strike anyone else as odd? A Lupin "deranged" is such 
a 
hard image to shake.

Another disappointment relates to Peter Pettigrew, though I suppose 
it 
has as much to do with my desire to see Peter redeemed in some way. 
Someone (I'm sorry, I can't recall who) on this list made some 
excellent comments about choice and the theme of choice defining who 
we are. I really looked forward (probably unreasonably) to seeing 
Peter make a *choice* to honor his wizard's debt to Harry. I suppose 
he did - he stayed his hand when prompted - but only for a moment, 
and 
then his hand goes all Evil Dead II on him and chokes him to death. 
What can I say? I hoped for more.

Some folks seem to have really liked the scene in which Molly kills 
Bellatrix. I did not. I thought it was cheap and hollow; I didn't 
like 
glancing at the page and seeing the word "bitch" in all caps, not 
because I object to the word or think it doesn't apply to Bellatrix, 
but just because it seemed so trite. In a parallel world, all the 
male 
Death Eaters might wolf-whistle and start cheering for a "cat 
fight." 
Yuck.

The camping scenes, it goes without saying, needed to be seriously 
pared down. 

And lastly: JKR proves once again she is the queen of the deus ex 
machina! I'm referring to the cloak, the yes-it's-rare-but-hello!-
it's-
unique-in-the-world cloak: "Gee, now you mention it, the spells 
never 
wore off. And huh, look at that, no rips in the magical fabric! Wow, 
this really *is* rare!" OK, it's not the first time that's happened, 
but I still smacked my forehead in a classic gesture of "DOH!"

That's all for now -- like lots of other readers, I was confused by 
the elder wand. Actually, the confusion extends to all wand-related 
subject matter. I couldn't keep the rules straight - it was like 
playing "Button, Button, Who's Got the Button", "Musical Chairs", 
and "Farmer in the Dell" simultaneously. I think charts and 
timelines 
are in order here, maybe with stick figures and speech bubbles.

Dim Gat