Disappointment Was: Deaths in DH WAS: Re: Dumbledore (but more Snape)

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 177484

Carol wrote:

But it seems strange to me to
condemn a book for not meeting our expectations, for not being the
book we would have written. It's like condemning the HP films for not
duplicating the books without considering that a film is a different
medium with differing requirements and conventions.

Maybe you should try reading the book a second time, knowing that
things won't turn out as you hoped but trying to appreciate it on its
own terms.

va32h here:

It does not seem strange to me to condemn a book for not meeting the 
expectations set by the author in her six previous books. 

Any expectations I had of DH came from what I read in the first six 
books.  I don't think thousands of readers pulled ideas like "house 
unity" out of our collective behinds with no basis for supposing that 
such a theme might bear fruit. 

And honestly, I know you don't mean it this way but pleas to "read it 
again" just come off as terribly condescending, IMHO.  It's as if the 
fault cannot possibly lie in the work, but only in the reader and if 
we would just look at it this way or that way or try harder, we'd 
like it, just as we ought to. 

I have, in fact, read the book about three times now, not counting 
the times I re-read certain passages for the purpose of discussion. 
And it isn't getting any better for me, sorry. 

va32h