The reason I read (was Epilogue (was Re: Ron and Parseltongue)

[potioncat]

No: HPFGUIDX 183518

 
> Geoff: 
> Looking at Carol's comments, I must first say that the reason I 
read 
> any fiction is to enjoy it. So with Harry Potter and his story. I 
read the 
> books for pleasure; I am prepared to apply the willing suspension 
of 
> disbelief, enjoy the worlds of the characters and not agonise over 
> inconsistencies. I am not by nature a nitpicker in this sense 
although 
> being a member of HPFGU for very nearly five years has drawn me 
> into this behaviour on occasions.

Potioncat:
Reading the HP books was pure pleasure for me. Dissecting them was 
lots of fun too. But you know, once you dissect something and step 
back from it, it's not the same as it was. As much as I've enjoyed 
picking scenes apart, I've also had a few moments in the books that I 
don't enjoy as much now, as I first did. (This is sort of like eating 
a big piece of pie after Christmas dinner. You really enjoy it at the 
time, but you sort of wish you hadn't had it?)(Maybe the images of 
dissection and eating pie don't really belong together, do they?)

The twins is one example. The twins are one example...this is one for 
the OT grammar experts.

Take the twins--- please!

I really, really liked the twins. Then we looked at the ton-tongue-
taffy incident and the spider-teddybear incident and the booing young 
Slytherin incident--pretty soon they didn't seem so likable. But as a 
bit of time since our strong discussions about them has passed, I'm 
starting to like them again. They originally came across as fun-
loving joksters and I think that's what I want to like about them.


>Geoff:
> Perhaps some of the group – maybe even most of the group – prefer 
> to indulge in inspecting the structure of books with a fine 
toothcomb 
> and checking to see if the nuts and bolts are the right size but, 
to my 
> way of thinking, this can destroy the pleasure, freshness and charm 
of 
> a book. Inconsistencies do creep in. 

Potioncat:
I think we've seen that all of us have different inconsistency 
thresholds. I think most of us started out looking for clues and 
treasures. The word-plays and bits of histories that are slipped into 
the story are so much fun. I wouldn't have seen many of them, if 
other readers hadn't pointed them out. But by this point, we've found 
lots of flints and errors. And we're so eager to discuss everything, 
that we discuss them too.
 

> 

>Geoff:
> One of my favourite books is "To Serve Them All My Days" by R. F. 
> Delderfield whi<snip> Delderfield has been very cavalier with his 
time lines and often I sigh 
> because the dates do not tie in. Does this detract from my 
enjoyment? 
> Not really. 

Potioncat:
I read this on your recommendation several years ago, and really 
enjoyed it. I would recommend it as well, but some of the 
inconsistencies confused the heck out of me.



>Geoff: 
> In general, I like the HP series of books, some better than others. 
> There are some parts which I prefer to skip but, let's face, there 
are  
> parts of LOTR which I find equally as heavy to get through as some 
> of the camping scenes in DH. Whatever the shortcomings of some 
> of the action of the last book, I still never fail to feel uplifted 
by the 
> last book from about the chapter on "The Forest Again" to the end 
> of "The Flaw in the Plan".

Potioncat:
Well, no matter how depressed DH left me, the overall series had an 
uplifting point. It also had to do with trying to do the right thing.

> Geoff:
> As I have previously written, if I do have a serious grouse, it is 
with 
> the Epilogue. It leaves a lot of unconnected dots and also closes a 
> number of avenues where we can speculate in the privacy of our own 
> imaginations about the future activities of our heroes (and anti-
heroes). 

Potioncat:
I've recently read 2 books that include epilogues by another writer. 
They are real gems because they give closure to the story yet leave 
the characters' futures wide open. I wish this epilogue had done more 
of that. At the same time, I think this is how JKR made her peace 
with Harry.

>Geoff:
> There, I feel much better for writing all that. My apologies to 
those 
> of you who don't!
> :-)


Potioncat:
I'm just glad you're posting again! Not that I think anyone should 
stop posting about topics of interest to them, but I see where this 
post came from. What I'm not sure of, is where you hoped to see this 
idea go.


Potioncat, not at all sure I picked up on the real point of Geoff's 
post, because I had sort of dropped out of the original thread, but 
this was my reaction anyway.