HBP First impressions - SPOILERS within!

[Amy Z]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, Catherine Coleman 
<catorman at y...> wrote:
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Me too!  

> It may even come in at second to PoA.

Yep.  In time, this one may even be #1 for me.  We'll see.  I did see 
egregious adverb abuse.  "Quellingly"?  It's pleasingly like 
something out of an Edward Gorey alphabet, but as a substitute for 
SHOWING Dumbledore speaking in a quelling manner, it's pathetic.  I 
also found her writing a bit stilted for the first few chapters.  
Part of this was oddness of the setting; like Joy, I started to read 
the leaked first chapter, and though I stopped too soon to really 
analyze it, I seriously thought it was a fake.  On the proper reading 
I realized it was full of her humor and it was just the disjunction 
of reading about the Muggle world that threw me (I had the same 
experience with the start of GF).  But I still thought there was a 
lot of writing that needed another polishing or three.  She is at her 
worst when giving backstory, though it was much more gracefully done 
than in GF or OP (I'll never forgive her or her editors for "tall and 
balding, Mr. Weasley moved toward Uncle Vernon" or some such atrocity 
at the beginning of GF).

Also, what is with the colons followed by capital letters?  Editors, 
how could you not know:  the first word after a colon is not 
routinely capitalized.  
 
> Just as in OoP, the last few (very cinematic?) chapters were 
extremely painful to read,
> particularly the potion drinking scene

Oh man, wasn't it?

> Theories are already being posited about Dumbledore pleading with 
Snape to kill him, that it could
> have been a mercy killing, that Dumbledore was already dying.  

A major flaw in these theories is that Dumbledore struggled so hard 
to get to the castle and specifically to get to Snape.  All of that 
just to be killed?  Why not just say to Harry, "I'm sorry, I'm dying, 
I can't hold on any longer," and perform a suicidal curse on the spot 
(you know they must exist)?  He needs Severus, he keeps saying.  So 
there is something to be done that only Snape can do.  That could be 
killing him, not healing him as we're led to expect, but that brings 
me to the second big flaw:

The Freezing Charm he put on Harry, forcing him to stay and witness 
the event when he had specifically told him to go get Snape.  What 
was that all about?  I hope it has a reason and wasn't just a very 
feeble plot device by which JKR kept her "narrator" on the scene.  It 
makes it mighty hard to believe that Dumbledore was about to offer 
himself up as a sacrifice.  And if he was, and Snape was the one who 
had to be the high priest, then why freeze Harry rather than letting 
him do what he told him to do?  Why increase the risk that Draco will 
be the one to kill Dumbledore?

OTOH, its weirdness could be the key.  Maybe it's important to 
Dumbledore's plans that someone aligned with the Order sees what 
happens.  It still seems incredibly cruel to Harry, and I can't 
believe even the exasperatingly tight-lipped Dumbledore wouldn't have 
warned him about it:  not just "obey my orders even if I tell you to 
leave me in mortal danger," but "you may see Professor Snape do 
something unthinkable--trust him."  Snape and Harry are now the 
deadliest of enemies.  How is this part of a plan?  I'm open to it, 
since JKR is fiendishly inventive, but I'm having a lot of trouble 
imagining a scenario in which it makes sense.

> R/H longterm?  Still not a chance.

Dream on, dreamers.  Ron likes Hermione, Hermione likes Ron, they 
just won't say it to each other, and Harry's increasing 
responsibility and isolation isn't helping:  they probably have the 
same reservation that Harry does, that he will be left out just when 
he really needs them, or that the trio will be knocked fatally out of 
balance.

I thought JKR was needlessly explanatory about Ginny--she always 
liked Harry, she couldn't be herself around him, yada yada.  I 
thought, oh for crying out loud, she was a little giggly 10-year-old 
when they first met (though not stupid, and with plenty of spunk and 
spark) and she grew up, that's all.  Instead we get this thing about 
how she's held a torch for him all that time.  Unnecessary, though 
possible, and sounds like JKR's been reading HPfGU anti-Ginny 
tracts.  

It was predictable that he'd break up with Ginny and is a measure of 
the seriousness of his feelings, but oh, Harry, puhleeze.  Voldemort 
already has plenty of people to torture in order to get at you (think 
he doesn't know about Hermione?  Ron?  Hagrid?  Lupin?  Arthur and 
Molly?), not to mention that you're is noble enough that you'd go 
into a trap to rescue *anyone,* not just someone you love.  Gather ye 
rosebuds while ye may.  But if you must do the noble thing, come back 
safe and be with Ginny at the end of the next book.  She's one 
terrific young woman.

>    I started to like Ron in OoP - sadly, he
> has regressed again. 

You think?  I think he's improving greatly.  I was very touched by 
his holding Hermione and stroking her hair after the funeral.  In the 
context it's shippy, of course, but also just seemed like a very 
brotherly, mature moment.  All the more mature given the sexual 
tension between them, in fact; instead of creating distance, as one 
might well do if the object of one's affections needed a tender hug, 
he's there sharing grief and care with her.  Aw, now I'm getting all 
teary again.  That chapter was like going to the funeral of a friend, 
and when Hagrid carried Dumbledore's body down the aisle I lost it.

Back to Our Heroes' character development:  a very painful thing 
about OP was that Harry was such a jerk.  I *liked* it that he was; I 
thought it was realistic that he would get very angry and whiny about 
the injustice of his lot.  It made him much more complex than if he'd 
been the good little stoic all the way through all seven books.  But 
it was still hard to read.  This time, I agree, Harry has truly come 
into his own.  I loved the scenes where he held the line with someone-
-Ron with the Quidditch team, Scrimgeour--and that he did it with 
such calm and confidence.

His logic still goes out the window where old enemies are concerned.  
He was right that Draco sent the necklace, but his reasoning was way 
off.  Ditto on his reasoning re: Snape.  He forces the facts to fit 
his prejudices and it's going to keep causing him serious trouble if 
he doesn't watch out.

> One
> major reservation - I can't believe that he performed that curse on 
Draco without knowing what it
> was.  Majorly irresponsible - on a par with The Prank.

Yes, though I was grateful how horrified he was and touched by his 
instantly kneeling at Draco's side.  When we saw the spell, I applied 
my scrap Latin and confidently theorized that it was "sect" as 
in "sectarian"--that it caused one's enemies to fall out and mistrust 
each other.  I forgot that the root is more basic than that:  it 
means "cut," as in dissect.  Shudder.

Let's be clear on one thing:  Draco was about to hit him with the 
Cruciatus.  This is no excuse (ever hear of Disarming Charms, Harry?) 
but gives a window into why Harry would just grab desperately at the 
spell that was on his mind.

> What's going on with Fawkes?

Other than that his departure is supposed to make us wail and cry?  
It worked on me.

>  I also got Regulus as well.  

I had to go to the Lexicon and look up RBs.  There are others (not to 
mention B families like the Bones that could have an R in them), but 
Regulus is definitely the top candidate, especially since it's mostly 
followers who call V the Dark Lord.  Shame on Hermione for not 
finding him in the library, but then, he died young.  Bet Harry 
and/or Hermione figure it out when standing in front of the Black 
family tapestry.  Where is everyone getting Regulus's middle name 
from?

> I'm glad that JKR was unequivocal about the importance and power of 
love.

I laughed out loud when Harry wanted to respond, "Big deal."  I just 
couldn't blame him--anyone facing Voldemort would want a VERY BIG 
GUN, not love.  But D stands firm, and says what a lot of people on 
HPfGU have said over the years:  it is remarkable, given Harry's 
background, that he does know how to love (and be loved).  

I also loved the bit about how tyrants create their enemies.
 
> I'm scared about the possibility of no Hogwarts in Book 7, but 
think it is unlikely.

I think it is overwhelmingly likely, and I repeat:  Waaaaah!  I wanna 
go back to Hogwarts!  Please, Jo, at least let us walk the corridors 
one last time and say goodbye to Peeves and the laughing suits of 
armor and the moving paintings and the ceiling of the Great Hall and 
the Gryffindor dormitory . . . please!

In other Classics of British Juvenile Fiction news, the Charlie and 
the Chocolate Factory movie is fabulous even if it does take 
liberties.

Amy Z C

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not ready to find a funny quote from HBP, though there are some