Monday, July 23, 2007

One More Post about Harry

And then we'll get on with life Post-Harry. How will we cope with nothing to look forward to? I guess we'll have to start over with Book One and go through it again.

There won't be any specific spoilers here, so if you haven't read yet, don't worry. I'm only going to speak in general terms, but there might be a thing or two you don't want to know yet. Nothing major - like who does or doesn't die.

First of all, the party at the bookstore Friday night: I was not the oldest person there by far. I was one of the few who didn't have a child with me, however. The highlight for me occurred at around 11:30. After much announcement of "Go to your lines now" and "Keep the center aisle clear," someone emerged from the stock room with a huge rolling cart piled high with boxes of The Book. The cheer that accompanied that short trip from back to front of the store reminded me of the reception when the football team returned from the Super Bowl victorious.

It was very late when I got home from that, so I only read three chapters before going to sleep. I read most of Saturday and finally finished it Sunday morning. Reading the book was difficult. I wanted to savor it, knowing there would never be another trip to Hogwarts with Harry and friends. But I also wanted to Get To The End! I very much enjoyed the journey. There were a couple of times when I wanted to say, "Get on with it!" But I understand the Dickens philosophy: Make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.

The ending is extremely satisfying. Everything that I wanted to see happen, happened. Except for that Harry/Hermione thing, but we all knew that wasn't going to be there. All of my questions were answered, and I'm happy with the solutions Ms. Rowling gave me.

Now on to Ms. Rowling herself: She is absolutely brilliant. Every single detail plays a part. Nothing is wasted. She is expert at misdirection - although by Book Seven, I had begun to expect it. Still she fooled me a couple of times.

Two things hit me on Saturday with stunning force. One - I was reading a book that millions of people were reading at the exact same time as me. MILLIONS. That's a pretty amazing realization. Here's the other - the richest person in England is a Writer. A Writer. Think of it. A writer beats out the person who owns all those garish crown jewels and whatnot that have been passed down for a couple of thousand years.

All of this uproar generating billions of dollars, stimulating millions of minds, creating unprecedented media hype - all of this happened because of a writer.

I stand in awe.

Have a great day!
Susan

7 comments:

Mark Wolfgang said...

Ain't it great? Like that episode of "Sliders" (yeah, surely you remember "Sliders" don't ya? Several years ago? lasted about a season? some people get into a dimensional vortex and end up visiting parallel variations of our earthly universe?). In that episode, in that universe, scientists were the rock stars, the biggest celebrities on the planet, envied and adored and mobbed.

And let's not forget that, all snobbery aside, science fiction movies stand at the top of the list of box office blockbusters.

We didn't make it to a bookstore (we only read the first book), but we did see the latest movie Sunday. But the worldwide fuss about the whole thing, about a children's BOOK! was really great! --Mark

Susan Cody said...

Mark!
I do remember Sliders, though I never watched it. I'm surprised you haven't read the books. I think you'd like them.

Susan

Mark Wolfgang said...

Susan!
We'll probably read the whole series start to finish when we're retired and orphaned and time weighs heavy on our hands. Don't spoil the ending for me!!! (Like I won't know it in a few days whether I want to or not.) --Mark

Mark Wolfgang said...

Susan! No doubt by now you know all this, but it was "news" to me:

Harry's afterlife

Mark

Steve said...

Susan, I see you read it a bit before I did. I read it during my six hours of airport delays this weekend.

Mark! Read the books first, don't let the movies ruin them for you.

Susan Cody said...

Mark!
I saw J.K. on Dateline last night. She said much of what's in that article. Thanks for pointing me to it!
Susan

Mark Wolfgang said...

Susan!

So do you think we can look beyond JK's vision and see Harry and Hermoine having an affair, and finally getting together legitimately after ending their miserable marriages?

Steve-- one of these days, I do hope to read all the books in order, in a timely fashion (meaning I'll get to the next one before I've forgotten the previous one). I'm sure someday I'll find myself laid up with some major illness or other for a few weeks or months.

Mark