Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Spellbound

HP is over. Long live HP!! I finished reading book 7 with a sense of relief, sadness and slight confusion. I couldn’t believe JK had written such an amazingly fast-paced finale and ended it with such an overdose of nostalgia. But I suppose some of us Muggles will be senti fools for the wizarding world for quite a while... otherwise the book is deserving of all the hype and if you’re not a HP fan then too bad. It’s like if you were around in the 60s and never heard of the Beatles. How could you not read Potter?? But it is evident there are enough Potterheads everywhere. I saw at least three heads buried inside the book at the Metro this morning. And there were a few more heads when I went out to grab a bite last night. Of course I felt like shouting, “I know what happens in the end!” but that would be bloody unfair, right. You feel such a kinship with Potterheads… no matter where you’re from or what you look like, you have that one thing in common… like being part of Dumbledore’s Army of Resistance… It all started 10 years ago when the Asian Age gang in Bombay became Potterheads… I read the first three books at home, on the train and even at work… basically whenever and wherever I got a chance! Then, it was time for the post-mortem. Endless theories and arguments over why, what, when things would happen to who and You-Know-Who. As the novels became more violent with near-Nazi undertones, it became apparent why the series had got a grip on us. In spite of the fantasy and the spells and the charms, there was always something everyone could relate to… friendship, love, betrayal were just the obvious themes. But JK’s greatest feat has been to expose everyone from a 70-yr-old literary critic to a fourth grader to bigotry, death and loss. It’s never too young to know and never too old to be reminded of those themes.

7 comments:

Mosilager said...

I thought she did a fantastic job of exposing the bad in the heroes and the good in the villains. If I'd have written it I'd have killed Harry off (while trying to protect Ron and Hermione) and have Neville kill Voldermort... since I'm always a fan of the underdog.

oh btw here's a shameless plug for my non-dog blog - http://ranjitwarrier.blogspot.com, there's a harry potter post there that you might enjoy.

Unknown said...

I was fascinated by her sheer style - the artistry and imagination she portrays really is amazing. Whatcha think?

Anonymous said...

Actually, I didn't quite like the last two books. I thought the plot was predictable and her characters too stereotyped, in the final analysis. Nothing we didn't expect happened. Oh, and Voldemort was more like a cheap thug! :-p

And that epilogue... *shudder*

Anonymous said...

Have finally started it! And already missing the Potter wizarding world knowing it's the last. sigh

Anonymous said...

mosil: i was expecting harry to be killed off too... ending was a bit anti-climatic.
rohit: yup, she has a brilliant mind!!
payal: the book was written more for the movie i think. and oh ya, the sappy epilogue... the less said, the better.
monica: finish it. fast.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Payal. It almost felt like a Bollywood film but more on that on my blog.

Anonymous said...

Yes, probably so it is