I really already had the book coming to me; two months earlier I was excited enough to pre-order the adult version of the book. I was thrilled to be getting it, but not clever enough to do any real thinking about getting it.
On the Friday before I got an e-mail that said they were shipping out my book and that I should get it on Saturday… YEA! I'll get it on SATURDAY!! SATURDAY! My elation started to deflate when I continued reading and realized that as I have done for all other books, I had given my work address as a delivery address. SHIT, I won't be there; no one will be there… I'm not even sure the post office delivers to the building on that day… I won't get my book until Monday… Monday… and everyone I know will have already read it!
Forget that! I'm going to go stand in line and get it like the gazillion other PotterFreaks!
I bought the Harry Potter book in the middle of the night on Friday. A colleague and I had decided to get together at a book store which was going to sell the book from 1am to 2am on Saturday morning.
So N and I straggled out to the car at 12:15. She had decided that she was tired, and was being super nice to me about this whole deal, so I would get to drive. For those that know me, it will seem strange to read that I don't drive very often, but I really don't. I'm only behind the wheel about once every quarter year. Needless to say, as we embarked on our experience, not only was I excited about Harry… but I was also a bit nervous about driving.
Both my books are the British version; the prices printed inside are in pounds. The adult book has different images. On the front is the locket which tempted Ron before destruction and the back is a pic of J.K. Rowling herself. The binding itself is of medium quality, but most certainly better than the plastic backing on the children's version. The animation on the children's version is enough to stir the imagination. It took me a few hours before I realized that Ron was not holding the sword of Gryffindor, but a house elf or goblin was holding it over Harry's head.
Spoilers Below!
Be careful, here we have some spoilers…
I tore through the book at top speed… trying to get done before the weekend would end… so I would like to go back and clarify some points… but here are some thoughts on the thing.
Finally, except for that whole "wandering through the countryside for a year in a tent" thing… and the whole whiny Ron arc... the pacing is superb… back to the fast-paced drama that kept me enthralled in book four.
I was surprised to see so many of the "good guys" using Unforgivable Curses. I thought that was WRONG!?!
"You know, sometimes I think we Sort too soon..."
It's the best line in the book… and really means something. In this last book we see it so glaringly. A Slytherin with lots of bravery, a Gryffindor who was the most cunning… it shows that we all grow and become more than we were as we were young.
How sad about Hedwig. I think I was more broken up about Hedwig than I was about MadEye.
I felt deep down that there HAD to be some reason that Dumbledore trusted Snape so deeply… and really I had a suspicion about the Lily thing because it had been discussed in an earlier book… he always said she was so good at potions, yadda yadda… but I never knew the depth… and would NEVER have suspected that deep down Snape ended up loving Harry.
Now we know why Aunt Petunia was sooooo pissy, she was jealous of her sister.
And hey, Ginny has been a good fighter for the Order… why keep her out of the fun on the last, big fight?
Way to go Neville! He had character; we all knew it early on when he stood up to Harry, Hermione, and Ron when they were going out after hours against the rules… aw man, what book was that…? Had to be an early one. He ended up getting house points for doing it… and they won the house cup because of it… and getting turned to stone to boot.
Overall I think that JKR did an admirable job of tying up lots and lots of loose ends, and in such a way that the entire book didn't come off as a bunch of strings tied together for a convenient ending. BUT, I do think the whole thing comes off as a screen play… AND I think that J.K. realizes that the guy playing Ron isn't multi-faceted, and we are seeing her change the stories accordingly, not giving him so much to have to work with.
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