Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, Ltd.

August 1, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Filed under: Literature, SciFi/Fantasy — duane @ 8:34 pm

I’ve talked about Harry Potter before, so it should be no secret that I’m a big fan. It’s also no secret that that last book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was going to be a good book. We know by now that Rowling is a good writer, that she has created interesting characters, and that the story-line is compelling. And the majority of people already know if they’re interested in Harry Potter or not; while some people may have been waiting for the series to end before reading it, and others may pick it up later, a review of Deathly Hallows is not likely to inspire anyone to read it. I’m therefore just going to make a few comments about it, and save any potential spoilers for a larger article on the series as a whole.

First, Rowling continues to develop her characters throughout the book. One of the things that always impressed me about the books is that Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, is remarkable because he’s not perfect. A lot of Christians often objected to Harry Potter because they felt that Harry’s faults would end up encouraging kids to break the rules. I’ve always thought this is a short-sighted viewpoint. His rule-breaking does not come without consequences. Harry and his friends often make mistakes, some which come close to costing them their lives, and some which cost them the lives of friends. But that’s part of what makes him a more real character. The books wouldn’t be as strong as they are if Harry did not have his faults. The inspirational part is that Harry overcomes these to accomplish what he accomplishes.

Second, Rowling paces her book very realistically. Harry’s mission to find the Horcruxes goes anything but smoothly. Because Harry, Ron, and Hermione aren’t perfect, they struggle with indecision, fear, and frustration. They struggle, they argue, they get on each other’s nerves. They’re relationship with each other is realistic, because, as frustrating as it sometimes can be, they act like high-schoolers, rather than little adults.

And even the adults in the story also act realistically, with perhaps a little more wisdom, but still imperfectly. One of the greatest things about this book is what we learn about Dumbledore. Despite his death at the end of book 6, Dumbledore continues to be a major character, and much of the book revolves around his secrets. Harry, Ron, and Hermione continually struggle with the fact that Dumbledore, a keeper of secrets, hasn’t really told them anything. This brings us to one of the central themes of the book: doubt and faith. Harry struggles with as his image of Dumbledore changes. Ron and Hermione struggle as their faith in Harry wavers, and, as we’ve seen throughout the novels, Harry’s faith in himself to accomplish what he must.

Finally, the ending of the book was, for me, extremely satisfactory. While I knew that I would enjoy the book as a whole, the ending was something that I always worried about. After all this build up, would it work? I was very happy with it, and felt that it wrapped things up very well.

I’ll put some more thoughts into a larger article as a whole, when I’ll be free to discuss the details of the plot without worrying about giving things away. If you haven’t read Harry Potter yet, now would definitely be a good time. There’s even an audio version read by Stephen Fry for those of you who prefer audio books. I loved this book, and felt it was a fitting end to the series as a whole.

Feb 25, 2009 – Just as a quick comment on my own remarks as I read through them a year and a half later.  There are some out there who don’t see J.K. Rowling as a good writer (Rym on the Geek Nights podcast has stated so several times), so I wanted to clarify how I approach Rowling as a writer.  I haven’t done any indepth literary analysis of the Harry Potter books, and I won’t have time in the forseeable future.  When I say here that Rowling is a good writer, I’m not trying to place her in any sort of pantheon with Dickens, Hawthorne, Poe, Hemingway or any of the other great writers of English-language literature.  I put her in the category of those writers who are good, in the sense that they are competent and create compelling fiction.  For a lot of us writers, achieving that would be plenty.  If I were to sit down and attempt the literary analysis mentioned above, I’m sure I could tear her works apart.  But that’s hardly the point of them, and I feel that approaching them that way would be disigenuous.  – Duane