Deathly Hallows / OOTP Movie Discussion 1147
At midnight on Friday Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released, ending the ten year run of J.K. Rowling's extremely popular book series. I imagine that there are a few folks here who have already read the book and want to talk about it. Likewise, the movie version of Order of the Phoenix was recently released (a film I was kind of underwhelmed by). So ... what did you think of them? Be forewarned: I imagine the comments will be filled with spoilers.
Luckily... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What did I think of them? (Score:2, Informative)
A fine collection of cynical drivel (IMnshO). If they must read scifi, then Dune and 2001, otherwise the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad and Odyssey, Les Miserables, and Crime and Punishment, for starters.
Re:Draco's Wand (Score:4, Informative)
You don't have to kill, just defeat.
Spoilers to the Rescue (Score:3, Informative)
Spoilers for those who need them. The link does not pop because Slashdot strips out target=_blank.
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Spoiler alert (Score:1, Informative)
If you read the text (p.587) you'll find "Neville [...] drew from [the sorting hat's] depths something silver with a glittering, rubied handle"
Re:A few problems... (Score:3, Informative)
Yeah, I thought that was a bit contrived too but at the same time I guess there's nothing from preventing your patronus to be the same as the one you care about?
Agreed. I almost have the impression that we're missing a chapter about how the sword got back to Hogwarts there... unless some elf went to nick it, I guess...
Well, that one's explained in the book by Dumbledore - for all he knew Voldemort really didn't know about them, but even if he did, he would at best have cared about only one of them - the wand.
I think this is just because Harry is the actual master of the wand - it won't hurt him, like in the battle soon after.
If memory serves me right, I think, sometime after the first or second book this rumour made the rounds that Rowling had already written the last chapter of the last book and that it was locked away in a safe somewhere. Reading the epilogue, it is so detached from anything that happens in the book and the writing style seems cruder too - I think that rumour must have been right and I guess all the things you missed from the epilogue had simply not even been thought about by her at the time.
Re:What? (Score:3, Informative)
I'm not aware of any scoping document for Slashdot that defines precisely what should and should not be here.
Re:What did I think of them? (Score:3, Informative)
It's a fascinating, vast universe and a compelling story by a brilliant *storyteller*; on the other hand, it doesn't have the textual beauty and pleasurable reading experience that truly great *authors* achieve.
Well that doesn't sound like meritless, condescending, elitism at all.
Re:Luckily... (Score:3, Informative)
The Elder Wand recognized the wielder of Draco's wand as it's true master. Draco's wand (which Harry was wielding) was predisposed to win the duel as the Elder did not recognize Voldemort's mastery.
Complex and mysterious magic. [;-)
Re:Matrix with a different ending ? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Spoiler alert (Score:4, Informative)
Re:I haven't read SINGLE Harry Potter book (Score:3, Informative)
AbeBooks [wikipedia.org] is an international clearing house for the sale of used and rare books. 100 million books on sale from 13,500 booksellers in 57 countries.
At last count, AbeBooks had sold 55 Harry Potter books priced at $1.000 or more. In August 2005, AbeBooks sold probably the world's most expensive Harry Potter book when a buyer spent $37,000 ($20,000) on an exceptionally rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Most Expensive Harry Potters Ever Sold on AbeBooks [abebooks.com]
To date, the Harry Potter books have sold more then 300 million copies worldwide in over 200 countries and the books have been translated into more than 60 languages - only the bible can better those statistics.
In France, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix became the first English language book to ever top bestseller list but the series has permeated almost every corner of the atlas.
The books have been translated into most Eastern European (from Albanian to Ukranian), East Asian (Cambodian to Vietnamese), and Scandinavian languages. Some countries even have books in several dialects - for instance, in Spain it is possible to buy the books in Spanish, Basque, Catalan and Galician.
But it's possible to find even more obscure translations such as Faroese (with a mere 60,000 to 80,000 worldwide speakers) and Kalaallisut (the dialect of Greenland spoken by about 54,000). Some of the books have even been translated into the dead languages of Latin (meet Harrius Potter) and Ancient Greek, the latter translation being the longest work in the language since the novels of Heliodorus of Emesa in the 3rd century AD. The Wild World of Harry Potter Books [abebooks.com], The Harry Potter Series [multilingualbooks.com]
The literary critic, the academic, doesn't quite know what to make of Harry Potter:
Literary manias expire with horrible suddenness. Uncle Tom's Cabin was the novel in 1852. In America, at the height of its popularity, steam-driven printing presses exploded, trying to keep up with sales demand. But, two years later, Harriet Beecher Stowe's book was dead on the shelves. Last year's book. Harry mania...and there may be more [timesonline.co.uk]
The only problem with this particular example is that it isn't true. Stowe's novel sold well throughout the nineteenth century. Stage productions and later films embedded Stowe's most memorable images in the in the American consciousness. Simon Legree. Eliza crossing the ice. In the 1930s the WPA's Federal Theater Project produced a stinging, unsentimental adaptation that took the story back to its anti-slavery roots.
Perhaps the key to understanding Rowling's appeal to children, to adolescents, is that she like Twain, like Dickens, like Lemony Snicket, is an uncompromising moralist.
Re:I haven't read SINGLE Harry Potter book (Score:3, Informative)
Actually, according to the Guinness World Record people [emol.org], L. Ron Hubbard beats J. K. Rowling, with his work translated into 65 languages: "This new world record, officially verified as 65 languages, exceeds the previous record of 51 languages set in 1997 by American author Sidney Sheldon. It also tops the unofficial count of 63 for "Harry Potter" novelist J. K. Rowling and the 64 languages translated for "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Dutch teenager Anne Frank."
Re:I'll probably get modded down but... (Score:3, Informative)
Well...actually, she is consistent. Going back as far as book 5, you can see Neville becoming a capable wizard in his own right. Harry even comments on this after the fight in the Ministry of Magic.
For a pathetic trap, it almost succeeded brilliantly.
Re:Spoiler alert (Score:4, Informative)
In fact, I seem to remember Harry making the same mistake and Dumbledore reminding him that they're only looking for four (not five) more horcruxes in HBP.
Re:Plot mistakes? (spoilers) (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I haven't read SINGLE Harry Potter book (Score:3, Informative)
Um, if you think the books don't talk about racism you're an idiot. There are frickin pogroms in the last book against muggle-born wizards, with the inane claim they 'stole' their magic.
The prejudice against non-'pureblood' wizards (Whatever that means, because wizards are human in the first place and they all know it, and almost all of them have muggle relatives somewhere in their known ancestory.) has been there from the start, but only became official government policy once Voldemort [re]started running things.
Re:Spoiler alert (Score:3, Informative)
I'll be 36 in October...you must not be a fan of sci-fi or fantasy books. Actually, one of the most interesting things I noticed on Friday night/Saturday morning was the huge percentage of people in line that appeared to be in the 17-20 age range.
I guess it makes sense, since most of them were between 7 and 10 when the first book came out. They've been reading the books for over half of their lives, in some cases. In the best of all possible worlds, J.K. Rowling may have inspired some future writers out there to create something as engaging as these books (or Heinlein's, Spider Robinson's, Asimov's, Saberhagen's, Piers Anthony's, Stephen King's, Harry Harrison's...)
If you think the books are stupid, that's fine. Just understand that J.K. Rowling didn't get rich because everybody thinks the books are stupid, and understand that the bookstores and wal-marts weren't full of 10-year-olds.
If you ever come across a book or better yet, a series (I highly recommend any of Spider Robinson's "Callahan" books, BTW) that draws you in and makes you wish you were a part of it, maybe you'll understand the allure here. Not everyone has that much imagination, and not everyone can stand being jeered at by people who are "better" than that, but you don't have to be a completely nutty fan to enjoy a good book.
Re:Finished the book yesterday [no spoilers] (Score:2, Informative)