Deathly Hallows (spoilers)
Jul. 22nd, 2007 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cormacI finished Deathly Hallows last night. On the whole, I was pleased with plotline and characterization, but I do have some questions for those who have read.
Let's start with the worthless excuse for an epilogue. By the numbers:
1. Wizard naming practices. It seemed to me that the cruel names wizarding parents gave their children ended around 1979 (which would allow for slightly older characters named Nymphadora, but would also allow for Harry's generation of Ron, Dean, Lavender (pushing it a bit, but it's ok), Seamus, etc. Draco was the exception, but he came from a Malfoy family, so what did you expect? Is it just me, or did the shit names that were placed on hold for Harry's generation come back full-force? Sure, we have a James, a Lily, and a Rose, but we also have an Albus Severus, a Teddy, a Scorpius (even worse than Draco) and...Hugo.
I envisioned Rowling saying thus: "I want to name the kid Viktor, but Ron would kill Hermoine, and the fans would kill me. So let's see...Viktor, Victor...Victor Hugo....heh, I'll name the boy Hugo and it'll be my little secret to me."
Speaking of shit names, Victoire?
2. Employment: What on earth do Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermoine(, Luna, Seamus, Dean...) do for a living, now that they're in their late 30s? Did Harry ever get to be an Auror? It's clear they're not teaching at Hogwarts. Who still is?
3. Was Teddy held back in school? Why is he 19 years old and on the Hogwarts Express?
4. And kissing Bill and Fleur's daughter?
5. For that matter, did he or she ever show signs of lycanthropy?
6. Whatever became of Draco Malfoy and his relationship to the trio? Is he still as much of a stuck-up, pompous ass as he was in school or is Ron being a prat for prat's sake?
7. Was the sole purpose of the epilogue to show that Harry believed that Snape was on his side in the end? Couldn't that have been written into the main storyline there at the end, and saved us this gratuitous epilogue that raised more questions than it answered (like what crack they were smoking when they named their kid ALBUS SEVERUS?!?!?)
There. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's look at the rest of the book. Most of it's a blur, so I don't have much at this point, but there are some questions I have.
Did anyone else feel that the Snape Memory Exposition Train was a bit too much at once?
To anyone with children: do you feel the concept of accepting and embracing death is something appropriate for children? If so, how young? When I bought the book, I saw 7-year olds running around with their copy clutched to their happy little chests. Will they understand the concept and learn that death is just another stage, or will they freak out and ask their parents, many of whom fear death themselves?
Was anyone else reminded either of Aliens or of Eddie Izzard's corresponding bit when Mrs. Weasley screamed (slight paraphrase here as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
annecathryn currently has the available copy of the book) "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!"?
Oh, and I called Aberforth as the owner of the inn years ago. Go me!
That's all I have for now, but I'd love to hear your impressions of the book.
Let's start with the worthless excuse for an epilogue. By the numbers:
1. Wizard naming practices. It seemed to me that the cruel names wizarding parents gave their children ended around 1979 (which would allow for slightly older characters named Nymphadora, but would also allow for Harry's generation of Ron, Dean, Lavender (pushing it a bit, but it's ok), Seamus, etc. Draco was the exception, but he came from a Malfoy family, so what did you expect? Is it just me, or did the shit names that were placed on hold for Harry's generation come back full-force? Sure, we have a James, a Lily, and a Rose, but we also have an Albus Severus, a Teddy, a Scorpius (even worse than Draco) and...Hugo.
I envisioned Rowling saying thus: "I want to name the kid Viktor, but Ron would kill Hermoine, and the fans would kill me. So let's see...Viktor, Victor...Victor Hugo....heh, I'll name the boy Hugo and it'll be my little secret to me."
Speaking of shit names, Victoire?
2. Employment: What on earth do Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermoine(, Luna, Seamus, Dean...) do for a living, now that they're in their late 30s? Did Harry ever get to be an Auror? It's clear they're not teaching at Hogwarts. Who still is?
3. Was Teddy held back in school? Why is he 19 years old and on the Hogwarts Express?
4. And kissing Bill and Fleur's daughter?
5. For that matter, did he or she ever show signs of lycanthropy?
6. Whatever became of Draco Malfoy and his relationship to the trio? Is he still as much of a stuck-up, pompous ass as he was in school or is Ron being a prat for prat's sake?
7. Was the sole purpose of the epilogue to show that Harry believed that Snape was on his side in the end? Couldn't that have been written into the main storyline there at the end, and saved us this gratuitous epilogue that raised more questions than it answered (like what crack they were smoking when they named their kid ALBUS SEVERUS?!?!?)
There. Now that I've gotten that out of the way, let's look at the rest of the book. Most of it's a blur, so I don't have much at this point, but there are some questions I have.
Did anyone else feel that the Snape Memory Exposition Train was a bit too much at once?
To anyone with children: do you feel the concept of accepting and embracing death is something appropriate for children? If so, how young? When I bought the book, I saw 7-year olds running around with their copy clutched to their happy little chests. Will they understand the concept and learn that death is just another stage, or will they freak out and ask their parents, many of whom fear death themselves?
Was anyone else reminded either of Aliens or of Eddie Izzard's corresponding bit when Mrs. Weasley screamed (slight paraphrase here as
annecathryn currently has the available copy of the book) "GET AWAY FROM HER, YOU BITCH!"?Oh, and I called Aberforth as the owner of the inn years ago. Go me!
That's all I have for now, but I'd love to hear your impressions of the book.
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Date: 2007-07-27 05:24 pm (UTC)As far as names go, Victoire is French for Victoria, & a fairly common French name at that. Since Victoire is likely the daughter of Bill & Fleur (who is French), the name then makes sense. Teddy is short for Theodore, also a nice normal name - he was likely named for his maternal grandfather, Ted Tonks, victim of the "mudblood hunting" during Voldemort's return to power. Finally, given the overwhelming respect that Albus Dumbledore had in the wizarding community, there's no real issue with calling a child Albus - no wierder than some of the names that are floating around today. On the other hand, I hated that they shortened it to Al (ew! "Al" wears bowling shoes, not wizard's robes). I think Harry & Ginny naming their son Albus Severus was more to indicate Harry's respect for Snape, for living as he did for all of those years. After all, he tells his son that Severus was "one of the bravest men I ever knew".
The "Why is Teddy at the train station" question was answered already. It doesn't really matter whether or not he exhibited lycanthropy (though I would guess not), since according to Harry and Ginny's conversation, he seems to be a happy, normal kid who is over at their place often & is loved by their family. He's accepted and loved as Lupin never really was, therefore Lupin and Tonks get their happy ending, too. Besides, given that Victoire is part veela...most healthy 19 year old boys wouldn't object to kissing her if she was willing, so I don't see why we need to know more detail than that.
I wish we could have found out what Luna was up to & that she was ok. She's really the only one of the 2nd tier characters that wasn't given follow-up, since it was established that Neville is teaching herbology at Hogwarts & is still a close friend to Harry & the others. For that matter, it doesn't matter what Harry & the others do for a living as adults as long as they're happy, which they are - the epilogue shows who they became, their true natures, not their career paths.
With the whole Draco thing, I don't know whether he's gotten any better (though the nod indicates at least a certain amount of restraint - it's certainly more polite than his father ever was), Ron was being Ron - trying to make a joke & not doing it too well. He's done it throughout the series.
With the final question, yes, I do feel that kids need to understand that death is part of life. As to when they come to accept the idea, that's left to the individual child and the circumstances of his or her life. Some have to accept the reality at four or five...and some still can't accept it at forty-five. I hope that reading and talking about the book will bring kids to the beginning of the idea that death is what it is & not to be feared, but it may not really register until later - depends on the kid.