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Reposting from my LJ, thought you denizens of this den of iniquity might appreciate it.

SPOILERS for all books are present. You have been warned.

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I read it slowly, with great attention this time and it greatly rewarded me to do so. It was so different this time that it was like I'd never read it before. And it was GREAT.

I learned a lot from the whole experience. The first one that comes to mind is my shock at how blind I was in my first reading of the series. I know "shock" sounds dramatic, but I was really affected by how utterly I'd been doing something (I thought) I rarely do: putting my own feelings and thoughts into what I was reading as opposed to seeing what is really there. Hm...the thought occurs that in a way that's a compliment to Rowling: she sucked me into reading fast, gobbling down what I should have been savoring.

Thoughts and feelings follow, mostly on the various key elements that resolved for me during this reading. I'll try to respond to the points raised by posters in my last few HP-related posts.

SPOILER WARNING!



* * *

Generally:

Rowling's writing: She is a great writer. The thing that I realized during this reading, the thing that made me (and probably a lot of other people) completely miss the boat on what makes it such a good read, is that Rowling is an exformational writer. What this means is that Rowling encodes meaning more into what she leaves out than what she leaves in. An informational writer is the opposite, there is more in what they do say than what they do not. The real difference is in the amount that your mind has to fill in. It's like the gap between panels in a comic book. Masters of the comic book craft know how to use the gap to convey meaning, meaning that the reader's mind is forced to supply, which causes involvement. You get "sucked in".

My error was that I'd become too used to informational writers. With informational writers you can read really fast, in fact fast is better. Because they give you as much as possible, if you're an experienced reader, you can read fast and your subconscious will assemble the mass of information coherently, giving you an enjoyable experience, the experience the writer intended you to have. In cases where the writer has an extreme informational style (too much information), reading fast can be the only thing that makes it readable.

I have no idea what the ratio of informational to exformational writers is, but I suspect that informational writers would form a significant majority. With most writers as with most people, I think it's probably a case of what you see is what you get.

In any case, I first read the Harry Potter books fairly quickly and in retrospect, rather inattentively. And they were still a great read in that fashion. However, over the years, with the long waits between books and the reading of much fanfic, my mental records on "Harry Potter" got rather muddled. So, when I finally read the final book, it seemed...off. Disjointed. Unsatisfactory. I now realize that in fact the reason I was less pleased with it was that Rowling had sharpened her (exformational) style to a fine edge, so my (informational) reading of it was even poorer than before.

Essentially, I was expecting Rowling to hold my hand and walk me through a whole ton of stuff *in words*. Instead, what she does is give you critical events with minimal words, but with maximum meaning. If you correctly interpret everything, which involves understanding and appreciating everything in all 7 books, then wow...it's a huge payoff. It all makes sense.

A good example is the end of book 5, the scene with Harry in Dumbledore's office, where he gets mad and breaks stuff. Upon rereading it, I realized how much I was totally into Harry's perspective and completely ignoring Dumbledore. I was mad, I wanted DD to react, to reveal stuff. But he didn't. He was himself. I realize now that he was seeing Harry as himself, in the past, perhaps right after friends of his had died due his actions or inactions. And so on. From the reader perspective of "tell me what's going on! Justify yourself!", the scene is completely inadequate. But of course, the scene isn't about that: it's about Harry and Dumbledore. This is writing of supreme "show, don't tell" quality. Rowling isn't going to tell us anything, other than indirectly via clues, but primarily our only sources of information are the actions and words of characters. As a natural born "teller", I salute her immense restraint.

Characters in Harry Potter: I think I know the reason why a lot of people hate (and even more love) the characters in Harry Potter. They are too real. They act in ways that may frustrate the reader. They act illogically. They don't think out a complete plan of logical action and flawlessly implement it like bloodless robots. This pisses off some readers, I suspect largely the "fixers". A fixer is someone who enjoys things being "right", all their ducks in a row, maximum efficiency, no rough edges. I'm a bit of a fixer myself, but I appreciate that "fixed" reality is not real reality and I enjoy a bit of chaos in my reading as well as nice, clean fixer-style fiction.

Which leads me to my next thought, romance and pairings in Harry Potter canon. That was a huge clarification in my reading of the series. Before I thought that most of the pairings were unlikely and/or terrible for both people involved, in any logical interpretation of reality. I still think that...but I realize how genius it is. Again, it's reality. Pretty much all of the people I know who are together, couples, are, by any rational standard, terrible for each other. Basically, "What on Earth keeps them together?" It's the mystery of attraction. That's the way it is in real life and that's the way it is in Harry Potter.

Dumbledore: Man...I understand Dumbledore so much better now. What a character. He's not "evil", he's not "good"...he's a genius, a magical titan, a complete oddball. He's done many great and terrible things in his long life. He's immensely manipulative, in the subtlest of ways, but at the same time his surface isn't a mask, he really is that way, polite, odd, fearless. If I was Harry I'd never forgive him for using me since birth as a pawn, but one of Harry's most significant traits is his immense capacity for forgiveness.

Harry: Harry is another great character...I think the thing that pisses off "fixers" the most is his immense desire and determination to be "ordinary". He craves it above all things. I understand that, but I also understand how the lack of the urge to be great pisses them off, again, since I'm a bit of a fixer myself. Harry has no ambition, literally, other than to be a happy, ordinary person. I see that clearly after this reading, and I can see exactly what Harry will do in the future. He'll live an ordinary life, probably never engaging in magical combat ever again. His ambition is to die in bed, surrounded by his family. Perhaps that's part of what attracts him to Ginny...she's a vivacious, pretty, ordinary witch. She fits into the vision of his future that he wants.

Another of Harry's traits is his...I want to say "bravery" but the word isn't exactly right. Harry feels fear like everyone, but he is always willing to act. I really picked up on that this reading. It's what makes Harry a leader. Not because he's well-organized and has a plan, he's got Hermione for that. It's that when something happens, to him or to someone he cares about, Harry springs into motion. Other people would dither about it, consider, waffle...Harry acts. He's that way consistently from book one.

Harry also has a temper, but it has a very long fuse. With a big bang at the end. He almost manages to hold it when being verbally abused for an entire evening by his Aunt Marge, but when it finally goes off...I'd forgotten all the accidental magic he does in that scene. He really does have excellent self-control, but certain things will set him off, usually regarding family and friends. His control of his temper frays towards the end of the series, which makes perfect sense as his stress level doubles with each book. A couple of times Hermione is literally shaking in her boots at the look on Harry's face after she's said something to set him off...I kept wishing Rowling would give us more detail, but I can imagine a pretty good scary-Harry face with my own imagination, which is the whole point of her style.

*rereads Terdwilicker's posts for inspiration*

Ah, right...General Stupidity in the Harry Potter-verse: Lousy education system. Corrupt government. Stupid laws. Idiotic people who make idiotic decisions. Yep. All true. Again: welcome to real life. If you think real life is all shiny and happy and efficient, then go hang out at your favorite news or politics site for a while. A few hours at Fark.com should be enough to dent anyone's pie-in-the-sky sense of the world as a smart place. So again, I'm not saying all that idiocy is a good thing, but it isn't bad writing. Quite the opposite in fact. Yeah, it pisses me off too, when I read it, both in fiction and in reality, but that's what daydreams (fiction) and action (reality) are for: fixing up the things you don't like. It ain't Rowling's fault that reality is a stupid place: don't shoot the messenger.

Oh, and one more Harry trait, so obvious I forgot to mention it: loyalty. He is loyal to those he considers friends and family. As we see at the end of book 7, to the point of willingly giving up his life for them. Heh, I have to point out here, interesting point for considering in fanfic perhaps: it's quite possible that all of Wizarding Britain, every living soul that fell under Voldemort's aegis of power, who Harry's sacrifice created a shield of protection over, owe Harry a Life Debt. Life Debts, as seen in the bit with Wormtail getting strangled by his own hand after Harry invokes it accidently, are a magically real and binding thing. Talk about leverage if Harry *did* want to change society.

Hermione: Not too much to say here. Hermione is pretty much as she appears. She's a total genius, that much can't be overplayed. Frankly, she's the one who people should be worried about if she went Dark. At age 11 (!) she has a magical speciality, creating highly useful bluebell flames that can be held in a bottle, as well as being able to brew a N.E.W.T. (year 7) level potion, Polyjuice. A few years later she's permanently enchanting objects, like the DA coins and signup sheet, finally in book 7 creating an honest-to-Gygax (beaded) Bag of Holding. She's got as much brainpower as Dumbledore, while Harry has every bit as much power as Dumbledore. What has Ron got...um...sidekick value?

Oh, one mystery/mistake, the only one I found in the whole series: in book 7, pages after telling Harry that she's modified her parent's memories and sent them to Australia (!), she states that she's "never cast a memory charm" when they need to use one on a Death Eater they've stunned. Hm...come to think of it, I suppose she could have done that with a potion or something. That's probably it.

Ron: From a "fixer" perspective, he's useless. And I agree, he's got tons of flaws and not many virtues. Again, not a sign of a "bad" character, just a potentially annoying one if you're looking for every character to be as wise as Soloman and as powerful as Merlin. He's a jealous, lazy, gluttonous prat. Also a fairly amusing friend to hang around with when times are good. He's the very model of ordinariness. Hm...no wonder Harry likes him.

Snape: Snape is a foul piece of shite, I agree. He's also probably the most gifted wizard in the series, just under Dumbledore. He even conceals his true loyalties from Voldemort, a magical genius and master Leglimens, right up until the end. In fact Voldemort dies never knowing Snape has betrayed him. Hell, Snape's last act was to, wandlessly, as he was dying, regurgitate a memory of his entire life with all the significant-to-Harry bits highlighted. I mean, holy crap. Hate him, sure, but I have to admire his incredible mental discipline. He was a miserable bastard in a hundred ways, but after seeing him in a clear light I can't help but be impressed by his magical skill and iron nerves.

Just in case it isn't clear, Snape was loyal to Dumbledore ever since Snape met with him and told him about how Voldemort was going to kill the Potters. The "reason I trust him absolutely" that Dumbledore always refers to is the promise that Snape made all those years ago to protect Harry. All throughout the series, Snape is watching out for Harry. It reads totally different with that in mind.

Hallows and Horcruxes: Two major factors that people love to slam. I understand, I was the same way before the rereading. Now, I see that they were woven into the series all along, right from the beginning. It's just impossible to understand until you have information from later in the books. The Hallows certainly do come from left-field, but even so, I don't find they spoil anything. If anything, they are a fine lesson in how to *not* introduce a deus-ex-machina. If Rowling were an average writer, the whole series would have culminated in a neck and neck race for the Elder Wand. Instead, the turning point is that Harry deliberately chooses not to do so. The lesson is one that Dumbledore refers to several times: it's not all about power and fear of death. Just because you own the most powerful wand in the land doesn't mean you are superior. And so on.

The Horcruxes are cool and frankly, very classic old-style magic. Splitting off bits of your soul via the atrocity of murder in order to gain immortality...that's the Old Black Magic, baby!

Voldemort: Voldemort is a pretty cool villain. He's a narrow character, but one who illustrates the points Rowling wants made: power and skill and genius and will aren't enough, not without compassion, love and the softer things. A fanfic point worth mentioning is that Rowling makes it clear that Tom Riddle, Jr, was "born bad". He was a nasty little shite practically from birth. By the age of 11, when he meets Dumbledore, he clearly enjoys hurting and dominating other people. He is a hard-core loner. Hm...he's the inverse of Harry, really, who I guess you could say was "born good". Heh, there's a fanfic for you: Harry growing up in the orphanage and making friends with the other orphans, while Tom was raised by the equivalent of the Dursley's. I think the point there is that they would both still turn out largely the same. Harry would probably be happier, actually having friends while growing up, and Tom...well, let's just say I don't think his adoptive family would live to a ripe old age.

Well, that seems to be most of what I wanted to say. I'll read over my notes that I made while rereading to say if there's anything else...

Oh, there's a thought: seriously, can you imagine the level of adulation Harry is going to have to endure after book 7? I mean, holy shit. Not only is Harry's every heroic deed from the first 6 books confirmed utterly in the minds of the public, he literally died for them all and rose from the dead, then, in front of a huge crowd, beat the most feared wizard in the entire world in a solo duel with a single spell, a disarming spell, killing his opponent by reflecting the "unblockable" killing curse back onto him. It doesn't get any more impressive than that. The words he and Voldemort exchanged about the Elder Wand etc were probably completely washed away by the stress of the combat, in the minds of the observers, so it's the appearance that counts and will be remembered.

Heh, and in the best tradition of the reluctant hero, Harry will find the whole thing another burden to bear. Still, other than that he's got the resources to live his happy, ordinary Wizarding life, so it works out in the end.

Things that struck me while reading:

- Hermione is one of the most happy and well-adjusted characters. She's often smiling and such.
- Harry's will, pride and pain tolerance are all incredible, as shown by the bit with the Blood Quill.
- House Elves and Goblins are both misunderstood, by HP fans as well as by characters in the series.
- I was constantly amazed by how much fanfic hay was made from so little in canon. Like the DA. It's only active in book 5 and even there there isn't much text on it at all, but it's a huge part of fanficdom. Or Luna. Great character, but not many lines, but boy is she popular.
- Hermione and Ron really doubt Harry a lot, even in later books when they should know better. It made me want to smack them both at times. There was a line in book 5, after such an interaction, "leaving Harry standing alone in the dark". That pretty much describes it. Oh wait, that was Sirius, still the principle is the same. Sirius refused to tell him anything as well. They are damn lucky that Harry has forgiveness in absolutely saintly quantities.
- Ginny didn't seem to a very good friend to Luna, constantly laughing and smirking hiddenly when she was being odd. Again, not unrealistic, but it makes me like her less.
- Hermione is way too obsessed with grades, to the point of being a terrible friend to Harry for beating her in one subject. One of her few major flaws.
- Hall of Prophecies: classic Indiana-Jones-style "big government warehouse". I'm willing to bet 99.99% of them are never touched once filed. Interesting bit from that scene, when some of the prophecy globes are smashed: "at the solstice will come a new...said a bearded old man" "and none shall come after...said a young woman". Anyone get any meaning from that? Did the Battle at Hogwarts take place on a solstice?
- There is a room full of Love in the Dept of Mysteries. That's a canon fact. I'm thinking the door was unopenable because Rowling couldn't think of a good way to depict it. Neither can I...a room full of Love?
- Lupin: completely uninvolved in his friend's son's life. I guess we see why from the confrontation he had with Harry in book 7...he's afraid to get involved with people, even those he loves.
- Hm...looking at my notes, DD's reasoning makes a lot more sense: why did he leave Harry untrained etc for his confrontation? Because it wasn't a power to power battle that was going to happen. It was a power to sacrifice/love battle, according to DD's plan anyway. Harry might have won a power battle if trained, but that would have unleashed another DD on the world, which DD feared because he knew his own flaws. Wow. I just realized that now. Again, Dumbledore's sheer gall is almost as amazing as his planning and other abilities. He has no problem rearranging the world to suit his own vision, it's only his early tragedies that keep him from ruling all as a supreme tyrant. Harry was his tool every step of the way. DD came to regret using the boy like that, but he still did it anyway. DD deserved every bit of suffering that Voldemort's potion inflicted, methinks.
- one of my notes: I think I'm starting to understand DD. He's a genius, a man of vast inner resources, but he has the flaw of in a sense being too optimistic about others. He genuinely believes that they can do the sort of things that he can, like stay in one spot for months with perfect discipline. He could do it, but not everyone can.
- Harry chasing Bellatrix, door opens at Harry's cry: more spontaneous magic?
- Wow, when Harry first showed up the Dark forces thought he might be Dark and powerful and a new possible Lord. Cool. Talk about a fanfic seed.
- Mrs. Weasley approve of Fred and George once they start making money. Wise.
- Harry does stick up for people, even to his friends
- Fred and George really are geniuses. Anyone who Hermione compliments on their spellwork is good. Also, most wizards are poorly trained. Shield hats etc. Harry will make a ton of money from his investment in them.
- Bill "got money out for Harry". How? The goblins let him do that without Harry's authorization? Maybe DD is controlling the account?
- Wizards selling other wizards fake amulets. Again, we see that your ordinary wizard is just a muggle with a wand and no common sense.

Amplification to the above note: I see there being two types of wizards in Rowlings world. Real wizards, beings of power and might, and the rest, people who have magic and are part of wizarding culture, but are as I describe in the note above. DD is a real wizard, Voldemort, Snape...Harry could be but wouldn't want to be, Hermione is in a class of her own.

- HP insight: DD acts indirectly most of the time, but completely directly when it's appropriate. Harry is completely direct, but it's still mostly appropriate: they both act the way very powerful wizards do, instinctively and fearlessly using their magic to deal with things.

- note from book 5: Misty frigid unseasonable weather = dementors breeding. Never seen that in fanfic.

- Fark Harry is bold: blatantly invading the Slytherin compartment while invisible. He's got nerves of steel.

- wow...Harry wishes for Snape's death aloud.

- Neville's grandmum needs a swift kick in the twat

- Book 6: no one listens to Harry. He's humored by Arthur Weasley, Ron and Hermione don't listen to him.

- Fawkes is touched by loyalty...DD's eyes watering...touched...or stung by his own ruthlessness considering book 7?

Hm...I don't have much insight into Fawkes's actions.

- susan bones and hannah abbott's families = wiped out. canon. nasty.

- Ron is an idiot. finally says "I love you" to Hermione for correcting his spelling mistakes. what a prat.

- passing on ancient skills, honing young minds? DD doesn't teach at all, not that's ever been shown. another lie?

- so V really did curse the DADA job...strong cursing.

- insight: truth - Harry is the anti-voldemort. he desperately wants to be ordinary, to the same degree that V wants to be a freak. both get their wish. Harry marries Ginny and no doubt settles into a life of utter tedium.

- DD seems to have a knack for getting things out of people when they're down and on the verge of ruin or death. nice.

- Fawkes lets out another cry: approval or disapproval or what?

- Hermione leaves harry "alone and ankle-deep in snow" ...yep, that about describes it.

- Ginny, Arthur and Ron all owe Harry life-debts : Fred and George owe him 1000 galleons. The whole Weasley family really owes Harry a lot.

- Harry not continuing the DA in a way shows how different he is from Voldemort: V would have jumped at the chance to have his own little army/fan club.

- wow...Harry's had two house-elves at his utter command for all this time...he really isn't very ambitious at all...

- ugh...DD making Harry feel ashamed for not getting the memory, I'm 99% certain he knows the content already...what a manipulative old bastard he is.

- Ginny: "I knew you wouldn't be happy unless you were hunting Voldemort. Maybe that's why I like you so much." what does that mean? the positive interpretation is that she's talking about Harry's sense of duty and nobility of spirit. The negative is that she thinks he's glory-hungry or such. Harry's reactions seem to lean towards the first interpretation.

- insight: all the relationships in HP are completely fucked: DD/Grindelwald, Tonks/Lupin, etc etc. LOve is not only blind, but a blithering idiot.

- DD is stunned that Harry got the memory from Slughorn...telling

- He's been hoping for this piece of evidence for a long time...did he really think Harry could get the memory then? More manipulation.

- uncommon skill and power...come on. Harry has strong magic, as shown by the patronus, but his skill is fairly average. and he can love "even after all that has happened to him". or rather, all that has been inflicted on him by DD. bah.

- DD thinks Harry is "pure of heart"...true, I guess. He's certainly not tempted by power. Can power give him his parents back? etc. He's got common sense, something most wizards seem to lack.

- interesting point...V will continue to attempt to kill harry, so their conflict is inevitable, but as DD points out, Harry knows that it's all self-fullfilling...and Harry at this point craves V's just destruction anyway, for all the foul deeds he's done.

- Hermione is amused by Ron's emotional cowardice...I guess that's love: she really doesn't give a damn about Ron's many many huge flaws. I guess she likes having someone love her who is utterly inferior to her in every way. Security in that I suppose.

BONUS: some interesting bits in here: http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2007/7/30/j-k-rowling-web-chat-transcript

- Ah, I see, DD couldn't see through the Cloak, he just detected a presence and guessed accurately it was Harry. And all the times Snape caught him as well, probably.

- The Dementor attack made Dudley have self-insight. Neat.

- Wow, what a shitload of little revelations. Don't read that chat until you've read the whole series thoroughly, that's for sure.

- one more fanon myth: Bellatrix being into being tortured. There's no evidence for this and some against, chiefly to my mind how she screams, "No master, don't punish me!" in absolute terror when she learns that the prophecy globe has been smashed.

* * *

Ugh, and that's it...wow 4500 words...that's a day's work. I'll probably repost this in a few places.

Responses are encouraged! WW out.

 

tl;dr

You're a fucking idiot.

http://xkcd.com/451/

 

I'll go ahead and say what we're all thinking: tl;dr.

Edit: Went back and skimmed, and found more bits of stupidity than I could shake a stick at. The whole exformational vs informational bullshit is putting four-dollar words and a wall of text on what everyone already knows - JK doesn't tell us everything, and filling in the gaps ourselves makes the world feel real.

Oh, and the whole Hermione's as smart as Dumbledore and Harry's as strong as Dumbledore thing? No. Just fucking no.

And calling murder an atrocity shows how small your imagination is.

 

I actually went ahead and read a little of your post, and I stopped as soon as you said 'exformational'. That's not a word. You're a fucking idiot. You don't convey information by leaving it out. Rowling was a mediocre author that couldn't clear up her plot holes.

 

Have to disagree on that one, Voldemort's power, skill and genius were enough. He achieved the greatest of things, wages two wars and took control of the ministry and becomes the most feared dark lord in wizarding history. He only lost cause Rowling planted a Horcrux in Harrys head without him knowing.

My main thought after reading the series is that it was too linear, with the Weasley family as the fulcrum for almost everything that happens off the main Harry V Voldemort plot, however that is not to take away the fact that Rowling did create an interesting world with which we have all enjoyed many hours of fan fiction...

I picked that bit about Voldemort because that was the only bit I read.

 

Wait, spoilers? For what? Something everyone has read since about three years ago?

 

It just doesn't seem realistic that this guy can be that stupid.

Keep everything that you ever think or write in your LJ thing, please.

 

To the arsehole chorus:

Wow. Sour much?

I apologize for using words above your education level. I know it hurts when you try to think that hard. *pats you sympathetically*

As for the spoiler warnings being excessive, well, yeah, they are, but different places are anal about different things. Just trying to be considerate.

Oh, and re: Terdwiliker's posts: I was rereading them for *negative* inspiration, as in, to remind me of how wrong he is. Make more sense now?

 

Should've taken your lumps instead of trying to make personal insults. You're doomed.

 

Fixed. Singular as there was only one word you made up and used specifically so that you could troll in response once someone pointed it out.

 

...I'm the one making personal insults? I suggest you reread the thread.

BTW, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exformation

 

He is grinning like the Chesire Cat right now.

Go post it here, you might find the response you sought at DLP.

Apparently it is a rite of passage for members to post carbon copies of your review in celebration of J. K. R.

 

Eh, I just figured I'd share my thoughts with possibly interested people. I wasn't craving any response in particular. I wasn't expecting an instant shower of abuse, but I guess now I know better.

 

This, this, a thousand times THIS.

EDIT: I vote to rename this thread 'Massive Fail', then HoS it.

Yar.

EDIT2: Inb4ban.

 

If you have any 'level' of education, you should realise that an objective reading is impossible unless you're an idiot with no valid opinions.

Wait...