Isn't the correct term "poring" over Rowling's text?? Pouring might be a little messy for my new book.

Not necessarily for publication; my comment here is an editorial one: When used in the sense of attention to text, the word is "poring," not "pouring."

It was slow going. Rowling could have done without a lot of the complicated plot twists that ate up the earlier part of the book and tied up the climactic scenes in exposition, exposition, and more exposition.. I mean, we know wizards and witches are smart, but who speaks in chapter-long diatribes that are perfectly organized into paragraphs?

When one blog noted the similarity between Snape and Tolkein's Gollum, it struck me how many parallels there were between the Potter and Ring characters. Consider the following plot. An evil 'dark lord' mega wizard is out to rule the world. A nice young lad, an orphan, is fated by prophesy to a somewhat lonely quest to bring down the villain. He has a bunch of stalwart friends who stick with him through thick and thin. An elderly mentor wizard disappears from the quest at a crucial stage. The mechanism for dispatching the dark lord involves the destruction of magical talismans. A critical role is played by a character of ambiguous loyalty. Oh, and the protagonist has glasses that constantly need repairing. Only the last sentence distinguishes the two works.

"An evil 'dark lord' mega wizard is out to rule the world. A nice young lad, an orphan, is fated by prophesy to a somewhat lonely quest to bring down the villain. He has a bunch of stalwart friends who stick with him through thick and thin. An elderly mentor wizard disappears from the quest at a crucial stage." Sounds like the plot from Star Wars, no?

Yep. All three follow the quest archplot that's been around forever. Take a look at Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces, or Valdimir Propp, Morphology of the Folk-Tale. The story is in the telling.

poring, please, not pouring

There can be no doubt that youngsters are entertained, but in essence the Potter saga is a public school-fantasy created out of the horrors that British upper-class children have faced over the centuries. They were sent away by unloving parents to receive an education that would turn them into loyal servants/creators of the British Empire. Undoubtedly many have dreamt themselves into roles similar to those portrayed by Harry Potter and his friends to get away from the sadness of their daily lives; with brutal teachers and bullying classmates. The funny thing is that the British continue to think of this sort of education as character-building.

Best Harry Potter book ever, and destined to be one of my favorite books ever. The plot was satisfying in ways I hadn't anticipated. I'm not sad about the end of the experience, because the journey was such a great ride.

Loved it. Of course, I read it in the early hours this morning, so I don't feel like handing out marks for literary merit, but the story itself was a treat. JK chose to take a harder way out than she could have, but still allowed Good to triumph over Evil and didn't break too many small children's hearts.

I'll be circumspect here, but must still note SPOILERS AHEAD, DON'T READ ON IF YOU WANT TO GET IT ALL FRESH.

This, of all the books, was a book about Albus Dumbledore: not Dumbledore, the infallible mentor, but the Dumbledore whose own weakness destroyed him and whose genuine self-knowledge, not unreasonable humility, prevented him from destroying others, as well. This was a twist that does distinguish this book from others in the fantasy genre.

We try not to notice the absurdity of the most powerful wizard ever just hanging out in Hogwarts, teaching young minds, but here we discover that the young Dumbledore, like Voldemort, was obsessed with obtaining power over death. When this desire (stoked by the deaths of Dumbledore's parents before Dumbledore leaves Hogwarts) claims its first victims, Dumbledore stops. He chooses Hogwarts because he cannot trust himself in power at the Ministry. But at key points--at the time of James and Lily Potter's death, and again between books five and six--the obsession with his old studies returns and Dumbledore is distracted and ultimately killed.

Now Dumbledore's statements that Harry is the more important person, the better man, make sense. They aren't simply window-dressing, and the reader may finally agree. Harry isn't more important because he represents Youth, or because of the accident of his scar. He's more important because, unlike Dumbledore, he chooses to vanquish evil rather than pursue eternity. And it's not fun and glamour, either. He and Ron and Hermione spend a lot of their school year hiding in the woods, eating what they can scavange and trying to figure out what the heck they are supposed to do. They walk into traps again and again, and the death toll mounts. There's no distraction of pretty girls or Quidditch matches. Even Ron and Hermione doubt Harry's competence, and one leaves.

When Harry discovers the reason for Snape's defection, the true meaning of the prophecy, and his inevitable role in Voldemort's downfall, he is no longer the sulky teenager of book five who resents Never Being Told Anything. He's seen the bodies, and buried some of them. Although he realizes that Dumbledore has left him in the dark about the single most important wrinkle in the Horcrux problem, he doesn't agonize over how Dumbledore didn't love him enough, how he wasn't trusted, or how hard it's going to be. He does what he has to do.

I'll skip the details: if you've read it, you know what I'm talking about. Frankly, if you've been paying attention in one through six, you see the inevitable story arc. The final chapters of this book are about death, up close and personal. Unlike previous discussions, however ("To a well-regulated mind, Death is just the next adventure"?) I didn't feel that we fell into maudlin speculation meant to comfort with platitudes. Rowling does have a solid grasp on the afterlife in Potter's world, and it is a daunting and dreadful proposition, as it is in ours, to leave friends and hopes behind. Her stark description of Harry walking into the forest and preparing to descend into the underworld had echoes of the journeys of Aeneas and Odysseus.

When, like Aeneas, Harry returns to the living, having left behind the shades whose love he most treasures, it doesn't feel like a cop-out. Instead of producing a crowd-pleasing deus ex machina, Rowling has invoked the ancient myth of the hero passing through death. This could have been done very badly (and I do feel that some of the other books had contrived rescue endings.) But Rowling has clearly long intended this ending to the saga, and it is neither cheap nor easy. Neither her kid-friendly voice nor her accessible metaphors destroy the satisfaction of the ending.

Love is the answer, everyone! Yup, Love! The great power! Stronger than Voldemort! [insert sing-along here.] Sounds a little stupid, and I certainly didn't think it a great answer for some of the previous books. Here, however, both Harry and the reader are forced to confront the nature of love and the sacrifice bound into it. Harry finally understands, and so do we. It's not a warm and fuzzy answer. Dumbledore, Snape and Harry all find themselves stripped systematically down to the bones as they sacrifice themselves to the hard requirements of this power. It is more daunting than magic lakes or Inferi or any other of Rowling's demons. Rowling has invoked a host of mythological and medieval symbols in her writing, but here I feel she missed one: this book is not about the Deathly Hallows. It is Harry Potter and the Sign of the Pelican.

SPOILER BIT OVER. I apologize, still fuzzy from reading all night, thought we were okay with marked spoilers. Moderator, feel free to delete the post if you feel it's going to ruin the fun for others.

The book in total was just amazing. As requested there will be no spoilers, but I guarentee quite a few people will be howling at the book at some of the most crucial moments. For instance, I probably screamed NO! so loudly at one point I think the neighbors threw something at the house.

The questions get answered - all of them. Prepare for one of the best reads of this decade, if not for the century and more.

she's lost her sense of fun; the book's all heavy-handed and leaden. and the expository stuff is wayyyyy too long. and she keeps deus-ex-machina-ing the most pointless things. it looks like desperation.

Just finished it. It was good. I feel, well, satisfied. I'm sad it is over, but I would have been sadder if it had kept going, losing its quality.

I'm amazed how few complaints I have; mainly, I wish the epilogue had been more thorough. It doesn't seem to offer any answers that weren't already pretty obvious. But I was thoroughly gripped for the previous 750 pages, so it's hard to complain.

This book did live up to my expectations. The story went pretty well. I am not overwhelmed with grief that the Hogwarts experience has ended. I look forward to re reading the series again (and again).

This book did live up to my expectations. The story went pretty well. I am not overwhelmed with grief that the Hogwarts experience has ended. I look forward to re reading the series again (and again).

I was a little disappointed by the writing in most of the book... I found myself dearly missing the lightheartedconversations and detailed descriptions of everyday events that the previous books were so full of. I am sad it's over. Now all I can do is reread and imagine...

I'm nearing the middle half of the book, and it has lived up to my expectations. The only thing that has bugged me are the long passages that Rowling spends writing "stories" within her stories, especially when it comes to Dumbledore. I think I'd rather of learned more of those things through dialogue not a clipping. Also the epilogue (which I flipped to...don't hate, I'm one of those people who gets so caught up in suspense that the book wouldn't have been enjoyable) wasn't as detailed as I wanted it to be, and a tad confusing. Though I'm sad HP is over, I'm eagerly awaiting the next "HP."

I finished the book 2hrs. ago and am still digesting the fact that there will never be a new Harry Potter book. My hat goes off to Ms. Rowling. The book is full of satisfying "little" moments of redemption for several secondary characters, and of intense moments of unexpected heroism for two other beloved friends of Harry (and I don't mean Ron and Hermione). I'm glad there were answers to important questions, but I am sad that we didn't get to "see" important future events mentioned in the epilogue, although I understand why. I have to start reading it again tonight!

With this final book, Rowling leaves any classification of her books as "childrens' books" behind. This is a mature book that addresses death, torture, lust for power, and the real costs of standing up to evil. In that regard, it is not in any sense a fairy tale. Although it employs many of the same mythic archetypes found in Tolkien, Lewis, and many lesser authors, it is fresh and relevant, and its subthemes are novel in the fantasy field. Where it is far too possible to see a racist viewpoint in Tolkien, Rowling is the first fantasy author to address in her writing the sources and costs of racism and tribalism head on. And if Tolkien drew his scenes of Frodo crossing barrens filled with the faces of the dead from WWI, then Rowling has drawn just as well as just as subtlely from issues of torture and misuse of the media in our own day and time. The plot is often unpredictable, and Rowling is as cruel to her readers as real life can be to real people. This work shares with the Lord of the Rings an awareness of the loss that remains even when the battle is ended. To some extent, the epilogue unfortunately minimizes the impact of the rest of the book, but some passages seem to have been added in direct response to readers' concerns and Rowling's concern for her younger readers - and the epilogue is definitely one of these passages. However, where Rowling surpasses Tolkien, Lewis, and perhaps every other writer except Ursula K. LeGuin, is the humanity with which she endows her characters. The real subject of these books is people and the choices they make, for good, for ill, for ill on behalf of the greater good, and where that line can and should be drawn. Her characters learn, and regret, and pay for their mistakes in more depth than almost any fantasy book ever written. The deaths in this book are losses to the reader - we want to scream that this wasn't supposed to happen to that character. Many readers will indeed cry, and that is in its way a mark of Rowling's genius.
One has to wonder, though, how this book is going to be made into an equally effective movie without getting an R rating, for the torture scenes alone. I would not read this book to a child under ten or eleven, but I suspect that, like Tolkien, this is a book that will be read on one level by teenagers who find years later that there was much, much more in it than cool spells and tremendous battle scenes.

Terribly sad that its all over...but still have the moovies for a few more years. however, I am still left with a ton of questions that i feel may never be answered:-(

Terribly sad that its all over...but still have the moovies for a few more years. however, I am still left with a ton of questions that i feel may never be answered:-(

I just finished it, and have been in tears since the last half of the book!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

I loved the book. What I liked best was that it was Harry's extraordinary CHARACTER that defeated Voldemort (by sacrificing himself for his friends, family, and strangers alike) and not some extraordinary magic and J.K. Rowling did a great job underlining this by having Harry use a most-ordinary of spells in that final duel between him and Voldemort: Expelliarmus.

At the same time, the fact that the Elder Wand belonged to Harry only because of a series of coincidences disappointed me. Harry could have just as easily died at the end (my guess for the character that got a reprieve). Voldemort's power would have still been broken because he couldn't hurt anyone after Harry "died" for them, but...I just felt a little unsatisfied that Voldemort's final death (his death and not his downfall) was brought about by a series of coincidences.

Loved it. Amazing. The ending was so great. I have to say that I honestly didnt know if she could still surprise and amaze us...it's so difficult to do that in more than one book, but to do it through seven, and to make the end just as wonderful as we have been hoping for, well it's never been done in the writing history.

Perhaps I read the book too fast this first time, but I don't think it was nearly as good as the past ones, as well as some of the lingering questions weren't explained.

Perhaps I read the book too fast this first time, but I don't think it was nearly as good as the past ones, as well as some of the lingering questions weren't explained.

Perhaps I read the book too fast this first time, but I don't think it was nearly as good as the past ones, as well as some of the lingering questions weren't explained.

Perhaps I read the book too fast this first time, but I don't think it was nearly as good as the past ones, as well as some of the lingering questions weren't explained.

The book was wonderful! Although I was overcome with anxiety about the ending that made reading somewhat less enjoyable (my fault entirely, I am far too invested in the characters) the book did an excellent job of living up to all that it should have. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and yet at the end I felt fulfilled that the journey had been completed. Yes, I still have some questions, but I can leave them up to my own imagination. My only misgiving is that I wish the epilogue had wrapped up things with a bit more detail. Small price to pay, though, for 750 other pages of fabulousness.

Loved it!!

Overall, fantastic. Regarding the last chapter: I would have preferred either a series of one-line "where are they now" snippets, or a much more detailed section on the future of most -- if not all- of the survivors. What we got left many questions...perhaps intentionally?

Best of the series by far. Both comedy and sadness. Ending was amazing. I will miss the boy wizard. I even plan on rereading the book in the next few days..to catch what i missed.

I think it's an excellent book but some parts make me think she may have rushed it a bit. The story is, however, just as genius, tragic and brilliant as any of the others.

wow- I am grief stricken almost from page one.... but the underlying plot makes me continue and the writing that delails locations and people I love. I am glad I know more about characters I loved from past books...and I realize that I did wonder about plot pieces while reading them in past books and now find them important. I really like Dickens and find Rowling intrigues me the same way. But Dobby?????

wow- I am grief stricken almost from page one.... but the underlying plot makes me continue and the writing that delails locations and people I love. I am glad I know more about characters I loved from past books...and I realize that I did wonder about plot pieces while reading them in past books and now find them important. I really like Dickens and find Rowling intrigues me the same way. But Dobby?????

wow- I am grief stricken almost from page one.... but the underlying plot makes me continue and the writing that delails locations and people I love. I am glad I know more about characters I loved from past books...and I realize that I did wonder about plot pieces while reading them in past books and now find them important. I really like Dickens and find Rowling intrigues me the same way. But Dobby?????

wow- I am grief stricken almost from page one.... but the underlying plot makes me continue and the writing that delails locations and people I love. I am glad I know more about characters I loved from past books...and I realize that I did wonder about plot pieces while reading them in past books and now find them important. I really like Dickens and find Rowling intrigues me the same way. But Dobby?????

wow- I am grief stricken almost from page one.... but the underlying plot makes me continue and the writing that delails locations and people I love. I am glad I know more about characters I loved from past books...and I realize that I did wonder about plot pieces while reading them in past books and now find them important. I really like Dickens and find Rowling intrigues me the same way. But Dobby?????

I finished the book Sunday night. Yes, I'm very sad that there will be no more stories about Harry and his friends. I think Rowling ended the book in a brilliant way - very satisfying and clever.

The only criticism I have is that in the final chapter the only one we know what they are doing with their lives is the one who we are told is now a professor. We know they have children who are apparently all magical and Hogwarts material, but that's all. What do they do for a living? Who is headmaster at Hogwarts (can't be any of the survivors since they are at the station sending the children to school)? We cared about a lot of the characters but we don't find much information about the aftermath.

I'm a mature adult but I RAN to the UPS truck when it finally drove up on Saturday afternoon!
I was totally blown away by the way Rowling pulled together so many stories threads and clues all the way from Book 1. I cried at the some unexpected places in the book, and had to put it down at other times to stop from yelling at Harry to control his temper & get his focus (good advice given him in the past from an unlikely source). Figured out Snape's motives in my prepatory re-read of Book 6 (yeah, it's there).
I just loved these books! One of my favorite EVER reading experiences. I can't wait to read them all again.

Had a delightful time reading all Saturday and found the book satisfying. Most of my questions were answered, and for a book that had so much death involved, there were so many moments to cheer, or smile at a bit of whimsy. And it was great fun to return to my childhood summers where I would find a comfy spot and read all day.

the book is great. some of the posts think she should have been a little less wordy with the stories. my only complaint and it is small is that it wasn't long enough to fill in all the details of some minor characters. we find out the details (but all of them) for most of the major characters.

Thus far I have found the book to be very entertaining and worth the wait. I went to bed late this morning reading chapter 12 and didn't want to close it. Each chapter gives me something that makes me want to continue, which is a little hard since I have to get some work done. Book 5 was a little slow going but this one definately has all of my attention. I already know I'll be rereading it on my summer vacation. I hope the encompass all of the chapters in the movie and don't do the heavy chopping from the Order of the Phoenix.

SPOILER, but I'll keep it vague as possible:

Did anyone else think that about midway through the book, Harry does something really stupid to give away their position? I know he has a reputation for being a hothead, but the fact that no one even mentions his incredible slip of the tongue afterward, I found a little odd. I even thought at first he may have done it on purpose to draw the enemy out! Otherwise, great read, if somewhat clunky in the first half.

I read the book yesterday, and I cried and cried. Teary-eyed, I worked my way through the pages, praising and cursing J.K. Rowling for bringing this series to such a magnificent end.

Thank you, again, J.K. Rowling for lending us Harry Potter for a season and for a lifetime.

No time to comment...reading

No time to comment...reading

No time to comment...reading

I agree with the post from K. Berlin: after all the time that we spent with the young wizards in their classrooms at Hogwarts and after all the studying we saw them do in Books 1-5 to study for their O.W.L.s and in Book 6 to study for their N.E.W.T.s and to prepare for their future careers, Rowling could've given us more info at the end about their career paths. Instead she focused on the hair and eye color and names of the the various offspring and how adorable it is when they tease their little brothers and sisters. Some surprise match-ups and some more information about the other professors at Hogwarts would've been nice. P.S. My husband believes JKR gave one of the next generation the initials A.S.P. on purpose.

MUGGLE ATTACKED AT BARNES AND NOBLE

Last night at 12:01am a Muggle walked into
our local Barnes and Noble and immediately
shouted out the ENDING of the 7th, in the
series of our favorite wizard, "Harry
Potter", books.

He was immediately attacked and visiously
beaten by a rabid group of 7-10 year olds
screaming what sounded like the Avada
Kedavra curse. It is reported that his
body was then dragged into the parking lot
and burned before police finally arrived.

No one was charged in the incident and the
attack was ruled justifiable homicide.

Loved the book . . . did not love all the unanswered questions. For example, who did magic for the first time late in life? The epilogue was way too short. What happened, in depth, to everyone? Maybe JKR will answer the unanswered in her next book, which she has said may be a Harry Potter encyclopedia. Let's hope!!!

I finished last evening, and found the end sad but satisfying. I am thrilled that many of the pre-announced spoilers were inaccurate. Much as I was pleased with how JKR sewed up the loose-ends of previous installments, I must say that I appreciated the little moments as much as the big plot lines: like Hermione opening her little beaded bag, Dudley's goodbye to Harry, and Neville's grandmother showing up for 'duty' at Hogwarts, and the grafitti left for harry on the old potter cottage in godric's hollow, and especially Narcissa Malfoy's completely unexpected act of kindness to Harry.....wow.....it really is the attention to detail that have made this series such a pleasure to read, and re-read.

The book was delivered by UPS at 12 EST on Saturday and I settled in with a soda and sandwich and began reading. J. K. Rowling does a wonderful job of keeping the suspense going through to the end and the ending is fantastic! I finished the book around 9 pm EST the next night, and I was very satisfied with the entire series.

Loved it, I thought she did an excellent job with this last book...talk about pressure JKR must have been under! I definately found myself yelling at the book at a few times.

It will be very difficult to make into a movie that is kid-appropriate, because of the (albeit implied) torture scenes, extent of bodily damage, and Voldemort's actions... I am sure they will manage to make something with the essence of Potter, that everyone can enjoy.

I may have read too fast, but I finished the book yesterday (loved it), went back through today, and still am unsure of how Neville got the Gryffendor sword?

There were some loose ends that I thought she tried to answer, but weren't answer well. I thought the end could entailed more than just the main characters. I wanted to know more about the professors. And who was the new headmaster.

There were some loose ends that I thought she tried to answer, but weren't answer well. I thought the end could entailed more than just the main characters. I wanted to know more about the professors. And who was the new headmaster.

I think the book was very well written and she (Rowling)did justice to all of us and all her characters except maybe for one. I am sad that it is over but it was well ended and something like that cannot go on forever without some sort of spoilage eventually...so it's all good. I was pleased :)

It was excellent! My boys and I have started rereading the other 6 at the end of May and so we were all psyched up for the finale'. I read it first, much to my 18 year old's and one of my 12 year old's dismay). My other 12 year old just started Book 6 this morning. He FINALLY got infected with the excitedment and started reading at Book 2. I thought I knew where a couple of the storylines were headed in regards to who would get the pleasure of killing Bellatrix, what would be done about the treacherous Kreacher and was surprised by her resolutions. It was definitely a page-turner! I knew I had to finish it before Sunday when all the blogs and critics would be talking about it. I hope that Rowling has it in her to creat another series as endearing at this one.

I finished the book in a day. It was great. I really thought there was no way she could end it where I wouldnt highly criticize, but she did a really great job.

I finished it in less then a day and I love it. I got it one the whole opening night thing they do and lord am I one happy person. I'm reading it again in a couple more days. JK Rowling is great. Love all her work. Now she should go on vacation. Great job!

Took me eleven hours to read. When I was done I was left with a sense of deja vu. It seemed that Harry experienced the same sense of 'betrayal' from Dumbledore that Luke Skywalker did from Obiwan Kenobi in SW2. They almost had the same anguished cry "Why didn't he tell me?!" And the 'betrayals' were perpetrated for the same reasons - A.D. and O.K. could not face their own inadequacies as teachers/leaders.
Now I'm going to read them all in sequence again.
Donna

Finished it. Great book! Fulfilled my expectations. It seems strange not to have another one to wait for. Could we fill in the missing years?!

Great book. Started it at around 12:30am Saturday and finished it by around 10:00am.

Could be somewhat dense at times, yet the action sequences moved right along. Some parts were horrifying, some were funny, some were heartbreaking.

I liked the Epilogue. Just enough for me.

I finished the book this afternoon, and I found myself slowing down toward the end because I was all too acutely aware that there would be no more. I've read all the Harry Potter novels, some more than once. At 61 years of age I am hardly the target market, but I have enjoyed them thoroughly.

Ms. Rowling is a charming, imaginative and literate writer, and I will miss her marvelous creation, Harry Potter, his friends, and his magical world.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!! But answering a question from D, posted above.

D: Neville pulled the sword from the sorting had, as Harry had done before. It's on page 733 in the hardback version. Hope that helps :)

LOVED the book and am sad that it is over. I agree it would be nice to know what is going on in Harry's life "nineteen years later" besides married with kids, but it was a least good to see the most important characters safe and happy. My biggest question is: "What happened to the Dursleys?" It would have been fun if Dudley had a kid with magic powers and the whole family had come around, or something. :)

Finished yesterday, glad my assumptions were right, I knew there would be a tie in to the Shamanic/Druid journey. Felt it months before its release. Nice ending... very effective. Fun that night at Borders too... one of those last minute ideas that kept me up late two nights. :)

I finished the book in ten hours... and loved it! I think it was definitely worth the wait, although I'm very bummed that it was the last book.

I was thoroughly satisfied. I cried at every death. And I was cheering internally through the entire last third of the book. But, I honestly wouldn't have missed the Epilogue.

Rowling had me at the dedication. It didn't matter who lived or died, got married or became a teacher - the dedication was enough for me!

however, I still had to speed read the tome to know what happens before the spoilers ruined it, and to get the book as quickly as I could to my 20 year old, breathing down my neck!

cheers to Ms Rowling - its a classic.

My only comment is this: I really, really wish the last chapter had been longer/had more information. I loved what we did learn in those few pages, and I wish more characters were included and more details filled in.

*I* was "pouring" over the book!! I recall no other book that I have ever read in 33 years where I cried through at least half of it. I had no idea I'd gotten so attached to these characters and their stories. Such a good tale - I should start re-reading it, but first, go out for more tissues!!

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