Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows


Not being retired or unemployed I’ve read only 100 of the 600+ pages of this book and the last seven. May I confess that when I’m wrong, I’m wrong?

BEWARE OF PLOT SPOILER COMING UP

I was fully expecting that Joanne Rowling would kill off her hero in this her final opus in this series. This book is not literature for young children. Or rather I would hope that young children would find the subject matter disturbing. I still believe in the possibility of the innocence of youth or I’d like to. This being my first copy of Harry Potter I’ve read in hard cover binding I’m not accustomed to the sprained wrist syndrome.

I don’t expect posterity to declare Harry Potter great literature; in fact I think literary historians are going to asking, “What was all the fuss about?” Nevertheless I will admit to being attracted as a moth to a candle. It would seem that little has changed in English Grammar Schools since the time of Dickens and Sir Walter Scott. This book breaks the mould of the first three though as usual it begins with Harry at home at Number 4, Privet Drive, Little Whinging in Surrey; moves to the Burrow; and progresses from there. This time, however the triumvirate do not move immediately to Hogwarts.

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