March 13, 2008

BTT: Playing Editor

Booking Through Thursday time again:

How about a chance to play editor-in-chief? Fill in the blanks:

__________ would have been a much better book if ______________________.


"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" would have been a much better book if it had not had the epilogue at the end. I know this is sacrelige to say that there is anything wrong with the HP books. However, I think the final book would have been better without the little peek into the future offered at the end. I would have preferred if JK Rowling had left it to us to imagine what might happen to all of our beloved friends, rather than wrapping it all up for us quite so neatly. The cynic in me thinks she was trying to control the fan fiction versions of the future, but I suspect really she didn't want to let them all go yet, and wanted to put us at ease that everything turns out right in the end. I can understand that; I want an easy life for our Harry as well. Life isn't really like that, and his personality and talent for finding trouble would suggest his adult life would be as interesting as his childhood was, Voldemort or no.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too wrote about it. Rowling killed it for us. Of all HPs, I loved 3 and 4!

janiejane said...

I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Anonymous said...

You must have known that someone would disagree. I think there is essential information in that final section. We need to know that Harry has understood and appreciated the life that Snape has lived and we need the conversation that he has with Albus about the hat taking account of a pupil's own choices because that, for me, is the basic lesson from the series - we are responsible for the way our lives turn out because we are the ones who make the choices. Rowling might have found a way to get that through elsewhere but as the books stand I really believe we need the final chapter.

janiejane said...

I agree we need that information, but I think it could have been conveyed elsewhere. The sorting hat information was conveyed earlier, in Chamber of Secrets, when Harry thinks he should have been Slytherin instead of Gryffindor.

I have mixed feelings - I did like knowing what the future holds for Harry et. al., but I think it could have been a stronger finish without it. Thanks for commenting!

Anonymous said...

I liked HP7 for the most part but the epilogue did take a little from the book for me. Then again, I thought they should have ended up in different situations.