Well, it's official- the last Harry Potter book, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows', will be available for sale at midnight, July 21st. Aside from proving that J.K. Rowling is reaching far down into the depths of the Unfathomable Title Barrel, the release of the new title raises a few questions in my mind--given that we're all going to buy it, is anyone planning on shutting themselves off from all media from midnight of the 21st until they finish it? Guaranteed, that by 12:01 somebody will have flipped to the last page, found out if Harry lives or dies, and it will be on the web and the news.
-are you going to flip to the last page first yourself, or will you plow through the, oh, probably 1,200 pages to find out?
-call me nasty-minded, but with all the hands the manuscript is going to go through, from editors to printers to binders to deliverymen to bookstores, can the publishers really keep this one under wraps until midnight of the 21st? I'll bet "no".
-J.K. Rowling has dropped what I think is the biggest hint already regarding Harry's longevity- she has said that this book wraps up the series, and it represents a fully-realised concept which she does not wish to see expanded upon. So I bet she kills him. Not that this will really matter- the history if literature is full of characters who rose from the dead later. Not even Sherlock Holmes stayed dead, and Harry is at least as talented as Holmes. Not to mention that he's a damned wizard. Who would be easier to ressurect than a wizard? So maybe she'll realise the futility of it all, and not kill him. She'll certainly 'kill' the 7th movie, not to mention future sales of all 7 books, if he dies.
Well, we'll see. And I'm betting we see before July 21st. If you really don't want to know, I'd say cut yourself off from all media by July 10th. And if you don't care either way -why the hell did you read this far?
8 comments:
Why the hell did I read that far?
Not that I'm dissing H.P., no far from it. I read a couple of the books and I watched a few of the movies, and they were quite enjoyable, and it's been thrilling to watch millions of kids all GAGA-GAGGY-WAGGY over books.
It's just... well... they are, after all, just a bunch of books, and all good stories must come to an end. And it really is better for them to come to an end before there's any literary jumping of the shark.
So there, I said it. I'm glad it's ending. But it's not really ending because, after all, they are a bunch of books, and they'll always be brand new stories for somebody.
Phoebe- time to confess, I do enjoy the books, and to preserve marital harmony we'll have to buy two copies of the new one to avoid that "who gets it first" argument. They may not be good literature, but she's a good storyteller, and that's fine with me.
The movies are almost a seperate series, though they are really well cast, and enjoyable.
Man, I must have no taste whatsoever. I just can't get into those HP books at all. My whole family shuts down for days on end and they fight over the books, but I just can't do it. Oh, and for the record, I almost always read the ending of a book first. I am twisted that way.
O.K. I'm the laggard here. I have yet to read any of the HP books. Yet. Maybe I should start with the last one and work my way backward to the first one.
But I do have a cat named Muggles.
Mike- they're really not too different from current events; you have a twisted, evil wizard who is rarely seen in public, who sows death and destruction and is fighting for world domination against the forces of Good. What am i saying? That has -no- relevance to the current world situation. I don;t know what I was thinking...
Catalyst- good idea- like Merlin in the Once and Future King. Who named the cat?
Yours truly, of course. But it came to me while looking at the dark "M" on his forehead. (Hmm, do cats have foreheads?) I must say I hadn't heard of the Harry Potter muggles at the time, as far as I can remember.
Three things:
Firs, I thougt th last Harry Pottr book was th last Harry Pottr book.
Seckon, if this latest Harry Pottr book IS th last Harry Pottr book, then Im sayin hes probly pretty much good as dead evn if he dont get killt off.
Third, evn if Harry Pottr DOES get killt off in th last Harry Pottr book, weell still have this guy.
Catalyst- your cat had probably read the books and was excercising that kitty mind-bending thing on you.
Joey- no, the next shall be last... and the last shall be first and... well, damn, now I'm confused.
Potterus
Potterii
Potterum... it all equals BIG $
Post a Comment