Category: Harry Potter

Should you read the reviews?

Want to know J.K. Rowling’s own hints? Hear opinions on who’s the worst villain of them all? Find out about other Harry Potter theories? See previous posts, below this one.

As you’ve probably read or heard, the New York Times has a review of Book 7 in its Thursday editions. The Baltimore Sun had one Wednesday. They say they acquired the books ethically. I don’t know any more details, because I’m not going to read the reviews. Should you?

I asked some newsroom volunteers who didn’t care whether they learned the ending to read the two reviews and give advice. Here’s what I asked them:

Do the reviews reveal any key plot points: Does Harry die? Who else dies? Is Snape hero or villain? Who marries whom? Do they give any other hint? I.e. “happy ending” or “darkly powerful” etc etc.

Be aware I was even horrified when my eyes glanced over the 1A tease on today’s NY Times front page, which said something about comparing its ending with the tradition of the heroic saga genre. My stomach lurched in horror. To me, even that was going TOO FAR in revealing the end. I mean, doesn’t the heroic saga genre usually end with the hero alive? But then again, I had crappy high school English classes once I moved to Florida and never had to read Beowulf or Gilgamesh. And I can’t remember how the Iliad ended, either, other than it being really boring to a teenager …

Here’s advice from Elaine Jacobs, the newsroom’s administration manager: “For anyone who really doesn’t want any clues about the book, DO NOT read these reviews. There are clues about the storyline and good and bad events that happen, just not the ending.” She adds: “I hesitated before reading and skimmed NYT quickly before deciding I could live w/knowing the storyline. Baltimore clearly states at the beginning it’s not going to tell the ending, but reveals something at the end of the review that would spoil it for some.”

This is from Kerry Bean, editor of the Observer’s Neighbors of Southern Mecklenburg section, who replied to my query for volunteers:

“I am guilty of wanting to know the ending before I read a book because I don’t like to get too attached to characters who aren’t going to make it. (I already read the final pages of the book that were posted online and can’t wait to find out if they were accurate. … I just reread Book 6 last week in preparation. And because I don’t know anyone else who wants to know, I told my husband all the details of the ending I read online (he only read two of the books).”

Kerry read both reviews. Her verdict: “Don’t read either of them. They give away too many clues (and it appears as if the pages I read online were the real thing). The NYT one is better than the Baltimore one, but it needs a few lines edited out to be OK for fans who don’t want to know anything.”

She adds, “If you hear from anyone else who wants to know the ending, let them know I am so eager to talk about it.”

Here are the fateful links. Read them at your own risk:

New York Times review
Baltimore Sun review

Here’s an online article about the two papers’ breaking the embargo, and what other papers say they’ll do, from Editor & Publisher. Warning: At the end it quotes from both of the reviews. If you don’t want to read even a snippet of the review, either don’t read this link or stop reading before the end.

Here’s a tirade from Rachel Sklar of the Huffington Post, who’s mad at The Times for its review.

And finally, here’s an online discussion about Harry Potter, reading, and publishing from earlier today with Bob Thompson of the Washington Post. About two-thirds of the way down you’ll get Thompson’s opinion of the newspaper that ran reviews today.

Should you read the reviews?

Want to know J.K. Rowling’s own hints? Hear opinions on who’s the worst villain of them all? Find out about other Harry Potter theories? See previous posts, below this one.

As you’ve probably read or heard, the New York Times has a review of Book 7 in its Thursday editions. The Baltimore Sun had one Wednesday. They say they acquired the books ethically. I don’t know any more details, because I’m not going to read the reviews. Should you?

I asked some newsroom volunteers who didn’t care whether they learned the ending to read the two reviews and give advice. Here’s what I asked them:

Do the reviews reveal any key plot points: Does Harry die? Who else dies? Is Snape hero or villain? Who marries whom? Do they give any other hint? I.e. “happy ending” or “darkly powerful” etc etc.

Be aware I was even horrified when my eyes glanced over the 1A tease on today’s NY Times front page, which said something about comparing its ending with the tradition of the heroic saga genre. My stomach lurched in horror. To me, even that was going TOO FAR in revealing the end. I mean, doesn’t the heroic saga genre usually end with the hero alive? But then again, I had crappy high school English classes once I moved to Florida and never had to read Beowulf or Gilgamesh. And I can’t remember how the Iliad ended, either, other than it being really boring to a teenager …

Here’s advice from Elaine Jacobs, the newsroom’s administration manager: “For anyone who really doesn’t want any clues about the book, DO NOT read these reviews. There are clues about the storyline and good and bad events that happen, just not the ending.” She adds: “I hesitated before reading and skimmed NYT quickly before deciding I could live w/knowing the storyline. Baltimore clearly states at the beginning it’s not going to tell the ending, but reveals something at the end of the review that would spoil it for some.”

This is from Kerry Bean, editor of the Observer’s Neighbors of Southern Mecklenburg section, who replied to my query for volunteers:

“I am guilty of wanting to know the ending before I read a book because I don’t like to get too attached to characters who aren’t going to make it. (I already read the final pages of the book that were posted online and can’t wait to find out if they were accurate. … I just reread Book 6 last week in preparation. And because I don’t know anyone else who wants to know, I told my husband all the details of the ending I read online (he only read two of the books).”

Kerry read both reviews. Her verdict: “Don’t read either of them. They give away too many clues (and it appears as if the pages I read online were the real thing). The NYT one is better than the Baltimore one, but it needs a few lines edited out to be OK for fans who don’t want to know anything.”

She adds, “If you hear from anyone else who wants to know the ending, let them know I am so eager to talk about it.”

Here are the fateful links. Read them at your own risk:

New York Times review
Baltimore Sun review

Here’s an online article about the two papers’ breaking the embargo, and what other papers say they’ll do, from Editor & Publisher. Warning: At the end it quotes from both of the reviews. If you don’t want to read even a snippet of the review, either don’t read this link or stop reading before the end.

Here’s a tirade from Rachel Sklar of the Huffington Post, who’s mad at The Times for its review.

And finally, here’s an online discussion about Harry Potter, reading, and publishing from earlier today with Bob Thompson of the Washington Post. About two-thirds of the way down you’ll get Thompson’s opinion of the newspaper that ran reviews today.

Is Harry A Horcrux? Part II

Is Harry A Horcrux? What clues has J.K. Rowling herself dropped? Snape: Villain, hero or something else? Who dies in Book 7? Ralph Fiennes — born to play Lupin, not Voldemort? If you’re interested in those topics, see previous posts, below.

(And let me just say that I’m fascinated by the theory (see comments in previous post) that it’s Harry’s scar that’s the Horcrux, and all he has to do is get rid of his scar. So a bit of dermabrasion would save the world from evil!)

Earlier today I promised a longer look at why some folks think there’s no way Harry could be one of the missing Horcruxes. Here’s one person’s semi-rant:

Do I think that Dumbledore was right and Voldemort intended to make a Horcrux with Harry’s murder? Yes. Do I think it’s possible to make a Horcrux accidentally? No. And if Harry was a Horcrux, it would certainly be accidental.

On page 498 of the American edition, Professor Slughorn says to Tom Riddle, “There is a spell [used to encase the split portion of the soul], do not ask me, I don’t know!” Now, it follows logically that to create a Horcrux, one would commit murder, then take the desired object and perform the incantation. And, presto, you have your Horcrux. Meaning that (a) it can only happen on purpose, (b) it can only happen after the murder has taken place and (c) it sure as hell didn’t happen to Harry the night his parents were killed.

On top of that, it just doesn’t make any sense to me.

The movie: Who should have been cast?

Is Snape evil? Who’s going to die in Book 7? And what clues has J.K. Rowling herself dropped? See previous posts if you’re interested in those topics.

First, a disclaimer: I’ve never thought the Harry Potter movies came close to the books in emotional power, verbal hijinks or general richness of experience. That said, I’ve seen them all (except No. 5, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” ) and enjoyed them.
But for years I’ve been mentally casting the movies. Sometimes my preferred actors even got the roles for which God seems to have intended them.
— Alan Rickman was born to play Snape.
–Maggie Smith was perfect for McGonagall. (In fact, I keep expecting McGonagall to take on some Jean Brodie-esque qualities. Don’t you think she was carrying a torch for years for Dumbledore?)
–I’d have cast Alec Guinness as Dumbledore except for the little problem of his having died. Richard Harris was quite good. And he died, too. This is not a good omen. Michael Gambon is not right. He lacks a necessary twinkle. And he’s wearing a beanie, for crying out loud!
At least a few of you agree, based on comments below. (As of 12:42 p.m.)
Ian McKellan was busy, I guess. Which leaves Peter O’Toole. He’d have hammed it up wonderfully.
—Sirius Black was a role made for Daniel Day-Lewis. Thin, dark, intense, romantic but dangerous. That Gary Oldman guy just misses the point.
–Ralph Fiennes would have made the perfect Lupin — sympathetic, with undertones of nervous despair and tragedy, and just the faintest wolfish cast to his features. (Note the adjective that describes a wolfish kind of face is lupine.) Fiennes is wasted as Voldemort. With all that makeup, who can tell what the guy underneath looks like anyway?
–And the actor playing Lupin — David Thewlis — is wrong, wrong, wrong. “He’s just kind of ugly and he has a bad haircut,” says one of my friends.
–I’m looking forward to Imelda Staunton as Umbridge. I just hope she’s prissy enough. My midnight-movie source reported today that she was fabulously evil and twisted.
—Slughorn? I envision Richard Griffiths. Too bad he was already snapped up to play Uncle Vernon.
–Helena Bonham-Carter may be too petite and too curly-haired to play Bellatrix Lestrange, who is described as having long, sleek black hair. But her face is suitably cavernous, with eyes that bore into you, so maybe that will work out. Again, my midnight-movie source, who is a very tough critic, approved, saying Bonham-Carter was suitably “deranged.”
Who’s in your dream cast for the movies?

JK Rowling’s own clues

You may know what you think will happen, but J.K. Rowling knows. Here are some hints she has dropped that may shatter your illusions:

–Harry’s grandparents are all dead, and they aren’t important to the plot. Rowling calls that part of her backstory “mundane territory.” She said she thought it was more interesting, plot-wise, if Harry was completely alone. James’ parents, she said in an interview, “succumbed to a wizarding illness. That’s as far as it goes. There’s nothing serious or sinister about those deaths. I just needed them out of the way so I killed them.”

–That means, she said, Harry is not the heir of Gryffindor.

–The gum wrappers that Alice Longbottom gives to her son, Neville, at St. Mungo’s in Book 5 (Phoenix) are just gum wrappers, a sad depiction of how an insane mother tries to offer something to her son.

—Dumbledore’s death was always planned to happen. (That has to mean it must be integral to the outcome.)– More about Dumbledore: “I think it has been demonstrated, particularly in Books 5 and 6 that immense brainpower does not protect you from emotional mistakes, and I think Dumbledore really exemplifies that.”

–Ron’s eyes are blue. Hermione’s are brown. Ron’s Patronus is a small dog. (Those aren’t necessarily clues, but just small details that haven’t been revealed yet.)

–The color of Harry’s eyes (green, like his mother) is significant and important.

–In Book 4 (Goblet) the “gleam of triumph” on Dumbledore’s face when Harry tells him what happened with Voldemort is, Rowling said, “enormously significant.” And, she points out, “I haven’t told you that much is enormously significant, so you can let your imaginations run free there.”

–Question: Why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? Would he actually have let her live? JKR: “Mhm. … [silence] Can’t tell you.”

—Umbridge will reappear. Rowling: “She’s a pretty evil character … It’s too much fun to torture her not to have another little bit more, before I finish.”

–If Dumbledore looked in the mirror of Erised, what would he see? Rowling: “I can’t answer that.”

–What would Dumbledore’s boggart be? JKR: “I can’t answer that either, but for theories you should read Book 6 again.”

–Bellatrix Lestrange will play a significant role. See the article in today’s Observer about what JKR told actress Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Lestrange in the movie that opens today.

Who’s gonna die?

So, who dies? (Sorry, blogger.com won’t let me title this. I’ll try later when the software wakes up from its midday nap.)

It was Emerson Spartz’s comment (see the 2005 interview with J.K. Rowling) that got me thinking about who will be killed off in Harry Potter No. 7, “The Deathly Hallows”: “The wise old wizard with the beard always dies.” (Think Obi-Wan Kenobi.)

An aside: But remember Gandalf, in Lord of the Rings. He came back. On the other hand, Rowling has said that in her books, when you’re dead you’re dead. I don’t think Dumbledore will come back. And I really hope he doesn’t come back as a blue-green hazy ghost floating around to impart wisdom at important plot junctures, as Obi-Wan did.

My buddy Dave Enna says that if you’re ever watching a low-budget movie and you see a beat up ’72 Pontiac, you know the car will explode sooner or later. Or if you’re watching a cheesy thriller and a blonde takes a shower early on, you know she will not survive.

Rowling has said two main characters will die in Book 7. There’s been much speculation about whether Harry will be one of them. As I wrote previously, I’m not sure he will live. But given the heroic genre, I don’t think he will.

That brings me to Remus Lupin. He’s one of my favorite characters — maybe my very favorite, after Dumbledore. He’s thoughtful, principled, brave, noble, has good taste in women (Tonks) and he’s living with a deathly illness for which polite society shuns him — werewolf-hood. Many AIDS parallels. Anyway, sorry to say, but soon as I met him in Book 3 I knew he’s too good to live. The only question is whether Rowling considers him a “main character.”

Ron — I don’t think both Harry and Ron will die. That means, I’m so sorry, Ron will have to. Maybe Harry will have to choose whether to kill Voldemort and at the same time kill Ron, or save Ron and let Voldy go.

Updated paragraph (4:21 p.m. Monday): In my haste I neglected to say that of course, Snape will die. Whether he’ll die as an act of noble sacrifice in order that Voldemort will die, or die battling the forces of good, or die some other way (this is my hunch), I don’t think he’ll survive.

Who else? Maybe Hagrid? At least one other Weasley, possibly more. Bill is probably toast, I fear. And Mr. Weasley, too.

Who’s gonna die?

So, who dies? (Sorry, blogger.com won’t let me title this. I’ll try later when the software wakes up from its midday nap.)

It was Emerson Spartz’s comment (see the 2005 interview with J.K. Rowling) that got me thinking about who will be killed off in Harry Potter No. 7, “The Deathly Hallows”: “The wise old wizard with the beard always dies.” (Think Obi-Wan Kenobi.)

An aside: But remember Gandalf, in Lord of the Rings. He came back. On the other hand, Rowling has said that in her books, when you’re dead you’re dead. I don’t think Dumbledore will come back. And I really hope he doesn’t come back as a blue-green hazy ghost floating around to impart wisdom at important plot junctures, as Obi-Wan did.

My buddy Dave Enna says that if you’re ever watching a low-budget movie and you see a beat up ’72 Pontiac, you know the car will explode sooner or later. Or if you’re watching a cheesy thriller and a blonde takes a shower early on, you know she will not survive.

Rowling has said two main characters will die in Book 7. There’s been much speculation about whether Harry will be one of them. As I wrote previously, I’m not sure he will live. But given the heroic genre, I don’t think he will.

That brings me to Remus Lupin. He’s one of my favorite characters — maybe my very favorite, after Dumbledore. He’s thoughtful, principled, brave, noble, has good taste in women (Tonks) and he’s living with a deathly illness for which polite society shuns him — werewolf-hood. Many AIDS parallels. Anyway, sorry to say, but soon as I met him in Book 3 I knew he’s too good to live. The only question is whether Rowling considers him a “main character.”

Ron — I don’t think both Harry and Ron will die. That means, I’m so sorry, Ron will have to. Maybe Harry will have to choose whether to kill Voldemort and at the same time kill Ron, or save Ron and let Voldy go.

Updated paragraph (4:21 p.m. Monday): In my haste I neglected to say that of course, Snape will die. Whether he’ll die as an act of noble sacrifice in order that Voldemort will die, or die battling the forces of good, or die some other way (this is my hunch), I don’t think he’ll survive.

Who else? Maybe Hagrid? At least one other Weasley, possibly more. Bill is probably toast, I fear. And Mr. Weasley, too.

Is Snape evil?

For a couple of weeks – or maybe less, depending on reactions – I’m going to veer away from the usual Naked City topics here and instead offer this blog up for theories, comments and philosophizing about Harry Potter and the upcoming seventh and last book.

Why? Because for a lot of readers, it’s more fun than public policy, planning and transportation arguments. And because it’s July.

And because despite the mountains of hype, some very interesting Potter facts are out there, if you know where to look.

First, you have to endure my theory about what’s going to happen. I promise, it isn’t long.

For years I didn’t think J.K. Rowling would kill off Harry Potter in the end. Now, I’m not so sure. After all, the main character, Nathaniel, was killed off at the end of Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy about wizards in England. And I didn’t dream she would kill off Dumbledore.

Silly me. Rowling said in an interview in 2005, “In the genre of writing that I”m working in, almost always the hero must go on alone. That’s the way it is.”Or, as MuggleNet.com creator Emerson Spartz then said, during the interview, “The wise old wizard with the beard always dies.”

As I wrote in my column today (see www.charlotte.com/opinion), I think Snape’s out to kill Voldemort, because he was in love with Lily Evans Potter. When Voldy killed Lily, Snape snapped. He’s playing both ends against the middle, loyal to nothing but his rage. Dumbledore knew that and trusted Snape to protect Harry, since Harry must be the one to kill Voldemort.

So let’s hear it. Snape – good or evil? Comments below.

If you have topics you’d like to propose, put them in comments or e-mail me. I’ll be checking in daily, adding links and theories.And if you’ve time, read the lengthy Rowling interview on MuggleNet. Plenty of room for speculation in there. Such as when she says, “Dumbledore’s family would be a profitable line of inquiry …”