No Spoilers, I Promise
Posted By Ardellis on August 5, 2007
I’m a few chapters into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows now, and what everyone who’s already read it has told me is pretty true. Intense. Right from the start. Important stuff going on already. Upsetting stuff.
And I’m not reading quickly enough to please my husband, who has already read it and can’t stand that he can’t talk about it with me. But I’m a slow reader. I tend to read not just to find out what happens but to enjoy the characters and the world as thoroughly as I can. I’m in no rush to finish, because then it’ll be over. Yes, I can always go back and reread any book in the series, but it’s not the same.
You can never read a book for the first time more than once.
When I read page fifty six I sobbed my face off for several minutes, and even when telling Richard what happened later (he’s not reading them and didn’t mind being spoiled) I had to collect myself in order to get the words out.
I had to put the book down for a few minutes there, yeah. That was where I knew we were in for a rough ride. On page 56 out of 759. Damn.
Now I don’t know if I want to read it at all. I’ve cried over more fictional characters than I can count, and it hurts terribly every time, just as if they were real people I cared about. Not sure if I’m ready for that at the moment.
Eek! I didn’t mean to scare you off, Ernestine! It’s really worth reading and quite well done, although it does start out on a pretty intense note. I recommend it quite highly.
(goes over here and stays quiet until absolutely everyone has read it.)
Bah! That’s like saying you shouldn’t read Shakespeare because it doesn’t always have a happy ending.
The Victorians tried that, you know; rewriting Shakespeare so everybody lived through ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Romeo & Juliet’, and look what happened to them!
That’s right; replaced by the Edwardians. Served ‘em right.
Look at it this way; if you don’t read it yourself, you’re going to find out who lives and who dies through other sources eventually, and wouldn’t it be preferable to deal with that on your own terms, than have it explode in your face in the middle of an otherwise perfectly harmless conversation/magazine article/TV interview/movie sequel? All things considered, I think the deaths (and yes, there are a few that’ll knock you on your ass) make for an great finale to the series. Don’t deprive yourself the opportunity for some satisfying closure.
And Barb, get out of the corner. You look silly.
By the way, I miss you both madly.
Actually, I think I’d rather have someone tell me about what happens. When I read I get totally emotionally involved, I am right there (if it’s written well, of course) in the action. *That’s* when I get blindsided by horrible stuff happening to characters I love, that’s when I cry. If I’ve been told the worst already, it doesn’t hurt as much when I do read it for myself.
I don’t think your example is appropriate either. I love Shakespeare, but it’s such a part of common knowledge that even before I read them I knew they wouldn’t have happy endings. It’s when I want and expect happy and get nastiness that I get upset. Knowing at the outset makes a big difference.
Miss you, too, Andy!