Books That Made Me Cry - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Books can affect you in any number of ways. Sometimes they introduce you to new ideas and make your world bigger. Sometimes they speak to something deep inside you and make you feel like someone else understands. Sometimes they just wrench your guts out and send a cascade of hot tears down your face and make you wish you hadn't started reading that chapter on the bus.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
When'd I read it? July 21-22, 2007 (amazing how easy it is to pin down the specific date you read a worldwide publishing phenomenom).
What's it about? So, this is the last book in the Harry Potter series and it's mostly about how Harry, Ron, and Hermione putter around aimlessly for hundreds of pages before J.K. Rowling figures out that her books are supposed to have plots. I kid, mostly. But it basically follows the main trio as they try to track down and destroy all of Voldemort's old Horcruxes (pieces of his soul), so that Harry can fulfill the prophecy that he (and only he) can be the one to defeat Voldemort. It's a good read that isn't weighted down by Quidditch matches and Hagrid subplots. The whole thing ends with the casualty-heavy Battle of Hogwarts which features badassery from most of the extended cast, the revelation that Severus Snape didn't really betray Dumbledore but was still an awful person, and showed that the real Deathly Hallows are in all of us, or something.
Why'd I cry? Well, the aforementioned battle is pretty heavy on casualties. With fan favorites like Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Fred Weasley all ending up enrolled in that big magic school in the sky. Or whatever happens to wizards who don't become ghosts. But I'd like to spare a thought for poor Colin Creevey, better known as nobody's favorite character. He died at the age of 16 after sneaking back into Hogwarts to take on the Death Eaters. Anyway, in my mind he was still that obnoxious first year from Chamber of Secrets always following Harry around with that damn camera. And so it got to me when J.K. Rowling capriciously decided that the annoying brat deserved to die (I mean, seriously, he's barely plot device in most of the books). Also, let's talk about Fred Weasley. I always found Fred and George's antics a bit grating, personally. But together they barely added up to a single character, and Rowling goes and kills one of them off, leaving the other as (at most) half of a character for the rest of his natural life? I quite enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but man, J.K. Rowling is ruthless.
Would it make me cry again if I re-read the book now? I don't think so. So far any attempt at re-reading the Harry Potter books dies somewhere in the middle of Order of the Phoenix (Seriously, J.K? Harry just yelling in all caps the whole time? Not a good look.). That aside, it was more the shock that she made a point of killing off a character as insignificant as Colin Creevey, than any emotional attachment I had to the character.
Links:
JK Rowling makes a habit of tweeting out apologies for character deaths annually. This year was Dobby, meh.
Apparently people were really attached to Dobby? Like they'd leave out socks to free the prop Dobby on display at the Warner Bros. Studio tour.
Huh, I guess that means I'm the weirdo for never really liking Dobby.
Anyway, this is the last Books That Made Me Cry for now. Don't worry there might be more, the future is unwritten.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS!
When'd I read it? July 21-22, 2007 (amazing how easy it is to pin down the specific date you read a worldwide publishing phenomenom).
What's it about? So, this is the last book in the Harry Potter series and it's mostly about how Harry, Ron, and Hermione putter around aimlessly for hundreds of pages before J.K. Rowling figures out that her books are supposed to have plots. I kid, mostly. But it basically follows the main trio as they try to track down and destroy all of Voldemort's old Horcruxes (pieces of his soul), so that Harry can fulfill the prophecy that he (and only he) can be the one to defeat Voldemort. It's a good read that isn't weighted down by Quidditch matches and Hagrid subplots. The whole thing ends with the casualty-heavy Battle of Hogwarts which features badassery from most of the extended cast, the revelation that Severus Snape didn't really betray Dumbledore but was still an awful person, and showed that the real Deathly Hallows are in all of us, or something.
Why'd I cry? Well, the aforementioned battle is pretty heavy on casualties. With fan favorites like Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, and Fred Weasley all ending up enrolled in that big magic school in the sky. Or whatever happens to wizards who don't become ghosts. But I'd like to spare a thought for poor Colin Creevey, better known as nobody's favorite character. He died at the age of 16 after sneaking back into Hogwarts to take on the Death Eaters. Anyway, in my mind he was still that obnoxious first year from Chamber of Secrets always following Harry around with that damn camera. And so it got to me when J.K. Rowling capriciously decided that the annoying brat deserved to die (I mean, seriously, he's barely plot device in most of the books). Also, let's talk about Fred Weasley. I always found Fred and George's antics a bit grating, personally. But together they barely added up to a single character, and Rowling goes and kills one of them off, leaving the other as (at most) half of a character for the rest of his natural life? I quite enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but man, J.K. Rowling is ruthless.
Would it make me cry again if I re-read the book now? I don't think so. So far any attempt at re-reading the Harry Potter books dies somewhere in the middle of Order of the Phoenix (Seriously, J.K? Harry just yelling in all caps the whole time? Not a good look.). That aside, it was more the shock that she made a point of killing off a character as insignificant as Colin Creevey, than any emotional attachment I had to the character.
Links:
JK Rowling makes a habit of tweeting out apologies for character deaths annually. This year was Dobby, meh.
Apparently people were really attached to Dobby? Like they'd leave out socks to free the prop Dobby on display at the Warner Bros. Studio tour.
Huh, I guess that means I'm the weirdo for never really liking Dobby.
Anyway, this is the last Books That Made Me Cry for now. Don't worry there might be more, the future is unwritten.
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