Harry Potter at and End

I’m late. I know. Does anyone follow me closely enough to be angry? Somehow I doubt it. Anyway, my reason is that I just got back from the final instalment of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.

I won’t give anything away. Or I’ll try not to. I was impressed with how closely they followed the book until they got to the end. There were some... interesting alterations in the last hour or so. Personally, I thought Voldemort was funnier than he was scary. One chick beside my dad was apparently crying while me and Dana were trying with all we had not to burst out laughing. The fact that it likely sounded like we were crying only made me laugh harder. The movie was well done, I enjoyed every minute and well, no surprise, I recommend it. I think the majority of Potter fans will love it. I think the average movie-goer should be able to follow it and enjoy it. They really did do a good job taking a very dark, serious part of the book and weaving in moments of levity and humour. I thought it was a pretty balanced movie in terms of emotions.

I do however have to admit that I’m kind of sad. This part is probably going to sound like a combination hero worship and crazy fangirl. I was eleven when I started reading Harry Potter, I'm twenty two now. I pretty much grew up as Harry was growing up in the books. Harry Potter has kind of always been a part of my life, it was a pretty huge part of my childhood. I don't know how many times I've read those books. It’s a little weird to be leaving Harry behind again. I was sad when I read the last page of the last book. But I still had the movies to experience. Now, it really is over. 

The hero worship part comes from my admiration of JK Rowling as a writer. The story she wrote is beautifully complex while being simple at its core. The way she expanded on that story through small details that become crucially important in later books amazes me. And though the story is packed with all kinds of allusions to mythology, history, astronomy and countless other disciplines, it is probably one of the most readable books I’ve come across. She sucks you in with characters you can’t help but care for and root for, she writes with humour, attention to detail, to background stories, to building her narrative and taking the reader along with her step by step. Harry Potter is such a complete, carefully crafted work. To me, what JK Rowling has done with literature is magic. How many people can get the entire world reading? How many people hit on something that good and manage to work it out so that millions can understand it too?

Yeah... she’s kind of one of my big influences... Surprised? And now you also know why I consider Twilight to be sensationalist drivel. No comparison stylistically. I feel like JK Rowling and Harry Potter will be considered a major hallmark of my generation while Twilight will (hopefully) be nothing more than a fad.

One of my dreams is to write a novel with a story as developed and complete as Harry Potter. One day I’ll get there...

Lauren.