I finished "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows" last night about 1 am and could not sleep much afterwards, it is a haunting end to a fine Magnum Opus, a true achievement. I had not felt so effected by a novel in a very long time, perhaps since my youth. The Problem is that I don't want to give you any spoilers because, being an adult reader I am sure that I have read it faster than most young people- 3 days seems to me a very short time for a teenager to read 759 pages - even in that lovely large typeface that is used its still a lot to read in less than a week. I just about despaired for Harry by Chapter 23 - the darkest of the darkest and I will admit I wept at the end of that chapter (always have cried easily.) - I would compare it to Frodo's capture by the Orcs for just pure hopelessness, yet, it is a turning point. After reading that chapter I gave my husband the book Sunday morning.
I think I can share with you this one thing about the novel : I tend to give up easily when opposing people/things/society - I don't believe in victory (for myself.) I don't run away - I just give up because I see myself as a weaker person than most. I stand up for myself with a decent amount of skill and I am a fine speaker but I don't believe there is any point to it all - the strong always win and all we can do is fight nobly until we die or some other end/defeat comes. This isn't your every day kind of despair its a lesson I learned in my past lives which has stained this lifetime. This has effected me many times in big and little ways. I don't like to argue. I don't believe that what I want really matters.... like I said...
Well, this book made me face that old tendency to despair when faced with what seems impossible odds - which is certainly what Harry and his friends face in the second half of the book. Yet there is victory - its an expensive, terrible, destructive victory but it is a victory born of all things - defeat - in a way, the book seems to me to be oddly Christian in its message, but its Christianity seems buried, hidden away in the heart of the thing.
I did not see how he could have anything like a victory or how they could repair the damage done once it was all over. I really didn't think the book would end the way it did. I can only suggest you read the book - it is a masterpiece of imaginative literature and see what you find in it. You are in for a fine read.
