I am about half way into the book after oh.... maybe 6 hours of reading? My goodness it is a dark, dark novel and hardly what I expected, though to be honest, I didn't know what to expect. The entire world is against Harry and his friends are the very few and most of those are not really for him. I don't want to give away the plot but I thought I would write an overview and a few observations.
It isn't as well paced as the first 6 novels - Harry seems frozen in place a lot of the time, waiting for something, anything to move him and this isn't entirely his fault, he has plans but there seems few ways of implementing them. The entire magical community has turned against him and his friends are few and in as much danger as himself. The discovery of clues is a lot slower or at least, seems a lot slower, this time. I am not sure why she is writing him this way, after being so active in the other books, but, without the school year as a basic template Harry often seems as if he is just waiting. The Horcruxes do play an important role but he isn't moving fast enough, and, anyway, the Death Eaters and Voldermort seem to hold all the cards and certainly all the power. I really don't know what hope Harry has of prevailing - usually, even in reality, there is a chance of winning - look at the Allies, Britain and USA, during World War II - The Germans had the Blitzkrieg and the failed bomb attempts on Hitler's life, but we had D-Day, the resources of the USA and the march into Berlin.
Imagine the end of the first book of Lord of the Rings - Gandalf is dead, Sam and Frodo have left the Fellowship to find their own way to Mordor alone & friendless and the younger hobbits are caught by the enemy and are being taken to Isengard while the remaining members of the Fellowship are chasing them.. now put a few extra deaths in that mix including Gandalf's who remains dead and you have a sense of the seventh book ... there is no sense in the "Deathly Hollows" that you get by the middle of the second book (of LOTRs) that the 'Tide has turned" Gandalf's exact words to his friends when he returns - He says, yes, the battles coming will be fierce but there is still hope.
But in this book, I just don't see much hope (there is a little, one of them very simular to something from WWII!) - the tide is not only flooding the book, its claiming a lot of good friends and things that were very valuable. The Trilogy of the Ring is a lot more hopeful even in its darkest moments. Like Sam's song on the stairs as he searches for his stolen master:
"Though here at journey's end I lie
In darkness buried deep,
Beyond all towers strong and high,
Beyond all mountains steep,
Above all shadows rides the Sun
And Stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
Nor bid the Stars farewell."
(I've always sung that song when the despair seemed to assending in my soul ... I sing, though
"Though at journey's end I lie and several words have changed over the years.... and I always sing the refrain several times... It is a song that helped me through many sad things.)
Could the theme of hope be stronger in the 'Lord of the Rings' because it was written by a Christian? - perhaps, I am not sure. Hope is a Christian virtue, modern people faced with the despair of the news and the rantings of Al Gore and Bin Laden forget that. People think faith is faith in God or a church but real faith and hope - is faith that in the end, good always wins and hope that you may very well taste victory if only in the the next life (now guess if I mean reincarnation or afterlife!) .
Perhaps, this is artifice on her part so the victory is all the sweeter. I sometimes feel like she is going to strip Harry of everything before the end and let him scream in the dark for awhile, I am certainly glad Mrs. Rowlings isn't writing my life's novel !
I really don't expect Harry to win or even survive - he is nearly impotent (so far!) - but why, I will not say, most of us who are still reading the book want to be surprised. What I suggest is that you read the novel than go do something cheerful from time to time just so the dark tones of the novel don't fill your soul. This is what I am doing by writing this.
I tend to see the big patterns in things - though I can work in both big patterns and details and its the big patterns I thought I would mention - I would also suggest that she isn't releasing the tensions in the book often enough, the intensity seems to be building, building as if the spring keeps getting pulled back further and further - not sure how to explain that - you know the kind of scenes - the grave digger in Hamlet, the door keeper in Macbeth, let the audience rest a few moments before some new horror comes upon them ... there are few laughs in this book - very few. Gaol's humor is better than no humor at all. The bad guys seem to have all the breaks and the good guys way too few breaks of any kind.
Oh, one little mention - one of her quotes seems to remind of line from "Jesus Christ: Superstar" or perhaps the Bible? Oh, my - not sure which - again, to give you the line would reveal too much. Its a line I know I have read or heard many times - it is comes from something I know very well. I may google it when and if I pry the book from my husband's hands !
I suggest hot tea and a few breaks as you read, I really do !
Mow grass
Mostly done
