The past two weeks in the Mail & Guardian newsroom have been excruciating. That is, for those who are not Harry Potter fans. But those of us who are followers were deliriously anticipating the last instalment. We would spend lunch breaks, smoke breaks and just general breaks discussing the book and possible theories. The question uppermost in our minds was: When the clock struck one on Saturday morning, would we be disappointed?
The resounding answer is no. For Harry Potter followers, JK Rowling outdid herself in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — no mean feat if you take into account the hype surrounding the book.
On Monday morning we examined our theories again and were struck by how many of our predictions had actually come true. So the theory that Harry is the seventh horcrux was correct, as guessed by millions of fans and carefully laid out by Rowling, so well ”hidden in plain sight”. In fact, some might say it was too obvious a possibility to be the crux of the story.
We expected a twist from further out to left field, but Rowling reveals it well enough — in the thick of a glorious battle at Hogwarts School. The school has been the centrepiece of the book throughout and while Rowling left it for last, she gave it the most fitting send-off ever.
Of course, there are criticisms and, being the obsessive fans we are, we could not help but find some gaps in the plot. How Neville Longbottom came to hold Gryffindor’s sword, for example, was never clearly explained. One moment we are told a rather nasty goblin has the sword and the next Neville has it and is slaughtering Voldemort’s pet snake Nagini. This is quite a leap and one that possibly goes too far.
Readers are, I assume, supposed to make the link between Neville, the sorting hat and the sword. Moments before he kills Nagini, Neville is being tortured by Voldemort who sets the sorting hat alight on Neville’s head.
Readers will remember that in book two, The Chamber of Secrets, Harry fights the terrible basilisk monster. He obtains the sorting hat and retrieves the sword of Gryffindor from its depths, which he then uses to kill the monster.
Similarly, it seems that Neville, in his darkest hour, is given the sword by the sorting hat, though we have no idea how it magically ends up back in the hat after being stolen by the goblin.
The whole of the book is haunted by the themes of death and love conquering all. The message throughout the series, and particularly the last book, is that chasing immortality will lead to your demise and that even the seemingly worthiest of contenders is destined to fall in this quest.
In the first book, immortality was represented by Nicholas Flamel’s Philosopher’s Stone. The first horcrux, Tom Riddle’s diary, made its appearance in the second book and the horcruxes from then on became a major plotline in the books, as Voldemort’s true character came to light, as did the extent to which he would go to remain immortal.
Deathly Hallows takes the plot one step further and tempts Harry into becoming a master of death. The seventh book sets a sombre scene and is a major test for our hero.
Though there are a number of light moments in the book it gets gloomier as Ron, Hermione and Harry battle hunger and persecution in their agonising quest to defeat Voldemort. Several deaths, injustices and beatings along the way serve as constant reminders of why Harry must defeat He Who Must Not Be Named.
There are plenty of parallels to various historical oppressive regimes, particularly the persecution of Muggle-born witches and wizards, who are required to prove their ”blood status” and defend their right to practise their innate magical talents. The infiltration of the trio into the apartheid-like ministry is one of the highlights of the book. As a South African, you cannot help but see the similarities between the registration of Muggle-borns and the pass system.
Disappointing are the fleeting appearances by some favourite characters of books gone by, such as the terrific Weasly twins, who here display little of their characteristic humour.
Lupin and Tonks are given a critical role, yet Rowling does not sufficiently explore their fate and that of their son. And although some closure is given at the end, we are left with big questions about what has happened to many of our favourite characters. Maybe the Harry Potter saga is not finished yet.
Some of the best scenes in the book, however, are where characters such as Molly Weasly, Luna Lovegood and of course Neville finally step up to the plate in the battle between good and evil. Indeed, one of the book’s biggest strengths is its action sequences. As early as the first chapter, Rowling unleashes Voldemort, and from there on the action picks up, with an exhilarating getaway from Harry’s relatives to a disastrous end of a wedding and an escape from Gringotts Bank on the back of a dragon after a daring bank robbery.
Yes, Deathly Hallows has got it all. And, of course, for the romantics out there, Ron and Hermione have a smouldering kiss in the heat of the battle. What more could you ask for?
Greatest fans, loudest critics
”Last page finished. Great finale. Mediocre ending.” A review in seven words, courtesy of a Harry Potter fan on his blog called The Wing Nut Diaries (henning.schmiedehausen.org).
The literary wave of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows broke last weekend. Hundreds of thousands of fans spent their weekend ignoring phone calls and spouses. And it wasn’t long before the first reviews appeared, by web denizens who had sped through the 600-odd pages of JK Rowling’s grand finale.
Some only managed a few words before collapsing from a lack of sleep and solid food, but others crafted longer reviews — and many are glowing.
Greg Low’s The Bit Bucket (msmvps.com/greglow) said the book ”strikes a pretty fast pace from beginning to end. For me, it all gets sorted out just a bit too conveniently at the end, but Rawlings does answer most outstanding questions from the earlier books and she maintains strong continuity with them.”
On Cyberjournalist.net, the book’s bleak streak did not go amiss. One user wrote: ”Fabulous job. It had everything I expected. I did kinda miss the funniness and lightheartedness, though.” Another confessed: ”Cried real tears, bit of a shock as I thought I was more jaded than that.”
But the author of t3.dotgnu.info was feeling ”totally underwhelmed … even though it is not as disappointing as the Order of the Phoenix was, it still has too many rough edges. ” And Samanth Subramanian (samanth.blogspot.com) said: ”It is only fitfully gripping, and even Rowling’s perennially redemptive asset of being breathlessly readable often stubs its toe against clumsy exposition and narration.”
Rowling’s epilogue to the Potter puzzle, set 19 years after the climactic final battle at Hogwarts (where else?) seems to be a bone of contention. Should it be there? Too short? Too long? Another Cyberjournalist.net user said it was ”a bit gooey, but only as expected”. John Bierly (johnbierly.wordpress.com) said: ”I certainly didn’t want it to end badly, but the epilogue seemed a bit too neat and predictable.”
And the death debate? ”She’s never been shy about killing major characters in ways (and with consequences) you’d never expect, so from the beginning we know that no one was safe,” wrote Bierly, but the many ”off-the-page deaths” in Deathly Hallows ”ended up feeling a little hollow to me”. Said t3.dotgnu.info: ”Nobody had a death which was even a blip in the plot line.”
Still, it’s clear many adored the book. ”It’s far more philosophical, and more about human nature,” wrote author GQ on AnkurB.info, adding about the plot: ”It’s like an amazingly big jigsaw puzzle … of which you’ll have no clear perception until you struggle to put everything into place and view it from a high vantage point, when the sheer beauty of the thing will stun you.” — Riaan Wolmarans
