The magic is over

I finally wrapped up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday. I feel a bit like I have lost my best friends. But I loved the book. I have been thinking about why I like the series so much, and why I continue to try to get other adults to read it. I think it's because no other book or books have possessed me so since I was a kid. I have read many books over the years that I couldn't wait to open up at night, or that made me laugh and/or cry. But these books get into your soul. I could almost think about nothing else for the last few weeks. It's not just the complex world that Rowlings has created, but the complex characters and story. The black and white areas of "good" and "evil" have distinctive gray areas, and she wasn't afraid to tackle things like governments lying to their contituents, or media-bias. Sometimes people who seemed to be villains were actually heroes, and the heroes had many flaws when we got to know them better. I loved the concept of trusting and believing in your friends, especially in life and death matters. I love Hermione, with her love of books and learning and bushy hair - how could I not identify with her? Jav and I have been talking about the book over dinner every night (I was driving him crazy with all of my yes or no questions since he finishied the book weeks ago).

The only complaint I have is that I wish Rowlings could have published all the books before any of the movies were made. I like having the characters' faces in my head, but that's impossible once you've seen them in the movies. And the last couple of books had a tendency to seem like one fantastic movie scene after another. But this didn't take away from the narrative at all, to me.

I've been reading over my old posts in order to get everything labeled, and I came across this today. Well, I'm pretty impressed with Harry and his destiny, and with J.K. Rowling's vision. I can't wait to start reading them with Gabriel one day.