Comments | savageland: *SPOILERS* -- obviously! -- My blow-by-blow reactions to Deathly Hallows

savageland

SPOILERS -- obviously! -- My blow-by-blow reactions to Deathly Hallows

Jul 21, 2007 11:25

This isn't an essay or even very coherent, but my immediate, gut, readerly reactions to each chapter after reading it for the first time and not knowing what was going to happen next. All commentary/spoilers under LJ cuts.

Speechless for now ... !

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Sat. July 21, 11:30 a.m. Pacific Time ... I wondered how long I'd have to wait for ( Read more... )

inquiring-minds, snape-thoughts, deathly hallows

Comments 3

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savageland July 24 2007, 01:34:47 UTC

< Waves at AgentZ ... > Yes ... Mr S mentioned he'd seen you!

Re "The Prince's Tale"--I'm glad you found that moving! From other postings on LJ and elsewhere I've been glancing through since yesterday, I can see that some folks really resent having the truth about Snape recounted in such a third-hand manner. But I think using the Penseive device was elegant. Harry has absolute proof of Snape's loyalty now, for unlike Slughorn's "doctored" memories in HBP, I would think the memory given freely by someone in extremis would be pristinely genuine. I feel that if Snape had tried to persuade Harry during a confrontation, Harry would not have been receptive. Using my astonishing powers of 20-20 hindsight(!), I see that Snape's Penseive memories are the only thing that could have convinced Harry and move him toward necessary action. Also, from a literary perspective, it's a nice counterbalance to the "Snape's worst memory" scene in OotP.

Thanks for commenting!

(The comment has been removed)

savageland July 25 2007, 06:27:00 UTC

My first second's reaction to realizing that all Harry would get were Snape's memories was--bah! They cheats us, yesss! I think a lot of us--especially fanficcers--were expecting a Great Snape vs Harry "High Noon" moment ... or indeed, a shouting match. But that's all it would have been. Would Snape have had a hope of being persuasive while dodging a barrage of Harry's Unforgivable curses?

The Pensieve is an elegant device, and I'm glad JKR trotted it out for the purpose of showing Harry calmly the manner of man Snape really was.

tudorpot August 11 2007, 16:03:36 UTC

Bookmarked this as I hadn't finished the book - a great summary and interesting reflections. I wish I had been able to read the book as you did. RL interfered greatly. Thanks for this it will help me when I read thru for the second time.