Harry Potter: the spoiled, the unspoiled, and the Deathly Hallows...

[fajrdrako]

I was determined not to be spoiled for the last Harry Potter book. After all, I thought, if I'm going to read it at all, and I am planning to, I want it to be worth it - I want the full pay-off. I seldom read books where I know the ending beforehand. Why would I? It removes so much of the pleasure for me. I love suspense. I love not knowing. I'm highly spoiler-phobic.

But yesterday I stumbled across a huge spoiler for the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by accident. And after my first flash of dismay - oh no! why did I read that? - I felt suddenly immensely liberated. Now I don't need to rush to read the book, I can pick it up at my leisure. Now I don't need to worry about spoilers on my flist or in the email lists.

I am highy amused by the sense of strategy and compaign and conspiracy surrounding this books. Armies of trucks with books in warehouses. Midnight costume parties at bookstores. Disapproval from religious leaders. High-level security, lawsuits, and the kind of secrecy that usually surrounds military compounds and international secret weapons. And it's fiction, and it's for kids, and it's fun.

I love this planet.

Comments

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I am of course wondering which spoiler you ran across. It is entirely possible that it was one of the fake spoilers! hee

I was amazed, then immediately impressed, to hear that at least one fan writer has "leaked" the full text of the seventh book... but it is one that s/he wrote. Imagine, planning this for the last two years. Nifty. Fans are such cool people!

I've heard tons of faux spoilers: Hermione and Snape die. Snape kills Hermione. In Little Whinging. Harry dies. Voldemoort dies. Both die. Neither dies. Rupert Grint was in an interview in USA Today this past week wherein he said he has no idea what'll happen in it, but if Ron ends up dying, how cool would that scene be to film, wot? "Ron takes one for the team!" I just hope that Mrs. Weasley and Arthur Weasley and Ginny and Fred and George don't die -- they are so much the solid backbone of the books, that it would hurt if that happened. And Percy -- yow, he needs to come back to the fold, and maybe he can only do that by sacrificing himself...?

Well, so many spoilers, so little time...

I agree with you about how silly all the security and lawsuits seem. It's a book. It'll inspire fans to do all kinds of stuff. Live with it! ;-]

(At the same time, now that you've said you stumbled across an actual spoiler and you feel liberated to know it, I'm deathly curious about what it is you've found out! Give...!)

I just got back from seeing the current movie again, this time all the way through (twice I walked into it late -- such bad timing that was), and I'm even happier with it than at first. It's an excellent movie, and its deviations from the book are both useful and reasonable. Loved it that it was Emma Thompson's image and voice inside Harry's little glass sphere of prophecy... such a lovely touch.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Err ... I hate to say it, but the book is called the _Deathly HALLOWS_, not Hollows [as you wrote it here and on Tuesday's post (mortem)]. :-)

And no, I have yet to read it still ... any chance I could borrow that book from you, as the library is still very booked up with requests?