Second Breakfast

In my thinking, a very fitting end to a great series.
Should Rowling be the second richest woman in global entertainment? Maybe not, but she’s gotten kids to read, right?  Maybe not.

I have never quite understood the Big Fat Hairy Deal that’s been Harry Potter.  I mean, I really have liked this stuff, much more than any mass media invention I can think of in a long time.   The required comparisons to Tolkien aside (there’s a good “secondary worlds” comparison, but Rowling’s roots aren’t as deep as the Professor’s were), this stuff is just plain fun — good characters, complicated plots, lots of imagination, real evil, sacrifice, and Cool Magical Stuff.  But the passion that this series has created in a lot of children I know (and a number of adults) is quite impressive, and somewhat incongrous.

Was it a “literary phenomenon” in its own right?  The first book wasn’t that great in comparison to some of the later books.  Was it created by savvy marketing and promotion?  Or did Rowling tap into something fundamental and real?

This last book is quite satisfying.  Lots of questions answered.  Some important people die, some of whom we see in a whole new light. Evil is unmasked for what it really is, and ultimately overcome through great cost and personal sacrifice.  Harry’s death and resurrection (at King’s Cross, no less) — is the series a Christian allegory?

I guess I’m not sure what the series represents, if anything.  But I did stay up late to finish the 800 pages of the last book, and I shed a tear or two at the end.

Another quiz. This time to find out my Harry Potter alter ego. Surprisingly I’m 55% like HWMNBN.

You scored as Albus Dumbledore, Strong and powerful you admirably defend your world and your charges against those who would seek to harm them. However sometimes you can fail to do what you must because you care too much to cause suffering. Albus Dumbledore 75% Sirius Black 70% Hermione Granger 70% Harry Potter 70% Remus Lupin 70% Severus Snape 65% Ron Weasley 60% Ginny Weasley 55% Lord Voldemort 55% Draco Malfoy 50% Your Harry Potter Alter Ego Is…? created with QuizFarm.com

Peter Hamilton basically writes one kind of book as far as I can tell — these big sci-fi space opera stories with lots of characters, big ideas, big plot arcs, and lots of action. These aren’t books you pick up casually and read a few pages before you go to sleep. First of all, it will take you months to finish, and more importantly, you won’t remember what’s going on. Writing one kind of book isn’t a bad thing; I like this kind of immersive reading experience. But it does take a certain level of commitment, particularly at almost 1000 pages.

This is the second book in a series that started with Pandora’s Star and will continue with “The Dreaming Void” later this year.

The big challenge for me with this novel is that Hamilton doesn’t provide a lot of hooks for the reader to pick up on what is by this point a complex and interrelated set of narratives and characters. I put the book down twice before I finally got “over the hump” enough to remember who was who and what was happening. Most of the characters continue, but some who were central are now on the periphery, and others move the to fore. While perhaps dated, books like this really need a precis or something to remind readers of “What Has Gone Before”. I would have enjoyed the early part of this much more had I not been scratching my head quite so much.

That said, I do like Hamilton’s writing, and this doesn’t disappoint. When things get going its a real page-turner. I feel somewhat guilty about enjoying this stuff, since it feels a little “fluffy”, but its a smart, sexy kind of fluff, with wormholes, genocidal aliens, mysterious aliens, sentient planet-size computers, and star-destroying super bombs. How can that not be cool?

That said, 1000 pages makes one think that an editor could have been involved a bit more.  Could one have written a tighter 750 page novel?  There’s nothing that earth-shattering here that requires so much space to work out.

Language is also a bit of a problem here:  Hamilton tends to rely a bit too heavily on the hoary sci-fi technique of using noun modifiers to establish the “alternate” context.  So for example every time we see the word “concrete” we get “enzyme-bonded” in front to remind us that, yes indeed, this is science fiction. Woo!  Do I really care?  Do you need to remind me after this long what the context is?

Boy I liked the most recent installment of the Harry Potter movie franchise.

This is really “The Two Towers” of the Harry Potter story arc.  We’re in the middle here, as Voldemort has finally “come back” after a couple of foiled attempts.  We’re no longer establishing characters or themes, and at this point if you’re still paying attention you’re probably pretty invested in these characters.  Heck, we’ve watched these kids grow up, literally.

I’d say this film is in some ways unburdened with exposition — it doesn’t have to set anything up.  It just moves things along, and we learn more about people’s pasts and some of their motivations.  Alan says this is all exposition in a way.
Of the films thus far I found this to be the most emotionally compelling — one does care about these characters after all this time.  Harry and Sirius establish a family connection, albeit a brief one, and Harry’s loss at the end is one we can understand.  There’s a strong set of themes about self-sacrifice, friendship, and choice that are well played out without being moralizing.

The star of the film is of course Dolores Umbridge, the “pink side of goth” uber-bitch who comes in to “set things right” at Hogwarts.  She’s brilliantly played by Imelda Staunton, a BBC mainstay who received critical acclaim with her compelling portrayal of abortionist Very Drake.  Umbridge emits this wonderful sort of motherly menace, who seems content to torture teenage children in the name or order, decency, and respect for one’s elders.  Staunton plays her with the right combination of haughty snobbery, comic relief, and a bit of fear that gives some real dimension to what otherwise might just be a convenient foil for Harry.  Actually that’s one of the parts of the film that works the best for me:  the central tension in the film is the state of denial that pervades Harry’s world about Voldemort’s return, and both Umbridge and Crouch are played with enough real sense of fear that you know that their denials and obstructions are nothing but whistling in the dark.

The visuals are excellent, with great continuity from the previous films.  The best moments are the final set-piece conflicts with the Death Eaters and between Voldemort and Dumbledore.  The black-tile Ministry of Magic sets are quite cool, and its great to finally see the gloves come off with some real magical combat between two powerful and expert opponents.

The music is somewhat forgettable.  We still have Williams’ theme of course, but most of the incidentals are forgettable, and as Alan said to me “kind of wierd or inappropriate at times”.

Despite that, a good installment.  I’m excited to read the final book when it comes out later this month.

From Dave Walker, a wonderful cartoonist and blogger in the UK:

“The thing about evangelism is this: People can spot it a mile off and they run a mile (so they generally end up two miles from it, depending upon the relative speeds of the evangelism and their running). I have found that evangelism is probably the least effective form of evangelism. If you want to communicate your faith to someone else the best way to do it is not to try.”