Category: Books

I saw Order of the Phoenix again last weekend and it led to an interesting discussion with my friend Ajay. He said that he was not sure of Michael Gambon’s performance as Dumbledore, because he seemed too “real”. Dumbledore, in Ajay’s mind, is supposed to be all powerful and somehow above everyone else.

I don’t quite agree. In fact, one might say that I entirely disagree and I like Gambon’s take on a character who, at least in the first three books (I didn’t get to re-read Goblet, Phoenix and Half-Blood before Deathly Hallows), had a fairly standard “walk on exposition” role.

Spoilers on the Inside – but really, if you care for Harry Potter and don’t know what happens yet … I posit that you don’t really care for Harry Potter.

I figured that I should let everyone know that the internet is finally safe again, for I have concluded Deathly Hallows. With other stuff besides, which I will enumerate later, perhaps even an assault of my words will find its way to you.

Anyway, as to the book itself: ultimately, fantastic. There is entirely too much downtime in the mid-section, spent with Harry, Ron and Hermione doing not a lot, and this is brought into sharp relief later in the book when a mere few paragraphs describe all of this super exciting stuff that has been happening away from them. Then the three of them join the super exciting stuff and most is forgiven.

The book suffers from not having the structure of a school year to give the suggestion of progress, but the last two hundred or so pages are practically impossible to not read, such is their quality. It’s almost fan service in its spectacle, although nowhere near as cynical.

Several times throughout the book, I got teary eyed, or pumped full of adrenaline. Rowling has done her job, done it well, written in an epilogue that serves as either a deterrent of further adventures or a blank canvas for further adventures (I’ve read complaints that it’s fanfic bait), and … she never has to write again.

If I don’t get around to saying more stuff about it, Mark is liveblogging the book.