NOTE: This post will remain on top of my homepage all day Saturday, even as new stuff is posted below it. That way, anyone who wants to comment on Deathly Hallows as they’re reading it will be able to easily do so.
If you want to leave spoileriffic comments without being exposed to other commenters’ spoilers, use the “safe” comment form. Otherwise, use the regular comment form.
Either way, THIS IS THE ONLY POST ON THE BLOG FOR DISCUSSING HARRY POTTER SPOILERS. It’s okay to discuss the book in non-spoileriffic terms elsewhere, but please confine any comments about the book’s contents to this post only. Thank you!
FINAL WARNING: There are spoilers after the jump, and in comments on this post.
[Updates displayed in reverse chronological order.]
UPDATE, 7/21, 11:24 AM: I’m awake, but have to pack for Denver now. Becky’s on page 330 already. Harumph. :)
UPDATE, 7/21, 6:10 AM: Okay, I’m surrendering to sleepiness for a while. I’ve finished 12 chapters (out of 36) and 245 pages (out of 759). So, I’m about one-third of the way through the book. When I next pick it up: drama in the Ministry of Magic! And the return of Umbridge!
UPDATE, 7/21, 5:49 AM: *gasp* Umbridge has the locket!!!
UPDATE, 7/21, 5:03 AM: Nine chapters and 175 pages done. Getting sleepy. But don’t want Becky to wake up and get ahead of me in the book. Also, still need to pack. Hmm. Dilemmas, dilemmas.
UPDATE, 7/21, 3:30 AM: Five chapters and 85 pages finished so far. Dead already: Hedwig and Mad-Eye Moody.
UPDATE, 7/21, 2:02 AM: Okay, after almost an hour of tinkering with the blog, setting up PotterCam, etc., I’m finally ready to start reading now. :) I’ve got a drink, a snack, and a book. Or rather, the book. Here goes!
UPDATE, 7/21, 1:15 AM: I’m back from Borders, and about to start reading. I may post updates in this space as I go.
In the mean time, here is the New York Times review, published in Thursday’s paper after the book was leaked onto the Internets. I haven’t read the review, of course, but I presume it contains spoilers.
UPDATE, 7/20, 12:30 PM: As explained in a separate post, tonight at midnight, this post’s timestamp will begin refreshing automatically once a minute, such that it will remain on top of the homepage all day Saturday, even as new stuff posts below it. That way, anyone who wants to comment on Deathly Hallows as they’re reading it will be able to easily do so.
Note also the “safe” comment form, which will publish comments to this post, without displaying them.
Less than 12 hours to go! WOOHOO!!
UPDATE, 7/17, 2:18 PM: Some troll, who probably found his/her way to my blog via the New York Times blog article linking to this post, just posted a bunch of spoilers in other threads. Luckily, I saw them quickly and, immediately realizing what they were, stopped reading them and moved them to this thread (while literally holding my hand in front of the screen, so that I wouldn’t see what was written). More here.
UPDATE, 7/17, 11:30 AM: With Drudge running the headline “ENTIRE NEW HARRY POTTER BOOK HITS FILE-SHARING SITES,” I figure now would probably be a good time to bump this post to the top of the site for a while. I will probably bump it multiple times in the next few days.
I am also going to change my personal browser homepage to something other than Drudge, lest he spoil the ending at some point between now and Saturday. :)
Again, this is the thread for discussing Harry Potter 7 spoilers, including possible/alleged spoilers. Therefore, obviously, comments on this post may contain spoilers!! Do NOT click “Comments,” or the “(more…)” link below, unless you want to be potentially exposed to Deathly Hallows spoilers!
And again, if you do want to discuss spoilers, please limit that discussion to this thread. (That is, after all, its raison d’etre.) Thanks!
UPDATE, 6/21, LATER: This post was linked by the New York Times blog. Welcome, Times readers!
ORIGINAL POST, 6/21, 4:08 PM: I wasn’t planning to post this thread for several weeks yet, but in light of Marty’s comment about a hacker’s alleged discovery of who dies in Harry Potter in the Deathly Hallows (both links are spoiler-free), I figured I’d better do it now.
This is the thread for discussing Harry Potter 7 spoilers (including possible spoilers). It is the ONLY thread where such discussion is allowed. Discussing Harry Potter 7 spoilers, or possible spoilers, in any other thread is grounds for immediate deletion, permanent banishment from the blog, tarring & feathering, and the legal use of Unforgivable Curses. :)
I have modified the “Recent Comments” page so that it will not include comments from this thread. That way, hopefully no one (myself included) will stumble upon spoilers by accident.
For those who want to talk spoilers (or who will want to comment on the book once they start reading it), I’ve put a link to this thread in the left-hand column, so people can find it easily if they want to. I will also probably “bump” this thread to the top of the homepage numerous times next month — for which reason, no spoilers will be published “above the jump” in the post itself.
To be clear: simple speculation about Harry Potter 7 is fine in any thread. But if your “speculation” is based on alleged revelations by someone who claims to have seen the actual contents of the book, that’s a “possible spoiler” and must not be discussed anywhere but here. And obviously, once the book comes out and people start reading it, this thread will be the exclusive place to discuss its contents, at least in the immediate aftermath of its release.
If in doubt about whether something is a “spoiler” or not, play it safe and post it here, lest you incur the wrath of countless crazed Potter fans. :)
That is all. Carry on then.
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Categories: Harry Potter
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June 21st, 2007 at 4:15:47 pm
Just in case there’s any confusion, Marty, I’m not mad at you about your comment or anything like that. You didn’t actually reveal anything. This is just a preemptive strike. :)
June 21st, 2007 at 4:40:23 pm
Come on! What kind of scumbag do you thnk I am?
I would never ruin that for people. I’m as big a Harry Potter fan as the next guy. I’ve had the privlege of working in a boogstore for the Book 6 release and stayed out late for the 5th book with friends. I pre-ordered this one the day it was available from Amazon (too old to camp out I guess). I myself did read the spoiler the hacker posted…but it could be complete bullshiv. There are hundreds of different theories floating around out there…this is just one of them.
And there is only one way to find out…by reading the book for yourself.
June 21st, 2007 at 5:09:03 pm
The Leaky Cauldron had a Reuters article where the book’s publishers were saying “Do you really think we would put the book somewhere hackable?”
Beats me, but I’m keeping out of the fray.
June 21st, 2007 at 5:11:50 pm
Marty, I didn’t mean a preemptive strike against comments by you. I was thinking more of possible responses to your comment. I.e., if we’re going to have a discussion about the alleged spoilers, someone (probably anonymous) might say what the actual spoiler is. And if so, that’s fine, they just need to say it here.
Speaking of which, I really need to stop reading this comment thread. :)
June 21st, 2007 at 5:12:44 pm
A “boogstore”, eh ?
June 21st, 2007 at 5:16:18 pm
Alasdair…
Yeah. We sold boogies.
Brendan…
OK. I thought you were warning me! But either way. No matter what people say (true or not) nobody knows until they read the book on their own.
June 21st, 2007 at 6:52:14 pm
I’m waiting for Harry Potter: The Musical. And of course,
all musicals have happy endings.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:11:49 pm
There ! I knew it ! Miss Saigon isn’t a musical, after all !
(grin)
June 21st, 2007 at 7:31:21 pm
Yanno, for quite a few years, people knew how Star Wars 3 ended (a battle on a lava planet, with the news of twins being born and their mother dying in childbirth) and that knowledge didn’t harm the actual story.
That’s what this spoiler is, if it’s true. It’s not worth the read. Spoilers are only good when they explain imagery and complex plot lines, not reveal simple facts.
June 21st, 2007 at 8:18:32 pm
Yanno, for quite a few years, people knew how Star Wars 3 ended (a battle on a lava planet, with the news of twins being born and their mother dying in childbirth) and that knowledge didn’t harm the actual story.
No, George Lucas managed to beat the story within an inch of its life all on his very own, wait i take that back he had Jar Jar Binks to help him…
June 21st, 2007 at 10:27:33 pm
That’s what this spoiler is, if it’s true. It’s not worth the read. Spoilers are only good when they explain imagery and complex plot lines, not reveal simple facts.
I have to disagree. If a major characters gets chopped to pieces quite unexpectedly halfway through the story and that is leaked, that simple fact is a HUGE spoiler.
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:12:49 am
Even if I knew, I’m not sure it would spoil it for me. After all, it’s the adventure as a whole and not just “who dies”.
June 22nd, 2007 at 7:28:33 pm
If you don’t like the plot as J K Rowlings writes it, I’m sure you can get the Florida Supreme Court to order a rewrite til it’s the way you want !
June 24th, 2007 at 10:04:29 am
Brendon,
I am your cousin (by marriage) and knew your grandparents very well. I was extremely fond of them as I am of your parents. YOU were the joy of Helen and Tom’s lives and yes, I did hear her comments about the cats when given the news of your arrival. I am writing to tell you how very happy I am for you and your wife. You have so much that is interesting and rewarding, scary and frightening ahead. Just about the best years you can experience. I do hope some time when you are in the East we can meet you and your family. I have 3 daughters who are your cousins and they have 5 children between them. They, the grandchildren, make everything perfect in my life. Sound familar?
Love to you and Becky,
susie
June 25th, 2007 at 3:44:54 am
What they say is impossible only two people are supposed to die not all the bad guys and 2 main good guys…
June 26th, 2007 at 9:53:23 am
Whassup? This is a nice fun story, fiction at that, with characters that are not real. My kids watch the movies over and over, knowing all the endings, and seem to have more fun each time. Do grownups have trouble separating fiction from reality?
June 26th, 2007 at 8:19:54 pm
Thats not true. Rowling said that two characters will die that she did not originally plan on so there could be more. I do agree with you still that it is bs and if she ends it that way she is not as great of a writer as i thought.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:26:13 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8CeXMr8V4
July 10th, 2007 at 12:23:39 am
[Comment recovered after-the-fact from spam purgatory at 8:55 PM, July 11. -ed.]
An interesting review of the upcoming movie with NO spoilers from the San Francisco Chronicle:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/07/10/HARRYPOTTER.TMP
July 10th, 2007 at 5:19:04 pm
Come on you bastards talk about HARRY POTTER!
July 17th, 2007 at 9:17:08 am
Ms. bane, it is highly unlikely Mr. Loy will see your comment in this thread.
in other news, Q100 in Atlanta was playing a possibly-hoaxious video on youtube of bookstore employees apparently reading from new potter.
July 17th, 2007 at 12:12:56 pm
I used to work for Borders.
When book six came out we had it in store at least a full week before the release date.
I saw some of these scans of this “leak”
They are basically photos that someone took with a digital camera of every single page in book seven. Very readable.
Scholastic has issued a subpoena as well.
There is a person on DIGG claiming to be the one responsible for leaking all of the information. He is so dead if it’s true.
July 17th, 2007 at 12:13:09 pm
I used to work for Borders.
When book six came out we had it in store at least a full week before the release date.
I saw some of these scans of this “leak”
They are basically photos that someone took with a digital camera of every single page in book seven. Very readable.
Scholastic has issued a subpoena as well.
There is a person on DIGG claiming to be the one responsible for leaking all of the information. He is so dead if it’s true.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:45:46 pm
NOTE: This comment was originally posted elsewhere, but has been moved to this thread by an administrator.
Cliff Notes for Ruin on Deathly Hollows Lol dead people spoilers: * Burbage dies on pg. 12 * Hedwig dies on pg. 56 * Mad-Eye dies on pg. 78 * Scrimgeour dies on pg. 159 * Wormtail dies on pg. 471 * Dobby dies on pg. 476 * Snape dies on pg. 658 * Fred Weasley dies on pg. 637 * Harry gets fucked up by Voldemort on pg. 704 o Comes back to life on pg. 724 * Tonks, Lupin, and Colin Creevy have their deaths confirmed on pg. 743 19 years after the events in the book: * Ron has married Hermione, their two children are named Rose and Hugo * Harry has married Ginny, their three children are named Lily, James, and Albus Severus. * Draco Malfoy has a son named Scorpius The epilogue shows all of the children boarding the train for Hogwarts together. The final lines of the book are: * “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.” * “NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!” : Molly Weasley, to Bellatrix Lestrange, P. 736 * Also: Draco Malfoy is balding by the end of the book.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:47:28 pm
NOTE: This comment was originally posted elsewhere, but has been moved to this thread by an administrator.
Cliff Notes for Ruin on Deathly Hollows Lol dead people spoilers: * Burbage dies on pg. 12 * Hedwig dies on pg. 56 * Mad-Eye dies on pg. 78 * Scrimgeour dies on pg. 159 * Wormtail dies on pg. 471 * Dobby dies on pg. 476 * Snape dies on pg. 658 * Fred Weasley dies on pg. 637 * Harry gets fucked up by Voldemort on pg. 704 o Comes back to life on pg. 724 * Tonks, Lupin, and Colin Creevy have their deaths confirmed on pg. 743 19 years after the events in the book: * Ron has married Hermione, their two children are named Rose and Hugo * Harry has married Ginny, their three children are named Lily, James, and Albus Severus. * Draco Malfoy has a son named Scorpius The epilogue shows all of the children boarding the train for Hogwarts together. The final lines of the book are: * “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.” * “NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!” : Molly Weasley, to Bellatrix Lestrange, P. 736 * Also: Draco Malfoy is balding by the end of the book.
July 17th, 2007 at 1:47:44 pm
NOTE: This comment was originally posted elsewhere, but has been moved to this thread by an administrator.
Cliff Notes for Ruin on Deathly Hollows Lol dead people spoilers: * Burbage dies on pg. 12 * Hedwig dies on pg. 56 * Mad-Eye dies on pg. 78 * Scrimgeour dies on pg. 159 * Wormtail dies on pg. 471 * Dobby dies on pg. 476 * Snape dies on pg. 658 * Fred Weasley dies on pg. 637 * Harry gets fucked up by Voldemort on pg. 704 o Comes back to life on pg. 724 * Tonks, Lupin, and Colin Creevy have their deaths confirmed on pg. 743 19 years after the events in the book: * Ron has married Hermione, their two children are named Rose and Hugo * Harry has married Ginny, their three children are named Lily, James, and Albus Severus. * Draco Malfoy has a son named Scorpius The epilogue shows all of the children boarding the train for Hogwarts together. The final lines of the book are: * “The scar had not pained Harry for nineteen years. All was well.” * “NOT MY DAUGHTER YOU BITCH!” : Molly Weasley, to Bellatrix Lestrange, P. 736 * Also: Draco Malfoy is balding by the end of the book.
July 17th, 2007 at 2:12:20 pm
Apparently the media has been confused by Mr. Loy’s diktat, and are refusing to cover the record breaking economic news. I’m sure it has nothing to do with not wanting to provide good news for a republican president.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:24:05 pm
“I am also going to change my personal browser homepage to something other than Drudge…”
A very sound plan in any case, irrespective of Spoilers and other such Pottery ;>.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:25:40 pm
exam
July 17th, 2007 at 3:26:49 pm
exam
exam
July 17th, 2007 at 3:27:05 pm
:)
July 17th, 2007 at 5:39:59 pm
NOTE: This comment was originally posted elsewhere, but has been moved to this thread by an administrator.
another test
July 17th, 2007 at 10:55:48 pm
InstaPundit is linking to a BoingBoing post that apparently reveals the ending. I say “apparently” because I haven’t read beyond the Spoiler Alert (any more than I’m reading other recent comments on this post), and I won’t. I intend to try my utmost to remain ignorant of any spoilers until Saturday… though that may become increasingly difficult. If the ending starts to become common knowledge, it could easily be something that I might overhear in everyday conversation — even perhaps at the midnight book release! All it would take is one a**hole to show up at the store and yell, “_____ dies on Page __!” I imagine such a scenario will happen somewhere; I just hope it’s not at my bookstore. Anyway, this is pretty much the worst-case scenario for Rowling & co., isn’t it? No such catastrophic leak occurred before Books 5 or 6, and here we are, with the one book that they really needed to keep secret, and the cat’s out of the bag, five days early!
I suppose it’s a good incentive to keep me from surfing the Internet during the remainder of my bar studying this week.
July 19th, 2007 at 10:08:03 am
NOTE: This comment was originally posted elsewhere, but has been moved to this thread by an administrator.
I would kill Harry on page 389…
[jk - I have never read a Harry Potter book or seen a movie. I have no idea what I am talking about]
July 19th, 2007 at 10:51:22 am
NOTE: This comment was originally posted elsewhere, but has been moved to this thread by an administrator.
NOTE: This comment was originally posted elsewhere, but has been moved to this thread by an administrator.
Burbage dies on pg. 12
Hedwig dies on pg. 56
Mad-Eye dies on pg. 78
Scrimgeour dies on pg. 159
Wormtail dies on pg. 471
Dobby dies on pg. 476
Snape dies on pg. 658
Fred Weasley dies on pg. 637
Harry gets fucked up by Voldemort on pg. 704 but comes back to life on pg. 724
Tonks, Lupin, and Colin Creevy have their deaths confirmed on pg. 743
19 years after the events in the book:
Ron has married Hermione, their two children are named Rose and Hugo
Harry has married Ginny, their three children are named Lily, James, and Albus severus.
Draco Malfoy has a son named Scorpius
The epilogue shows all of the children boarding the train for Hogwarts together.
The final lines of the book are: “The scar had not pained Harry for 18 years. All was well.”
Plot Spoilers
Part of Voldemort’s soul was implanted into Harry whenever he used Ara Kadvara on him when he was a baby. Harry then sacrafices himself a la Lilly Potter style, which allows him to kill Voldemort without killing himself. He brings himself back to life using a wand and a rock
Snape went to the good side (Hogwarts, etc.) because he was all emo that Voldemort killed Lilly Potter
July 19th, 2007 at 2:18:25 pm
@ interesting. the harry sacrifice was necessary as he was revealed to be the last horcrux… whatever the hell that was!!
July 20th, 2007 at 12:16:19 pm
Testing
July 20th, 2007 at 1:36:19 pm
Ceci n’est pas un Loy.
July 21st, 2007 at 12:01:48 am
Oh my god - they killed Kenny!!!
July 21st, 2007 at 12:19:25 am
This hasn’t bumped to top as I expected…interesting.
July 21st, 2007 at 2:57:08 am
Poor Hedwig!! :(
July 21st, 2007 at 9:55:46 am
After you finish, watch out for the dreams in Parseltongue… you always get weird dreams when you go to sleep at 6:30 a.m. after reading all night long!
I found that the structure of the story (and, perhaps, the all-night reading hangover) tended to reduce the emotional impact of the deaths — Hedwig’s is sudden, unexpected, and the reader (like Harry) gets little time to grieve. Mad Eye’s takes place off screen, Snape’s comes before we and Harry know the truth about him. Which meant that it was really Dobby’s that hit hardest of all.
July 21st, 2007 at 11:12:22 am
You slacker, Brendan. The proper thing to do is to read it all in one sitting. Like I just did. ;)
July 21st, 2007 at 11:25:11 am
As a note, I’m kind of disgusted with my my Barnes and Noble here. They were incredibly poorly organized, they only had a small percentage of their cash registers operating, their system for putting people into line was woefully inadequate and resulted in a huge mob making it very difficult for either people who had been called to actually get in line or for people who had bought the book to leave the store…it was a fiasco. The Borders I was at the for the 6th book did a *far* better job.
I also suspect we had someone attempt to ruin it for everyone. One of the teenaged guys in the mob kept trying to get people who had bought the book to show him the very end of it. I had parked a fairly good distance from the store, and when I was about halfway to it I heard a young man shouting at the top of his lungs. The only word that was clearly distinguishable from my distance was “dies”. Granted, as soon as I heard what sounded liked shouting my reflex was to start singing loudly to drown out any possible spoilers, so I wasn’t hit too badly. But still, stupid troll. Grr.
July 22nd, 2007 at 11:15:44 pm
If anyone is actually reading this …
I loved the ending–and the Epilogue shows that although there might not be another Harry Potter book, there *might* be an Albus Severus Potter series forthcoming…?
And I’ve been calling Hermione and Ron getting together since book 2. It took them long enough!
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:48:21 am
One of the things I do not like about modern fantasy fiction is the “we all killed the monster, everything’s ok. Oh no, look out, the monster is still alive!! The end… or is it the beginning?” bullcrap. I was so happy that the Potter series did not end like that.
The only thing that would have made me happier is if Umbridge had gotten what was coming to her.
July 23rd, 2007 at 8:58:48 am
After seeing the new movie on Saturday, and especially enjoying the wizard dueling match, and then reading the book, and the Battle of Hogwarts, I’m thinking the finale to movie 7 is going to be wicked.
The movie (5) left out a lot, and some that I thought could have been handled a bit better. The Cho Chang story felt tacked on in the movie, with a lot of missing stuff and sort of clunky. She had so few lines you barely picked up on her accent (heavy Scottish accent). In fact, in one scene (the final scene when they were walking to the train), you can see her walking with what I assumed was her new BF but the next cut had her disappear. I figured they must have left that tidy up on the cutting room floor.
The book answered some questions, but kind of fell along the lines of my thinking re: Snape. Moody’s death was a bit unexpected. Not sure what they will cut out of this book when they make the movie (2010, or 2009 I think).
July 23rd, 2007 at 9:00:22 am
Oh, and when I heard the name of Draco’s kid I immediately thought of that Simpson’s episode where Homer goes off to work for the super-villian Hank Scorpio (which is a pretty good Simpsons if you haven’t seen it)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Only_Move_Twice
July 24th, 2007 at 9:58:16 am
Well, The Harry Potter series starts at the we thought we killed the monster, oh wait point… So it would makes sense that they do rather finally take him out.
July 24th, 2007 at 4:53:27 pm
Maybe one of you can help me out, but do we ever figure out how Dumbledore gets the Elder wand from Grindelwald? That’s been bugging me since I finished. Otherwise, I thought the book was fantastic, a great read and something that really sticks with you.
July 24th, 2007 at 4:54:43 pm
Just to be clear, I’m wondering how Dumbeldore could have beaten Grindelwald in the duel if Grin. had the elder wand? Unless it really went how rita said, and that doesn’t seem likely.
July 24th, 2007 at 5:42:49 pm
well, given the wands history, I suppose that, supposedly the wand ends up fighting in a duel with someone that is simply faster than they are or knows some pice of magic or artifice that the other does not know–hence it was taken from someone sleeping first. Though they possessed the wand they could not make it work fast enough to protect themselves. As Harry’s wands is supposedly the only known instance of a wand protecting its owner without its owner taking any action. Thus the wand is indeed more powerful than another and thus the wand cannot be beaten. This may not mean the wizard himself is invincible simply for holding it. This, of course might not be the case. Though I’m sure there is some parsing of the way things are written that allows the wizard holding the wand to be defeated. We would assume that Death is very clever and would not want to give someone something that, just for holding it, meant that they cannot die–he would look for an “out” in the request much as Harry looked for an out in giving the goblin the sword.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:02:14 am
Exactly what he said ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ WHAT???? lol Ok.. no offence to any of you Harry Potter fans but I don’t get it. Why the obsession? I mean I can understand StarWars geeks… and LOTR even.. but Potter fans? I personaly have never read one of these books and don’t plan to. Was just curious what all the big fuss is about.
July 29th, 2007 at 12:54:56 pm
Having not read it one would reasonably expect you to not get it. Likewise if one had not seen Star Wars one would reasonably expect someone to not understand what all the fuss is about. Or really whatever story you might choose to select–this of course becomes even more the case in regards to cult classics or otherwise insanely popular pop culture phenomenon’s. All are simply stories told in diffrent ways. So Harry Potter having a massive following follows simply in the same manner that Star Wars possesses one or, loath as I am to admit it (and readers of the comments will know how very very loath that is) it explains why American Idol has a following. All just different stories to different tastes. If one is not to your taste, well such is life eh… Certainly not something to loose sleep over.
August 2nd, 2007 at 12:29:37 pm
I finished “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows†two nights ago and have been depressed ever since. While I enjoyed reading the book for the most part, I cannot help but believe that Rowling is a sadist who enjoys inflicting emotional pain on children to “teach them about loss†(a quote I heard from her on TV last week). The sheer body-count in this book is disturbing IMO. Still not sure how I’m going to read some of these chapters to my son.
Unfortunately, the publisher and bookstores are targeting 9-12 year olds for all of these books. And I’ve seen Rowling herself reading parts of the books on TV to that age-group here in the US. You can do a Google search for “Rowling Children†and find all sorts of quotes by JKR as she describes her intentions to teach children about fear, loss and death with these books. I take it she lost a parent at a young age. So did I, but I don’t have a need to share that pain with children. Again, these 7 HP novels are marketed as children’s books. Lord of the Rings’ body-count wasn’t as high.
I realize Rowling is a sacred calf (or cow) to some. But as a child development specialist and mom I have my concerns about how this book will impact some children. I don’t believe I’m alone in my concern.