I think my last post and Erin's must have crossed a bit. I hadn't realized she'd already "signed off" for the duration. I think lots of HP blogs are "going dark" tomorrow. It gives us the last day to quietly anticipate, and decreases the chance of being spoiled (as long as we stay away from the NY Times...argh!).
It's hard for me to put into words what my expectations are as we go into the finale. I think Erin has summed up a lot of things already that I too am on the "lookout" for. And Janet Batchler, over at *Quoth the Maven* has provided a wonderful final post where she discusses some of the many set-ups that she believes likely will, or at least might be, paid off in the finale. I found myself resonating with her list as well.
So rather than repeating many of the fine things already said, I will just say this: I am expecting a wonderful story in which we see a victory over darkness won at high cost and through the power of love. Harry will need every one of his friends. Some of the friends will die. Some of the seemingly "bad guys" will be revealed as having been on a path to redemption. The victory will bring joy and hope to the wizarding world (remember the fireworks and the owls on the night of Voldemort's first downfall?) but it will also be bittersweet, partly because there will be recognition that other evil still remains, even if this particular tyrant is finally brought down. In that respect, it will mirror real life in this fallen world. But it will give us a tiny taste of "eucatastrope."
And even as the victory within the story will be bittersweet, so will our good-bye to this wonderful fictional world Jo Rowling has written. Here's hoping that someday she will give us a glimpse into the mountains of notebooks she's been writing in for years!
See you in another 700 or so pages...
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I'm not entirely gone yet - and I'll be shooting an e-mail off to you before I vanish for four days - but we're leaving in about 12 hours, so time's winding down... (And, incidentally, we're frustrated because our RotK soundtrack has gone missing, and we so wanted to listen to that on the ride...)
Anyway, am I to glean from your post that the NY Times leaked something? If so, I am most heartily disappointed in them... I heard from somebody who heard who died on the news. I'm really surprised these legitimate avenues are doing that.
The story and the reading experience will be bittersweet indeed. But after all this anticipation, I am eager to crack that book open and start the journey...
Oh yes. The New York Times didn't just leak something casually. THEY POSTED A FULL REVIEW, days early. Apparently a couple of other major papers (though not as major as the NYTimes) also posted reviews: the Baltimore Sun, and the Toronto Star. Argh.
JKR actually made a statement saying how appalled she was that major American papers would try to ruin the ending especially for the many kids who want to reach the end on their own.
Have a great trip! Hope you found your soundtrack. Talk to you again when...we know everything!
Sorry, that should be major North American papers, I guess. I didn't mean to move Toronto to the U.S.! (I don't have Rowling's quote at hand, and don't remember if she said American or North American -- she might not have known about the Toronto leak at the time. I think she was mostly responding to the editors at the Times.)
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