I talk about the book below but will warn you before is starts.
7:00PM Friday – We got to Barnes and Noble because I decided to go eat dinner with my mom and Cameron. THANK GOD, we got done pretty fast because if we had gotten there any later we’d have been there A LOT later than we were. There was a line to stand in to get a wrist band to determine where you’d be in line at midnight when the book was released.
10:00PM Friday – We got a GOLD E21 band about three hours after we got there. I didn’t thing we’d actually have a book till about 2:00AM based on how long it took JUST to get the wristband.
11:30PM Friday – After going home to see Ben who had been at the track all day, we drove back to B&N to get in line. I find out they are letting in people 50 at time. Gold A(1-50), Gold B(1-50), Gold C(1-50), etc.
12:30AM Saturday – As we are walking in the store, they stop the family in front of us. They have BLUE E(51-100) and are told then need to go to the BLUE E group, which will probably be let in an HOUR from then. Cassidy is ecstatic that she got to be awake when it changed from Friday to Saturday. HA! Kids.
12:45AM Saturday – Walking out the door, book in hand WOOHOO!!!
1:30AM Saturday – After getting Cassidy into bed, Cameron set up for the night and reading 2 Chapters I crawl into bed, exhausted from only about 4 hours of sleep the night before and being awake for 21 hours.
10:00AM Saturday – Get up, take car to stereo shop to fix everything the fucked up the weekend prior, eat breakfast with, drop off Cameron, run to Home Depot with Ben.
12:00PM Saturday – FINALLY SIT DOWN TO START READING. Getting up to take a 15 or so minute break every hour or so.
5:00PM Saturday – Go to eat dinner. Stop at Outback. One out wait, HELL NO! Go to Aqui which is PACKED! NO! Ask Ben if we can just grab Taco Bell so I can get back to reading. He agrees. Love that man.
6:00PM Saturday – Back to reading.
4:30AM Sunday Morning – Finish Book. Take about 15 minuted to lay there in the dark, think, absorb, then drawl into bed.
** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT ** SPOILER ALERT **
I was actually kind of disappointed with this book which made me incredibly sad. It felt to me like it was going well and then she got to the end, was in a hurry, pulled out the *warm fuzzy feeling cookie cutters* and used them to end it.
When Mad Eye was killed in the second chapter I felt a little rush of tension. It set the book up to be a tense, nail biting, fast paced, page turner. It was SO HARD to put the book down but I was exhausted and didn’t want to read it in that state. The next day going in I felt a nervous excitement and maybe that was a mistake because the book just didn’t live up to that initial feeling.
Some people are complaining about the slowness of the almost never ending tent scenes. I actually liked that part. They were kids, age appropriate. Almost waiting and wanting somebody to step in and tell them what to do, where to go, how to fight. Loved the graveyard scene, loved the action at the Malfoy’s, loved the Gringots caper, loved the drama at Lovegoods… And then everything went stale.
I feel like the Hogwarts fight scene was lackluster. Like JKR had a lot more written there and didn’t include it and that was SUCH a mistake. There could have been an epic battle there. And there were some scenes that were funny, but nothing POWERFUL. Professor McGonagall leading the desks into battle, priceless. Neville facing Voldermort the way he did, awesome.
But the final battle between Harry and Voldermort, predictable and cookie cutter. The ‘purgatory’ scene with Harry and Dumbledore I feel could have been either written better, or completely eliminated. Not including Lupin’s death was a so wrong. Lupin should have been given an epic fight scene, possibly trying to save Tonks or in reaction to Tonks being killed. I think that Neville should have gotten to kill Bellatrix but that was a selfish want on my part and Mrs. Weasly coming in to save the day was somewhat comical.
But the epilogue?! What was THAT about?! Worst bit of JKR writing to date. It was so out of place, so forced, and SO obviously there to make sure that you closed the book with the warm fuzzies which I think was a big mistake. It seemed thrown together as an afterthought with some very important players left out. As bad as it was, George should have been included. And Luna? And the NAMES! Really?! Lilly, James and Albus Severus?
I really wish that she hadn’t gone the “safe route”. I wish that she’d put more FEELING into it. She had the chance to make this book something spectacular. Something powerful and memorable and lasting and to me it just seemed like she let it fizzle out because she was too scared to upset her fans…
I got the book when it first came out (well, actually about 2 hours after, after being at Borders for 3 hours.) I’m kindof waiting to read it, since it’s the last book. 🙂 I had heard that someone died in it, but I was dumb and read the epilogue part, and he was still there.
Anyways, great site! 🙂
you are a better mom than I’ll ever be. It’s killing me not to read below the red line. Damn you Anna.
Buh. The ending bothered me, too. I think I actually felt sort of embarrassed for JK when I read the scene with Mrs. Weasley stepping in. It was just very awkward, I think. And when I read the epilogue, the names made me wanna barf. It was just a very lame scene altogether but the names were ridiculous. And I guess I just find it sort of strange that he named his kids after his parents. Both of them. Cause his parents, you know, produced a child and now that child named two of his kids after people that had sex one time. It might be just me, my boyfriend didn’t find that weird at all.
I was upset with the epilogue as well, but what he named his parents did not bother me at all! I mean, he himself is named after his father (middle name). It’s a very Harry sort of thing to do. And it seems to be a very wizarding sort of thing to do. (See Teddy, Ron’s middle name, etc.) BUT I definitely would have liked more information from the epilogue.
And Mrs. Weasley’s line when she started fighting Bellatrix is my favorite of the whole book!
I just don’t GET the epilogue. I don’t think I’ve come across a single person that thought it was a good idea to include it and I seriously don’t know how it got to print without somebody talking her out of it!
Looking back and taking more time to think about the book as a whole, I admit that for the most part, it was really good. It was just at the very end that it felt a little too rushed to me. I am really sad that it’s over though. Really sad.
Looking forward to movie 6 and 7 helps though!
That’s kinda neat.
I never got why people stood in line like that for a book. I bet the lines weren’t that bad the next day.
The next day I was almost done reading the book! 😉 I didn’t want to wait because waiting meant avoiding the internet and that might not be a big deal to a lot of people but to me it meant:
No blogs. (big BOOHOO)
No internet news sites. (I have to know what’s going on!)
No message boards. (Since I admin one that’s hard to accomplish.)
No email. *GASP*
No twitters. (I’m nosy.)
No flickr. *dies*
The list goes on. I’m an addict.
Plus, I just REALLY wanted to read the book.