I’m falling into a state of depression. I can’t believe the last book of the Harry Potter series is out and I have already read it. I just can’t take the idea that I won’t get the chance to wait eagerly for the next book.
Being a faithful follower of Harry Potter, I won’t spoil any of the plots of the book. I thought I’d just mention how my day went on 21st Saturday.
I pre-ordered the book in the bookstore nearest to my apartment, obviously to reach home as soon as I bought the book and start reading the book. Unfortunately, the earliest opening time anywhere in Bangalore was 6 am. And, to my dismay, Crossword Indiranagar, where I was to get my book was to open only at 7 am.
So, me and KP decided to go at 6.15 am and wait outside the store. The others were not interested in Harry Potter. We left them to their pathetic life devoid of imaginations and fantasies. (Take no offence if you are reading this, guys, but your life is really pathetic, trying to spoil the plot to us with snapshots from a traitor which came on the internet on the previous day, and jeering and calling a spell casting as a mere stick rotation)
But typical to the nature of bachelors, we started off 15 minutes late. I was wearing my favorite Harry Potter T-shirt and shorts. By the time I parked my car near the shop, it was already crowded, with a queue of 30+ people. I felt a tiny bit of guilt for not showing my fidelity. I should have reached at 6. I should have been in the front.
That feeling faded away soon when the shop was opened and the first group of about 10 customers were let in. From then, it was a feeling of longing. A part of my brain even thought about gatecrashing, throwing the receipt to the counter, taking a book and running out. We couldn’t get in for another long 30 minutes.
I got the book, took a bookmark from the counter and started reading the book on the scene(until KP collected his copy and came outside). I was engrossed wholly in the book even as I walked towards my car. I heard someone call out, “Take your time, dude. You have all day to finish the book.” I grinned at the group of people sitting near the pavement, waiting for their turn to get inside.
We drove back, I parked my car in the most lopsided manner that could be possible and rushed to my apartment. I continued from where I had stopped. By 10.30, I had finished about 100 pages. KP, being a voracious reader, was thrice as fast as me. I skipped breakfast, and went for lunch only because I was really hungry. I even considered taking the book to the restaurant to read it while having dinner. I had already lost about 4 hours because I fell asleep afternoon after having a heavy lunch. Throughout the day, I was interrupted (to my great annoyance) by a number of phone calls. I never received so many phone calls in one day. It had to be this day! Sigh!
I finished the book at around 2am, had a quick browsing of the internet and started my reread. I won’t tell anything about the story, but I’d say this is one of the best books in the series ever. I’d say third best after GoF and PoA. The book is really fast-paced, and we are in the thick of the action from the first chapter itself.
Ecstatic though I am after knowing (or living, rather) how the saga ends, I also feel strangely depressed. It is as if someone has abandoned me in the muggle world and I don’t know the way to get back. My only hope remains in the two films that are remaining. Nevertheless, I can only feel grateful that I lived in the times of Harry Potter and Joanne Rowling.
Hehe.. so I finished the book earlier than you!!
Non Stop from 11:30 A.M to 11:45 P.M with no dinner 🙁
This is not a race, dude!
I wanted to relish every page of that book, maybe that’s why I was slow.
mmm..I came here expecting a post on potter..and not disappointed too 🙂 ..My only tryst with Potter was that movie Prisoner of Azkaban.. somehow, these kind of stories never appeal to me 🙂
You should read the books, man. Don’t shove it away saying it is a kids’ book.
It has the right amount of suspense, plot twists, humor and excellent narrative. You’ll fall in love with the timing of the dialogues, if not the wizarding world.
Considering the HP fan you are, I can sense the disappointment of it being the last one…..
hmmmm….but wotever said and done, you showed the true HP spirit 🙂 early morning, reading as soon as you got it, dressing up in the fav HP T-shirt (you should put up a photo of it)…..hats off to u!
Some how i hate it when people say its a Kid’s book, and fail to notice the sarcastic way she has put the adult world too.. (JUST a comment to one of the commenter’s)
I am kind of trying to feel happy and excited thinking about the movies that will be coming up..Two more MOVIES…glad we will see it again, isn’t it ?
@Laina: Actually, that was printed when HBP came out. I think I was wearing that in my previous profile picture. Didn’t get time to get a T-shirt printed for DH. I had the design ready and all. Maybe next week. 🙁
@Tanu: I go one step ahead. I hate the people who said that.
@Those who think HP is a kid’s book: This was an excellent reply from one of my old friends.
Read here
*SPOILER WARNING*
So it comes to an end, but a rather crappy, or “damp squib” ending..The so-obvious references (lift-offs or inspirations) to Narnia and LOTR dint help, I suppose..:D..and yeah, why so much hype abt “important character will be killed”..:)..
I would disagree. The ending was a lot better than all the hype (which was incidentally generated by the fans and not by JK Rowling). I agree that the epilogue was cheesy, but the ending of the original story was very good if you ask me.
Comparing this with Narnia and LOTR itself is a mistake that you are making. I am a big fan of fantasy and LOTR especially (Which I have not been able to read more than twice). But HP series has something more than LOTR and Narnia. No it is not the literary content. LOTR is much much superior to HP in the literary department. HP scores because the storyline is very normal kind, except for the fact that it is in the wizarding world. They go to school, struggle with homework and get detentions and all.
I can imagine and weave my own stories in the same world; stories so vivid that I can visualize everything like a movie. But I cannot visualize myself being in Middle-Earth. I do not have any role in that world. In short, I can live in HP world, but I can only read the LOTR.
Fantasy genre have several things in common:
An underdog who suddenly becomes the hero.
A merlin-like character who is the guide.
A larger than life villain.
Some faithful friends and sidekicks.
This is the case with Arthurian Legend, LOTR, HP and even Star Wars. This should be attributed to the property of the genre and not considered plagiarism.
The single biggest attribute which made HP so lovable in the world is the way in which it makes you imagine, which LOTR has not been able to do to me.
About the hype, this comes with the media trying to sensationalize these in order to increase their TRP. JK never said that “a major character is going to die”. She just said, “One character gets a reprieve. Two die which I originally didn’t intend to kill.”
BTW, are you the Suraj that I know?
hey!..i was not comparing the literary qualities of HP with Narnia or LOTR, and they cannot be compared in that sense as well….I agree that all fantasy fiction have a common plot or similar structure..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces
But that is not what I meant by lift-off..surely, not all fantasy fiction has
*BIG SPOILER ALERT*
a ring (it could have been any other piece of jewelery, why a ring!!) which weighs down a person and affects his mental state 😀
OR
the hero walking back to the villain (Harry for Aslan), surrendering himself to the villain’s superior powers (Voldemort for Evil Witch), and the power of that “sacrifice”, saving his life..:D
*SPOILER END*
HP is good , and yes, definitely a different fantasy world, compared to that of LOTR and Narnia, but surely Rowling could have done without such “inspirations”..:D..
Anyway, comparisons are odious..:D,
and yeah, you know me, but i do not know how many surajs you know..:P
bah….i meant a locket and not a ring….and the link was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero
_With_A_Thousand_Faces
Mea Culpa.:)..
Well. You cannot expect to have an open-minded debate with me in case of HP. 😀
I know only two Surajs, among whom one is unlikely to comment here.
‘I can only feel grateful that I lived in the times of Harry Potter and Joanne Rowling’ I feel the same too! Really depressed and wondering what to do now that the series is over. Hmph!
I’ll read them all over again while waiting for the two movies and the HP encyclopedia.