Monday, July 23, 2007
“You are an unusual wizard, Harry Potter.”
I don’t know where to begin, but I’ve got to say something so here goes.
One night in April 2004, I was staying over at my aunt’s and wasn’t able to go to sleep. With nothing to do when everyone else was fast asleep, I picked up Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that my aunt had bought for her son. I had already seen the first two Harry Potter movies and found them mildly interesting. In spite of my friend Rohit’s constant bickering that the books were much better and definitely worth reading, I had held out reading them until then. What followed was that I ended up reading all the 5 Harry Potter books that were out in the next six days. Three years later (5:17am today to be precise), I finished reading the final book. What a journey it has been. The mystery, the theories, book titles, cover art, Snape(!), W.O.M.B.A.T.s and what not.
[SPOILER ALERT!] Deathly Hallows is my favourite in the series, not just because it is the latest. It has everything I wanted to read – Snape’s story, Dumbledore’s history, Hermione’s brilliance and amazing spellwork, trip to Gringotts, the ultimate showdown at Hogwarts and of course Harry defeating Lord Voldermort. One of the funniest moments in the book for me was when Harry tells Kreacher to stop hitting Mundungus Fletcher and Kreacher asks, “Perhaps just one more, Master Harry, for luck?” However, there were some painful moments too, especially Dobby’s funeral.
I don’t think I’ll be able to do the 7th book justice by trying to review it. Its all over, and never have I had felt such a diverse mix of emotions. Thank you Jo for giving the world Harry Potter.
P.S. – You can view a smaller version of the image on flickr.
[Edit: Swapped the primary and secondary images.]
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sahil said..
btw…it's some time since i've been here…no offence, but the red link colour is rather unreadable…
1:25am, 23rd Jul'07
Abhishek said..
Good book. Not worth reading over and over again. Still a very good book.
She could have easily condensed the fifth book and added it to the sixth one. That(5th) book was a complete waste.
Aditya Anand said..
Abhishek, I beg to differ. Though it is true that when it comes to HP, passion can take over sense
Rungta, I so darn–ed agree about HP. There were some other ones too- mainly George and Fred.
Vega, if Jo said she would never write more books. She wouldn't. What I didn't like about the book was simply that the epilogue SUCKED.
Rungta said..
I second Aditya. No doubt she could (and probably should) have condensed the 5th book but there is no way I would call it a waste.
I feel sad to admit this, but yeah the epilogue sucked. She could've done a much better job with it(epilogue), but, I'm not complaining.
Skaran said..
I'm glad you enjoyed the book. I think she's quite outdone herself this time around. I'm now relistening to the book thanks to Jim Dale. It's marvelous, really.
10:08am, 23rd Jul'07
Nag said..
yesterday i opened your site and it took some time for the pic to get downloaded… but i looked at ur logo and figured out wat the post it about and closed the browser. yes it took me till today to finish. but man am i delighted. so long… i remember Form II (class 8).. i remember chemistry being taught and inside the huge chemistry book of GCSE i had the Philosopher's Stone. Well.. it ends tonight.
12:58am, 25th Jul'07
sourima said..
'boy's dont cry'!! :P Good news is atleast Prateek made me start reading the 1st book! so i guess i am the next link! :D
5:12am, 26th Jul'07
Abhishek said..
You're webmarks are the most interesting part of your website. You should add the comment feature there too.
10:10pm, 27th Jul'07
Rungta said..
While I'm certainly glad that you find my webmarks interesting, I think that adding comments would, for want of a better word, be overkill.
1:00am, 28th Jul'07
Sumedh said..
I envy you, because we always get a much lower–grade cover image in India! :(
The book, however, is completely amazing. By far, in deed, the best.
Rashmi said..
Ah the seventh book. Saw this pic just before my net was taken away from me. Actually for the good i'd say. But then saw your spolier alert and closed the page. and now finally i get to return. It was trully a book that stands out of its kind, despite some things- like the epilogue. But i guess she couldn't have put it any other better way. Well after 6 years of following it, it finally come to its end- sad.. Well Jo certainly set a huge standard for herself and everyone else, for any other book she writes next will trully be hard to match this series.
P.S. Lucky you got this cover. The children's version cover was a dissapointment.
Vega said..
Yeah..the book is absolutely brilliant..Now I know why she said some ppl will loath it, the way she has ended, there is no chance that she'd write more Potter books. I'll miss the excitement that is felt before the release of every book…
12:23am, 23rd Jul'07