Alatar wrote:I'm not really expecting a masterpiece and all questions answered...
Indeed, I think that these two are mutually exclusive! Chekov formulated his famous dictum for novels before he did it for plays: his phrase for plays just was a lot more catchy than the original! (Once again showing the importance of adaptation when crossing media......
) Most of these things are not guns on any mantle: she has to fire quite a few that are there. Moreover, the converse of the dictum says don't fire guns that are not shown in advance. JKR's writing (with the exception of OotP) is very Chekovian: I expect her to keep it up.
Seriously, Rowling has a lot of plot left, and it has to be non-arbitrary. There are a few obvious ways to link quite a few things, but this just will not allow place for the questions of the sorts of which LotR fans peppered Tolkien until his death. If she did cram it all into the narrative, it obviously would not change the plot or the story: it would, however, harm the presentation of both greatly. So, a "tell all" book basically could not be a masterpiece.
Pearly Di wrote:
Well, the problem with OotP isn't that it's too long ... it's just not very
good.
I would disagree with that, at least if you are talking about the story. In some ways, it was by far the most compelling story: Harry has to learn that choosing to isolate himself might be easy, but it's disastrous. The plot was a little flabby: it definitely read as if it was written in a rush, and had a few "Beren & Lúthien" style false starts. For example, there are two trips to the hospital, two break-ins at Umbridge's office, two desribed detentions, two breaking-ins of Snape's memories, etc. It definitely smacked of being hastily written: better self-editing and planning would have produced a tighter plot. (The same is true in my field: better planning yields more succinct outlining of the hypotheses and tests; worse planning yields rambling narratives of "I did X; that showed A; then I did Y; that showed B...")
It is the narrative in particular that was bad. It was not as if it was inconsistent or anything: JKR maintained a single protagonist third person subjective (I'm blanking on the term for that!) throughout. It was just that there were so many unneeded details and even chapters. There was no need for Lockhart, nor for The Woes of Mrs. Weasley.
To make matters worse, other parts were grossly underwritten. Marrietta Edgecombe was completely arbitrary as the grass. The whole relationship between Harry & Cho needed to fleshed out: 15-16 year olds don't hold each other's attentions that long without things happening in between. (I'm not young, but I remember that age: you go the party fancying one girl and wind up the evening mashing with a different one! Teenage hormonal attention spans usually are not long enough to get to the 3rd "D" of ADD.....)
Pearly Di wrote:Heh, I was 15 when The Silmarillion was published and not yet a lifelong LOTR devotee, so that all passed me by. I avoided Sil for years after I read LOTR. Sil didn't have hobbitses! When I finally read it, I thought it was amazing.
Ah, I think the lack of Hogwarts in Deathly Hallows (although I'm sure Harry will visit) will strike a similar chord. Indeed, a common complaint about Half-Blood Prince was that so little narrative was given to the doings in Harry's classes. Some of this represents legitimate (but erroneous) concerns: for example, we never read Harry learning the spells that he'll need to defeat Voldemort. (I deem this erroneous simply because if Hogwarts taught "Defeating Voldemort 101," then Voldemort really would not be much of a Dark-Lord; also, JKR's plots hang on Harry understanding some aspect of Choice, not on him memorizing an incantation: even the Patronus was a matter of will, not recitation.)
But, yes, I knew a few people who dropped the Sil. for a bad number once it became clear that there would be no Hobbits. I knew one person who was sure that the Old Took would be involved: no emphasis that the LotR Tale of the Years precluded this would sway him! Just like some fans hold out hope that JKR will change her mind about Harry returning to Hogwarts (well, the cat is in the box now, isn't it?), he held that Tolkien surely changed his mind as it just would not work without Hobbits!
Shown the gun? Then shoot it! But remember that one shot has many effects.....
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