Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—NO SPOILERS OR YOU DIE!

[Primula Baggins]

Report from the Eugene Borders bracelet line: son and girlfriend got there at 5 AM and were about 15th in line.

He's going to Scout camp tomorrow, and so gets first crack at our copy. His girlfriend is hosting an all-night Potter reading party, starting as soon as people get their books, and it sounds as if that will be midnight or close to it for us.

[Crucifer]

I haven't been spoiled yet. Miraculously, as it's been very close.

Only 8 hours 23 minuteses!

[elfshadow]

Aw, nel, that sucks! You know, it might almost be worth it to profusely apologize and grovel at her feet just to get the Harry Potter book. Almost.


I just got back from the Border's line myself, I arrived at 7:15am and was 11th in line. Actually I GOT there second, but went to the "wrong door" (along with person #1 and person #3) and by the time the people at Border's were so kind as to show us which was the "right door" there were a few people in line ahead of us who wouldn't budge. But such is life. I don't really care that much, as long as I get the book.

[Crucifer]

THere were three people queuing up at 11 today.

I hope no one has joined them yet...

[Erunáme]

So you got there early to reserve your spot in line, elsha?

The Barnes and Nobles I reserved my book, according to Nick says it's handing out tickets at 6pm. I won't be able to get there until around 6:15 probably. So, I could be pretty far back in the line.

Nick and I might just go up to experience the hoopla and then I could go back the next morning to pick the book up. I have a personal training appointment at 10am on Saturday so I can't exactly stay up all night reading.

[Erunáme]

Stephen King understands:

I'm having a day of mixed feelings: happy because I'm reading the manuscript of a novel that's full of magic, mystery, and monsters; sad because it will be finished tomorrow and on my shelf, with all its secrets told and its surviving characters set free to live their own lives (if characters have lives beyond the end of a novel — I've always felt they do). It's called The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff, and it will be published early next year.

Did you think I meant the final Harry Potter tale? Don't be a sillykins — not even your Uncle Stevie gets that one in advance (although I'm sure you agree that he should, he should). But I expect to face the same feelings, only stronger, when the pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows dwindle down to the final few. Hell, I had trouble saying goodbye to Tony Soprano, and let's face it — he was a turd. Harry's one of the good guys. One of the great guys, in fact, and the same holds true for his friends.

The sense of sadness I feel at the approaching end of The Monsters of Templeton isn't just because the story's going to be over; when you read a good one — and this is a very good one — those feelings are deepened by the realization that you probably won't tie into anything that much fun again for a long time. This particular melancholy deepens even more when the story is spread over multiple volumes. I felt it as I approached the end of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy, more strongly as I neared the conclusion of Frodo's quest in The Lord of the Rings, and with painful keenness when, as the writer, I got to the end of The Dark Tower, which stretched over seven volumes and a quarter century's writing time.

When it comes to Harry, part of me — a fairly large part, actually — can hardly bear to say goodbye. I'd guess that J.K. Rowling feels the same, although I'd also guess those feelings are mingled with the relief of knowing that the work is finally done, for better or worse.

And I'm a grown-up, for God's sake — a damn Muggle! Think how it must be for all the kids who were 8 when Harry debuted in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with its cartoon jacket and modest (500 copies) first edition. Those kids are now 18, and when they close the final book, they will be in some measure closing the book on their own childhoods — magic summers spent in the porch swing, or reading under the covers at camp with flashlights in hand, or listening to Jim Dale's recordings on long drives to see Grandma in Cincinnati or Uncle Bob in Wichita. My advice to families containing Harry Potter readers: Stock up on the Kleenex. You're gonna need it. It's all made worse by one unavoidable fact: It's not just Harry. It's time to say goodbye to the whole cast, from Moaning Myrtle to Scabbers the rat (a.k.a. Wormtail). Which leads to an interesting question — will the final volume satisfy Harry's longtime (and very devoted) readers?

Although the only thing we can be sure of is that Deathly Hallows won't end in a 10-second blackout (you're going to hear that a lot in the next few weeks), my guess is that large numbers of readers will not be satisfied even if Harry survives (I'm betting he will) and Lord Voldemort is vanquished (I'm betting on this, too, although evil is never vanquished for long). I'm partly drawing on my own experience with The Dark Tower (reader satisfaction with the ending was low — tough titty, since it was the only one I had); partly on my belief that very few long works end as felicitously as Tolkien's Rings series, with its beautiful pilgrimage into the Grey Havens; but mostly on the fact that there is that sadness, that inevitable parting from characters who have been loved deeply by many. The Internet blog sites will be full of this was bad and that was wrong, but it's going to boil down to something that many will feel and few will come right out and state: No ending can be right, because it shouldn't be over at all. The magic is not supposed to go away.

Rowling will almost certainly go on to other works, and they may be terrific, but it won't be quite the same, and I'm sure she knows that. Readers will be able to go back and reread the existing books — as I've gone back to Tolkien, as my wife goes back to Patrick O'Brian's wonderful sea stories featuring Captain Aubrey and Dr. Maturin, as others do with novels featuring Travis McGee or Lord Peter Wimsey — and rereading is a great pleasure, but it's not the bated-breath, what's-gonna-happen-next suspense that Potter readers have enjoyed since 1997. And, of course, Harry's audience is different. It is, in large part, made up of children who will be experiencing these unique and rather terrible feelings for the first time.

But there's comfort. There are always more good stories, and now and then there are great stories. They come along if you wait for them. And here's something I believe in my heart: No story can be great without closure. There must be closure, because it's the human condition. And since that's how it is, I'll be in line with my money in my hand on July 21.

And, I must admit, sorrow in my heart.

[Pearly Di]

That is a wonderful article by Stephen King.

Beautifully expressed.

[Primula Baggins]

I agree, Di. But it's all of a piece.

King's ON WRITING is one of the best books on the subject I've ever read. He is a wonderful writer. What impresses me is that he continues to work at improving his writing, even now when he could sell anything, no matter how lazy and sloppy it was.

[WampusCat]

I never, ever thought Stephen King would make me cry. He did.

Yes, that piece is exquisitely right.

[tinwë]

12:30 PM. I just bought my copy. From the grocery store! No line. No waiting. Just throw it in the basket along with the head of cauliflower, some broccoli crowns, fig newtons and apple juice. Brilliant. Now, off to read ...

[TheTennisBallKid]

I just got back from Wal-mart, with my copy. I was going to wait till tomorrow, but I was already out late (Cem and I went to see OotP tonight), so I thought, why not?

I'd read all night, but I have to work tomorrow. So the question is: how much sleep can I afford to lose...?




ttbk

[Primula Baggins]

Hundreds of people at Borders tonight! I dropped off kids and will go back in an hour or so to buy my copy (which I will then hand off to my son), collect kids (once they all have their copies—and alas, not all were up at 5 this morning), and finally take them home.

Verrrry sleepy and actually grateful I've got a few days before I'll be up late reading.

[Frelga]

Well, by now some of you will know how it all ends. I won't get my copy for another week at least, and I can't bring myself to be sad about it. DH just suggested that perhaps the biggest twist of all would be that the end of the book will NOT be the end of the story, and that Rowling would announce at the end that Potter vs. Voldemort struggle would take 7 more books.

Hey, it worked for Jordan.

[Primula Baggins]

Just—please remember that whoever wants to start discussing spoilers should start a new thread and prominently label it SPOILERS.

Puh-LEEEEZE!

[nerdanel]

Well, the lack of reserved copy worked out perfectly fine. Went to Barnes and Nobles, where bemused, non-HP-enthusiast employees accidentally let most of the non-reserved customers in to buy their copies ahead of most of the reserved customers. Ooooops. Had my copy in hand before 12:30 AM.

I actually feel really good about how that worked out. Left work around 6:30, went to the gym with my friend, where we indulged in two hour workouts, then hit the spa, steam room, and shower at a leisurely pace. Meandered over to Barnes and Nobles around 10 PM, grabbed wristbands, and went out for margaritas (hey, we're billed as the generation that came of age with HP) and burgers. Wandered back to B&N around 11:15, spent half an hour reading Wine Spectator, and then got in the nicely-fated non-reserved line around 11:45 PM.

Hmmm, some of the people in the reserved line had been hanging around the store since 9 AM that morning. I really should feel worse about getting my book before them. I really should. I'll see if I can get around to that once I finish my reread.

[Crucifer]

L_M has done it.

This book was perfect.

[Alatar]

If anyone's still in doubt, run to the bookstore now. It's worth it.

[Primula Baggins]

Home and alive (I was the dumb mom who said, sure, I'll drive all the kids home tonight, forgetting that not everyone had gotten in line for wristbands at 5 AM; so we had our book at 12:10, but the last of the kids I had to drive, not until 1:15).

It was so jammed right at midnight that the fire marshal stopped letting people in until people had left to make room for them. They were practically flinging people out the door with their books. And I could see why. There was no open space anywhere, people crowding every aisle. If there had been an emergency it would have taken twenty minutes to empty the store.

I'm glad to know it's worth the trouble! I hope to know for myself by Tuesday.

[The One Ring]

Thought I would drop in here and tell a funny story, given the death threat in the title of the thread.

Apparently one of our radio djs yesterday did a riff on the new Harry Potter in an afternoon talk show and pretended to reveal which of the characters died. I didn't hear the show so I don't know which character it was, and when they were talking about it today they were not permitted to repeat what he had said. But it seems that his riff talked about reading the book, saying it was only 40 pages long, and [character x] does die in a car accident on I-95! And then he went on to describe Hermione's reaction to the death by repeating some well-known scene from the Sopranos or something like this.

It was supposed to be so obviously not true that people would laugh.

The talk show is aimed at adults, by the way; it's not a children's show, judging by the language. But it seems that a lot of kids (teenagers probably) heard this, and thought that the dj had really revealed the ending of the new Harry Potter book, and there was a storm of parents down at the radio station demanding that the dj be fired.

And ... guess what? The management put him on a one-day suspension for spoiling Harry Potter.

Another day in the life of popular culture!

Jn

p.s. and speaking of unconscionable things, the resolution of the tale is already up on Wikipedia

[WampusCat]

My copy is supposed to be delivered today.

I am impatient.

I considered going out at midnight and buying another copy. Silly WampusCat. Thought better of it.

Then I awoke at 5 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. Regretted thinking better of it.

I wonder when the bookstore opens...