I can see that scene with Voldemort being impactful. I think that we do get more of these scenes throughout this book especially since he uses occlumens against Harry and the only times we get glimpses of his emotions is when it breaks through Harry's mind, perhaps initially it was the accumulation of all the scenes which made this particular place more memorable to you.
Thanks for the comment :) You are right, its the emotion behind it. Watching Voldemort through the books be patient and calculating, but then to see these emotional outburst as we watch him start to slowly realise and lose grip of his power!!
i find it interesting that you mentioned the role of crying in the books because it’s something that has stood out to me as well. I don’t mind Hermione crying a lot and the boys not crying - it’s quite stereotypical of course but probably also quite realistic considering societal expectations. Especially for Harry it was probably not acceptable at all growing up in an abusive home, so it might be something he learned to supress. And I think the books make it quite clear that Hermione’s way of dealing with intense emotions, crying, is a lot healthier than the way Ron and Harry deal with their emotions, so it’s not something that’s framed as weak. What did bother me though was the role crying played in Harry’s romantic relationships: Cho cried a lot, which was super overwhelming for Harry - he couldn’t deal with it at all. That in itself makes sense in my opinion, give that he probably never learned any emotional regulation. However I find it annoying that the books make the point repeatedly that Ginny never cries (at least not in front of Harry) and how great that is for Harry. I wish he would have learned to deal with other people’s emotionas better insteaad of just dating someone who just doesn’t cry and is always 100% understanding of Harry’s (sometimes questionable and annoying) behavior.
That is a great point about Harry not crying because he has grown up in an abusive home, that is something I hadn't considered. That is also such a nice (but sad) observation about Cho crying and Ginny not crying and how there is perhaps that lack of emotional inteligence/development that maybe was a missed little storyline in the series...!?
I read the series for the first time last year at 26 - I didn’t really expect to like it that much but I ended up loving it! I do have a lot of thoughts about this book in particular, so there might be a stirng of comments :D I definitely agree with what you said about Ron and Hermione - it made so much sense for them to end up together! I think I’ve read somewhere that some people believe that they actually got together before the kiss in the last book, but that they just kind of kept it from Harry before that, which I think is kind of a funny idea. Generally people are a bit insane when it comes to shipping in this series though. Personally I find it a bit much that both main couples are married with children in the epilogue. As if most people stay with the person they fall in love with as teenagers. Generally I would have preferred the epilogue not to be that far into the future - maybe a year from when the last chapter ended, after the trio finishes their last year at Hogwarts. (Even though JKR says that only Hermione returns to Hogwarts, imo it would make more sense for Harry and Ron to go as well - Harry loved his time there, it was the first place he ever felt at home at and after a year of hunting Horcruxes and fighting his nemesis getting to be a teenager at school again would be the best thing!)
My first reply! I will reply to all the comments :) That is so great (and also interesting) that you read them at 26 and still found that magic in them - I think that is telling to the magical feel of the. books and how much it can still resonate, not just with children, but everyone. I have given it more thought as I have finished, and the more I think about it, the more i dislike the epilogue because it just feels a bit 'disney' thats tacked on at the end. I didnt know that about Hermione returning and tto be fair, I would have loved that extra bit exploring all three back at hogwarts for a year of 'normality' !!
Yes definitely - i think the most interesting aspect of me reading the books as an adult has been to talk about them with my friends who read them first when they were children, and how differently we perceived certain aspects of the story because of it. i absolutely agree about the epilogue - it just falls kind of flat. i get that JKR wanted to finish the main story on a high but I would have cared a lot more to read about how Harry grapples with what he learned about Snape and Dumbledore during the battle of Hogwarts instead of just seeing that one day in the future he decides to name his child after them. I also just couldn't connect with the trio 19 years in the future, they felt too disconnected from the characters we followed through 7 books.
That is so true, which is maybe why you connected with the 'coming of age' aspect more! This is a deep, dark rabbit hole - the amount of better ending their could have been in place of that epilogue..!!
one thing i definitely disagree with you on is that you said the series could start with book 4! it might be partly because book 3 is my favorite one, but I also think books one and two are important. I guess if you fokuson the Voldemort’s rise and fall, books 1-3 aren’t THAT relevant, however I personally see the series primarily as a coming of age story and the whole magical war as more of a backdrop. To me it’s about a boy who gew up in an abusive family learning about growing into his own person and learning about genuine human connection, that has been lacking from his life. The friendships and the positive relationships to adults he experiences allow him to feel loved and to grow confident in his own abilities. I particularly love Harry’s relationship to Lupin in the third book - I think partially because it reminds me of trauma therapy with a good therapist: Harry learns to confront his worst experiences in a safe environment while building up skills and ressources to deal with the emotions and sensations that accompany his traumatic childhood, especially the loss of his parents. Him being able to produce his own patronus when he thinks about his happiest moments with his closest friends and mentors is so beautiful and meaningful. However, that brings me to something that I absolutely agree with: Lupin’s death! I was GUTTED when I realized he was killed off screen - i knew he was gonna die beforehand but I thought the would get a great death scene like Sirius or Dumbledore. In my opinion Lupin is such and important and wonderful character, I really think he deserved better than that!
Haha! I upset quite a few people with these remarks when I first made it in The Goblet of Fire Episode - and I stand by it!! No, of course, they are comments that are tongue in cheek a bit and I for one and more than happy to have the compliment of the entire story. As you will have heard, the Prisoner of Azkaban book really took my by surprise and i enjoyed it a lot more than I had thought and Lupin really felt like the first adult father figure character to really nurture something in Harry - to not shy away from the fear but to understand it and use your own happiness to control it. And then to kill him off page/screen.... well.... what a shame Thanks for all your great comments :)
@@ANovelReview thank you for taking the time to read and reply to all the comments! :) I think it really speaks for the series that depending on how you look at it, it can be either a coming of age story or a story about the fight against a (facist) political opponent - because while I love books 1-3 I do understand where you're coming from when you say that they aren't absolutely necessary for most of the story in 4-7. I guess it just depends on which parts of the whole story you connect with most! I do love to see a fellow Lupin enthusiast though - I personally wish we had gotten some more nice Harry/ Lupin in the later books. Instead Lupin's character arc seemed to revolve around his romance with Tonks for the last two books, which I never really was that interested in haha
No, no, thankyou for talking the time to watch the videos and comment!! I really love the idea of reading it, not as a story about defeating evil as much as it is a coming of age story. The next time I read them, I am going to take on this mind set to explore it more from that angle so thankyou for that, I think that will make it fresh and offer a different perspective :)
I can see that scene with Voldemort being impactful. I think that we do get more of these scenes throughout this book especially since he uses occlumens against Harry and the only times we get glimpses of his emotions is when it breaks through Harry's mind, perhaps initially it was the accumulation of all the scenes which made this particular place more memorable to you.
Thanks for the comment :) You are right, its the emotion behind it. Watching Voldemort through the books be patient and calculating, but then to see these emotional outburst as we watch him start to slowly realise and lose grip of his power!!
i find it interesting that you mentioned the role of crying in the books because it’s something that has stood out to me as well. I don’t mind Hermione crying a lot and the boys not crying - it’s quite stereotypical of course but probably also quite realistic considering societal expectations. Especially for Harry it was probably not acceptable at all growing up in an abusive home, so it might be something he learned to supress. And I think the books make it quite clear that Hermione’s way of dealing with intense emotions, crying, is a lot healthier than the way Ron and Harry deal with their emotions, so it’s not something that’s framed as weak. What did bother me though was the role crying played in Harry’s romantic relationships: Cho cried a lot, which was super overwhelming for Harry - he couldn’t deal with it at all. That in itself makes sense in my opinion, give that he probably never learned any emotional regulation. However I find it annoying that the books make the point repeatedly that Ginny never cries (at least not in front of Harry) and how great that is for Harry. I wish he would have learned to deal with other people’s emotionas better insteaad of just dating someone who just doesn’t cry and is always 100% understanding of Harry’s (sometimes questionable and annoying) behavior.
That is a great point about Harry not crying because he has grown up in an abusive home, that is something I hadn't considered. That is also such a nice (but sad) observation about Cho crying and Ginny not crying and how there is perhaps that lack of emotional inteligence/development that maybe was a missed little storyline in the series...!?
I read the series for the first time last year at 26 - I didn’t really expect to like it that much but I ended up loving it!
I do have a lot of thoughts about this book in particular, so there might be a stirng of comments :D
I definitely agree with what you said about Ron and Hermione - it made so much sense for them to end up together! I think I’ve read somewhere that some people believe that they actually got together before the kiss in the last book, but that they just kind of kept it from Harry before that, which I think is kind of a funny idea. Generally people are a bit insane when it comes to shipping in this series though.
Personally I find it a bit much that both main couples are married with children in the epilogue. As if most people stay with the person they fall in love with as teenagers. Generally I would have preferred the epilogue not to be that far into the future - maybe a year from when the last chapter ended, after the trio finishes their last year at Hogwarts. (Even though JKR says that only Hermione returns to Hogwarts, imo it would make more sense for Harry and Ron to go as well - Harry loved his time there, it was the first place he ever felt at home at and after a year of hunting Horcruxes and fighting his nemesis getting to be a teenager at school again would be the best thing!)
My first reply! I will reply to all the comments :) That is so great (and also interesting) that you read them at 26 and still found that magic in them - I think that is telling to the magical feel of the. books and how much it can still resonate, not just with children, but everyone.
I have given it more thought as I have finished, and the more I think about it, the more i dislike the epilogue because it just feels a bit 'disney' thats tacked on at the end. I didnt know that about Hermione returning and tto be fair, I would have loved that extra bit exploring all three back at hogwarts for a year of 'normality' !!
Yes definitely - i think the most interesting aspect of me reading the books as an adult has been to talk about them with my friends who read them first when they were children, and how differently we perceived certain aspects of the story because of it.
i absolutely agree about the epilogue - it just falls kind of flat. i get that JKR wanted to finish the main story on a high but I would have cared a lot more to read about how Harry grapples with what he learned about Snape and Dumbledore during the battle of Hogwarts instead of just seeing that one day in the future he decides to name his child after them. I also just couldn't connect with the trio 19 years in the future, they felt too disconnected from the characters we followed through 7 books.
That is so true, which is maybe why you connected with the 'coming of age' aspect more!
This is a deep, dark rabbit hole - the amount of better ending their could have been in place of that epilogue..!!
Ron and Hermione were made for each other and it was obvious.
Couldn’t agree more! I hadn’t even considered an alternative until I read it! 😂
one thing i definitely disagree with you on is that you said the series could start with book 4! it might be partly because book 3 is my favorite one, but I also think books one and two are important. I guess if you fokuson the Voldemort’s rise and fall, books 1-3 aren’t THAT relevant, however I personally see the series primarily as a coming of age story and the whole magical war as more of a backdrop. To me it’s about a boy who gew up in an abusive family learning about growing into his own person and learning about genuine human connection, that has been lacking from his life. The friendships and the positive relationships to adults he experiences allow him to feel loved and to grow confident in his own abilities. I particularly love Harry’s relationship to Lupin in the third book - I think partially because it reminds me of trauma therapy with a good therapist: Harry learns to confront his worst experiences in a safe environment while building up skills and ressources to deal with the emotions and sensations that accompany his traumatic childhood, especially the loss of his parents. Him being able to produce his own patronus when he thinks about his happiest moments with his closest friends and mentors is so beautiful and meaningful.
However, that brings me to something that I absolutely agree with: Lupin’s death! I was GUTTED when I realized he was killed off screen - i knew he was gonna die beforehand but I thought the would get a great death scene like Sirius or Dumbledore. In my opinion Lupin is such and important and wonderful character, I really think he deserved better than that!
Haha! I upset quite a few people with these remarks when I first made it in The Goblet of Fire Episode - and I stand by it!!
No, of course, they are comments that are tongue in cheek a bit and I for one and more than happy to have the compliment of the entire story.
As you will have heard, the Prisoner of Azkaban book really took my by surprise and i enjoyed it a lot more than I had thought and Lupin really felt like the first adult father figure character to really nurture something in Harry - to not shy away from the fear but to understand it and use your own happiness to control it.
And then to kill him off page/screen.... well.... what a shame
Thanks for all your great comments :)
@@ANovelReview thank you for taking the time to read and reply to all the comments! :)
I think it really speaks for the series that depending on how you look at it, it can be either a coming of age story or a story about the fight against a (facist) political opponent - because while I love books 1-3 I do understand where you're coming from when you say that they aren't absolutely necessary for most of the story in 4-7. I guess it just depends on which parts of the whole story you connect with most!
I do love to see a fellow Lupin enthusiast though - I personally wish we had gotten some more nice Harry/ Lupin in the later books. Instead Lupin's character arc seemed to revolve around his romance with Tonks for the last two books, which I never really was that interested in haha
No, no, thankyou for talking the time to watch the videos and comment!!
I really love the idea of reading it, not as a story about defeating evil as much as it is a coming of age story. The next time I read them, I am going to take on this mind set to explore it more from that angle so thankyou for that, I think that will make it fresh and offer a different perspective :)