I have refrained from writing anything about Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince since its release. I was afraid I might not be able to say anything about it without giving everything away for those who have not read it. But I find I cannot refrain any longer. And yet, I am at a loss as to exactly what to say and how to say it. Then I talked to my dear friend Rita and she summed it all up for me.
She said, “Wow.”
That is a succinct and wholly unsatisfactory, yet wholly adequate description of this work. Wow.
Questions are answered, puzzles almost solved, lights flicker on as the “aha!” factor becomes more prevalent. Wow. As has become the case with each successive volume of this series, people die, Harry grows up a little more, and life continues to move inexorably along. Wow. I cannot put the book down, I read through the book while I have company visiting me from out of town, I stay up until all hours of the night reading, and I find myself dreading the ending because I know it means I must wait probably two more years until the series finale. Wow. I finish the book on Sunday night, I find myself not willing to let the story end on Monday morning so I re-read the last chapter, savoring each word. Wow.
At one point my husband came to me and said, “Almost half way through the book, huh?” I experienced immediate heart palpitations and that sinking stomach sensation. In dismay I looked at the top of my book and cried, “No! I don’t want to be halfway through the book yet!” Wow.
I wish JK Rowling was truly magical. Then she could simply create an event like the story in the Bible where the woman is down to her last cup of flour and her last drops of oil. With no money or hope for more, she expresses her faith in Christ and miraculously, every time she goes back to the barrel, there is always one more cup of flour and more drops of precious oil. That’s what I wish JK Rowling could do. Write so there would always be one more chapter. Just a few more drops of words flowing across the continually turning pages. Now that would truly be magical indeed. Wow.
But since it is not to be, I find myself already anticipating Book Seven. And in the meantime I do have some consolation. November 18, 2005 is the release date of the movie “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” That, and subsequent re-readings of all 6 books should tide me over until perhaps 2007 or whenever the final book is released.
2007. Wow.
I completely understand how you wish Rowling could always have another chapter just waiting to be written. She is an amazing writer!!! I am so jealous!! Even though I have just decided to begin exploring her world, I am simply amazed. Daddy asked me what I thought about it. I told him “Its not so much the storyline that amazes me, but the content of the storyline.” I find myself lucky, because by the time I finish book 6, it will probably be 2007!! 🙂 Luv u!!
-Becca =)