Saturday, July 28, 2007

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J. K. Rowling

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J. K. Rowling brings to a close her seven-book saga about the young wizard at Hogwarts and his developing rivalry with the evil dark lord Voldermort. What makes the Potter books distinctive and unusual is how they grow in complexity and maturity with each volume. As the boy Potter matures and grows older, the level of the books advances with him. The story told through the perceptions of Potter advances in complexity as the boy grows older. This may be a deliberate strategy of Rowling’s but in part it is simply a reflection of her developing abilities as a writer.

Rowling is a highly effective storyteller. She can be a clumsy writer. Her prose can be wooden. She plays fast and easy with her story lines, and one is almost always certain that when Harry or one of his friends gets into a tight situation, some unexpected turn of plot or deus ex machina will bring about a rescue. Because the Potter books are about a magical world where surprising things often happen, Rowling does not have to follow the usual principles of narrative that require a logical plot that develops in a logical way. But this is not to disparage her achievement, only to point out that she takes full advantage of the magical world she has created, thereby successfully evading (when she needs to) laws of nature and probability,.

Rowling succeeds for a number of reasons. She creates a fully if not over-imagined world constructed out of the elements of various mythologies, folklores, traditions, literary traditions, and so on. One might argue that there is an incoherence to this world of centaurs and dementors and Death Eaters and wizards, but it is a fascinating, enthralling incoherence. Rowling’s characters—especially Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley (and his extended family), the teachers at Hogworts—carry the story. We like and care about them. Even minor characters are fully drawn and realized—the half-giant Hagrid and Potter’s classmate Neville Longbottom are among my favorite. One of the most important events in the Potter story—the murder of Potter’s parents by Voldemort, and young Potter’s mysterious survival—takes place well before the first page of the first novel. All the novels reflect back on it, in one way or the other. Their deaths haunt Potter, who doesn’t understand his survival. The absence of his parents contributes to his loneliness and isolation, which deepens as the story progresses. He becomes increasingly aware that he will one day have to face the murderer of his parents in an apocalyptic battle. Uncertainty about Harry’s fate binds the seven novels.

Another virtue is that the novels really do fit together as a unified, larger work. Elements from the earlier novels play significant roles in the later ones. Information and details that may have seemed unimportant in earlier books take on great meaning in later ones. The mysteries and suspense that Rowling builds really does sustain and unify the novels. The best chapters in the novel are those with the most action. Early in the novel Potter and crew leave for a hiding place and are ambushed by Voldermort and his supporters. Later, Potter and friends are captured at Lucius Malfoy’s house and must struggle to escape. Finally, in the last chapters, there is the showdown with Voldermort and his forces. These are very exciting chapters, especially because Rowling leaves the fates of her main characters in doubt. Characters do die in these novels.

There are certainly flaws in the final novel. There are long stretches of dead writing, where little happens, or where Rowling along with Potter seems merely to be marking time. There are some inconsistencies as well. In several late chapters Rowling uses contrived devices to present important plot details—one of these involves the use of a pensieve, a kind of well that holds the memories of various characters both alive and dead. The penultimate chapter also seems an artificial way of resolving and answering some of the issues in the novels. It would have been better had Rowling revealed this information through the interaction of characters and events, rather than releasing it in what amounts to a narrative voiceover. But these are minor quibbles.

The Harry Potter novels are not the equal of the Tolkien trilogy. However, they are a significant achievement, and they constitute a genuine monument that readers will continue to read with pleasure for years to come. I read all seven novels, enjoyed them, and regret that the Potter saga has now ended.

Rowling did plant some clues that might lead towards some sort of sequel. There is a locket left in the forest near Hogworts that Potter and everyone else agree not to look for. What powers does it hold, and what if the wrong person finds it? The last sentence of the novel carries a certain ambiguity, as if to suggest the faint possibility that everything is fine now, but perhaps not forever. Rowling insists there will be no sequel.

Nothing is left hanging in this final novel. It brings the Potter story to a close in a way that most Potter fans should find gratifying.

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