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Has anybody else had a look at a copy of the book yet? I couldn't afford to get it, but had a good long perusal in my local Sussex Stationers....

And I won't give away who dies...heheheh
 
I went to the bookshop at midnight to have a good laugh at all the people who'd stayed out - they included some of my friends :blush:. The book is heavy.
 
spoiler alert


!!!!!!!!GANDALF DIES!!!!!!!!



i heard it on the radio so it must be true
 
Not fair, Ron was my favourite character too. I suspect a lot of people are going to be annoyed when they find out that Ron Weasley dies at the end of Book 5!!!

Nah, only kidding, although thanks to usenet I do now know who dies (not really a major character), even without buying the book... :D

Faggus, lucky you about meeting Pullman, I'd love to go to one of his readings and meet him. Also, had I been in Edinburgh last night I could have met J K Rowling, but no, my flat lease has to start a week later *mutter* :rolleyes:
 
Article in the Daily Mirror.

I am looking forward to Harry being out of my life Jun 21 2003




By Alexandra Williams


AUTHOR JK Rowling admitted to TV's Jeremy Paxman she looks forward to Harry Potter being "out of my life" after the seven book series. Here is an edited version of Thursday's interview for BBC2's Newsnight team:

PAXMAN: Has it come at a price, this success and fame?

ROWLING: The fame thing is interesting because I never wanted to be famous and I never dreamed I would be famous.

I imagined being a famous writer would be like being like Jane Austen - being able to sit at home in the parsonage and occasionally you would correspond with the Prince of Wales's secretary.

I didn't think they'd rake through my bins, I didn't expect to be photographed on the beach through long lenses. I never dreamed it would impact my daughter's life negatively, which at times it has.

It would be churlish to say there's nothing good about being famous - to have a total stranger walk up to you as you're walking around Safeway's and say nice things about your work. That's a very nice thing to happen. I just wish they wouldn't when I'm buying ... you know.

JP: Loo roll?

JKR: Items of a questionable nature, exactly. Never when you're in the fresh fruit and veg section. Never.

JP: Do you think success has changed you?

JKR: I don't feel like quite such a waste of space any more. I totally felt a waste of space. Now I feel it turns out there was one thing I was good at. I'd always expected I could tell a story and it's rather sad that I needed confirmation by being published.

JP: A lot of people when they suddenly make a lot of money feel guilty about it.

JKR: Yes I do feel guilty about it, definitely. I didn't immediately become very rich. The biggest jump was the American advance, which was enough for me to buy a house - not outright but we'd been renting.

I didn't feel guilty, I felt scared because I thought: "I mustn't blow this. I've got some money, I must not do anything stupid with it." Then I felt guilty. JP: Harry and Ron and Hermione are going to be older. How are they going to change?

JKR: Quite a lot because I find it quite sinister the way that, looking at the Famous Five books, they never had a hormonal impulse ... I had a very forthright letter from a woman who had heard me say Harry was going to have his first date and she said: "Please don't do that, that's awful. I want these books to be a world where my children can escape to." She said "free from hurt and fear" and I'm thinking: "Have you read them? What are you talking about, free from hurt and fear? Harry goes through absolute hell every time." So I think a bit of snogging would alleviate matters.

JP: Is Harry going to become a bolshy teenager?

JKR: He's a lot, lot, lot angrier in this book. He really is quite angry a lot of the time and I think justifiably so - look at what he has gone through. It is about time he started feeling a little bit miffed at the hand life has dealt him.

JP: You know what is going to become of all the major characters over the series?

JKR: Yeah, yeah.

JP: Why stop when they grow up? Might be interesting to know what becomes of Harry as an adult.

JKR: How do you know he'll still be alive?

JP: Do you ever wish you hadn't started on it?

JKR: Yes but not for the reasons you might expect. Sometimes I've had very low moments when I thought: "What the hell do I do this for?" But very rare.

I do look forward to a post-Harry era in my life because some of the things that go with this are not that much fun. But at the same time I dread leaving Harry ... I worked on it so hard for so long, then it will be over and I think it's going to leave a massive gap.

JP: It's not a bad thing to go to your grave with, having invented this entire world and made children want to read?

JKR: Oh God, no, not at all. I am immensely proud of Harry and I'm never going to disown it ... and I will defend Harry against all comers.
 
Caroline said:
JP: A lot of people when they suddenly make a lot of money feel guilty about it.

JKR: Yes I do feel guilty about it, definitely. I didn't immediately become very rich. The biggest jump was the American advance, which was enough for me to buy a house - not outright but we'd been renting.

I didn't feel guilty, I felt scared because I thought: "I mustn't blow this. I've got some money, I must not do anything stupid with it." Then I felt guilty. JP: Harry and Ron and Hermione are going to be older. How are they going to change?

of course people who are guilty over earning lots of money do this :confused:
 
the_discordian said:
But wouldn't a real discordian choose not to act like a discordian?;)
Uhm, no, because then he'd be an accordian.

(But, oddly, not the accordian in The Breaux Freres (a 1920s cajun band), because that's a real discordian.) :)

Gawd I'm bored. And skint. Bored and skint. And I'm on the MB while bored and skint: not a good combination...
 
Got it through the post this morning (postman looked seriously pissed off, van full of Amazon boxes :) - will speed read tonight and make superficial comments later.
 
Well, I know which character dies, as it's been revealed on one website that I know of. Then again, they might be lying too!
 
Which back cover? There are two different cover designs: one for kids and another for the physically grown-up.
 
stu neville said:
Got it through the post this morning (postman looked seriously pissed off, van full of Amazon boxes :) - will speed read tonight and make superficial comments later.
Why wait? Make superficial comments before reading it. I always do!

For instance: Has anyone else noticed that the books are getting exponentially longer? I haven't read any of them, but looking at them in the bookstore, each volume seems to be twice the size of the previous. (Not that I've been in a new bookstore since Friday night. And if I go in today, I may not be able to find a copy to check - apparently there were only 20 copies in Canberra that hadn't been pre-ordered.)

My point on this is - I have a nasty feeling Ms Rowling is being edited with about as much care as Stephen King seems to be these days. Once an author experiences this kind of success, their publishers become reluctant to edit their work, which often marks a decline in the quality of their work.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's likely I'll get an unbiased answer to this any time soon.

As for Alistair P's comment above. Ewwww! She's not my type at all. (Assuming he means Ms Rowling. As I said, I haven't seen a copy of either edition.)
 
I'm talking about the back cover of the British kids' edition.

Oh, just have a look at it, and tell me it's not me.
 
actually all this hysterical behaviour to do with Harry Potter reminds me of when Oasis' 3rd album, the overlong Be Here Now, came out. Everyone was so positive to it when it came out and panning it 6 months later:hmph:
 
Potted review

Quite liked it, but not as much as I did the other 4. :)

Started off a bit unsteadily, but found its feet about 8 chapters in and then became yet another page-turner (as are the other books). And the tail of the tale is a bit weak, I thought. Some of the gags are quite good, but as humour's a personal thing there will be those that disagree. And it is arguably an important character who dies -just, to my mind, someone more important to Harry than to any of the readers.
 
Go along with all of that - there's a lot of inertia to start with, but once it gets going it's just as pacy as the others. The final pages lose the momentum somewhat, but it's not a total cop-out ending or anything.

Oh yes, and you don't expect who's going to fall off the perch: don't try to pick up clues along the way, cos you'll just lead yourself up the garden path ;).
 
jima said:
actually all this hysterical behaviour to do with Harry Potter reminds me of when Oasis' 3rd album, the overlong Be Here Now, came out. Everyone was so positive to it when it came out and panning it 6 months later:hmph:
I've been meaning to do a bit of research on mass hysteria in order to see how the Harry Potter furore relates to it. The whole thing strikes me as having been a bit overdone.

I don't know about the editions in other countries (and some of them do seem to be different), but the adult one here looks more like it ought to be the cover of Harry Potter on the Hunt for Nazi Gold.
 
Emperor Zombie said:
I think the expanding size in volumes has a great deal to do with editorial control and the amount Jk Rowling evidently has...hence ploddy first eight chapters and dragging middle section of the book.
Dragging middle section? I didn't see one.

As for the opening chapters: even the first 3 books (all of a more reasonable page-count) had this problem: the books always start with Harry at the home of his aunt and uncle, the Dursleys, and IMO always plod a bit at that point, but the books (so far) always burst into life as soon as Harry heads for Hogwarts, and -until OotP- I can't help but think that's intentional. At least in part. (The diff. in OotP tho' is he's quickly moved from the Dursley's to a more magical setting, but the book still doesn't pick up until it's time to go back to school.)
 
Anome, I personally enjoy the longer books, I find it's more to get your teeth into and more of a delving into a wider world feel - maybe you should actually read them before passing judgement? Although you might have biased yourself against it now. I always used to think they were utter tripe and rotting the minds of our children, then I read them. And had to keep my revised opinion secret for a long time because I'd been so verbal about condemning them before I knew anything about them. Now, I have no shame.

IMHO they keep on getting better and this one is no exception. Not sure what I can say without spoiling....

So, uh, I won't say anything, except that it delivered what I hoped it would and thank god Snape didn't die.
 
Slytherin, I'm sorry if my remarks offended. I have noticed that many authors start out writing shorter books, and slowly get longer and longer. In many cases it is due to the author becoming more confident and better at the writing process, but in at least as many it has been because, due to their early success, their publishers have been reluctant to edit them down. (I've seen long winded flame wars on Usenet about this very problem. Let's not get into one here. Cue Stu to turn up and explain why it won't happen here.)

Anyway, if you enjoy the books, I won't try and stop you. I personally do not feel inclined to reading them, for the reasons I posted earlier. One day, perhaps. When I've read all the books I already own, maybe.

And I stand by my statement about the "adult" cover. Here.
 
Slytherin said:
So, uh, I won't say anything, except that it delivered what I hoped it would and thank god Snape didn't die.


ARGHHHHHHHHHHH, you've spoiled it for me, I thought he'd die

who is he?:D

Originally posted by er... me
actually all this hysterical behaviour to do with Harry Potter reminds me of when Oasis' 3rd album, the overlong Be Here Now, came out. Everyone was so positive to it when it came out and panning it 6 months later


Although I can't see J K Rowling rolling out of the met bar still high at 5am going "sorted, mad fer it"



the People at work are near the end apparently, but none of them want to know what happens next. I'm getting tempted to start shouting "shut the f*ck up, you're not f*cking clever for reading a f*cking childrens book":mad:
 
jima said:
the People at work are near the end apparently, but none of them want to know what happens next. I'm getting tempted to start shouting "shut the f*ck up, you're not f*cking clever for reading a f*cking childrens book":mad:
They're not very fast readers either. It's been out for 4 days already: they could've read it twice by now (at least!) if they were really trying! :eek:
 
Every book that Dennis Wheatley wrote was longer than his previous book; (except the first one I suppose)
so this is probably a phenomenon which occurs when a writer becomes successful.

Still, I think they are pretty good, in a cinematic sort of way.
I read these books to my kids, and it is easy to differentate between the characters when they are talking- each character has a distinctive voice, which must have made the adaptation to film relatively easy.
 
Any Predictions for Book 6, anyone?

Just a thought (and only just); but I'm betting on another death in book 6, and one even closer to home than the one in Order of the Phoenix: someone the readers actually care about in fact! Anyone else want to bet on it being Dumbledore? (Leaving Harry without his most powerful ally for the big showdown with Voldemort in book 7.)

Also suspect Umbridge will be back: think about it; she was teaching Defence Against The Dark Arts, and thanx to Harry and the DA, how good are the OWL results going to be for that subject? Umbridge will take the credit and Fudge will force her back on Hogwarts as a result, his reasoning being that the kids need a teacher who will give them the best grounding in DAtDA possible, now that "Lord Thingy" is back, and judging solely and erroneously from the exam results that Umbridge excels in that area. (Bearing in mind Dumbledore succeeded in convincing Fudge that no actual DA meetings had occurred.)

Obviously I'll be 100% wrong in these guesses. :)
 
Yes Anome I see what you mean about the cover. Looks like a beach read.
 
I'm such a sad muppet.

I read it dead slowly and finished it friday night. Cried (not 'cos I finished it but 'cos of what happened) and felt all lost and despondent yesterday.

I really need to get out more.

:eek:
 
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