My wife is waiting anxiously for her copy of the seventh and final Harry Potter book to arrive at our doorstep. Her sister got it for Michelle for her birthday (which is this coming Wednesday), and all I've really heard about all week is "Harry Potter this" and "Harry Potter that." Nevermind spoilers or controversies over copies released early or reviewed by newspapers before the book was issued; my wife's been a one-woman Harry Potter frenzy (in fact, she just called me to ask if the book had arrived yet).
Personally, I'm not all that hot and bothered over the end of the series. I'm sure Rowling, who's made a fortune and a half cranking out these tomes (dear Lord, will someone teach that woman how to edit?!), will find some other way to continue milking the cash cow for years to come. And just because this is the end of this particular series doesn't mean she can't do the whole spinoff thing. God knows she put together a large enough cast for these books that they could all easily have their own series and the world would never want for more wizarding adventures.
But no, I don't really feel like this event has any impact on me (except insofar as it impacts so many of the people I deal with on a daily basis). I never got into the whole Potter craze. I've only seen the most recent film in the theatres; I have watched the other four, but all on DVD well after they came out. I have never purchased one of the books; I borrowed them all from friends. And while I think the books are nice in their way, I can't say I've ever been particularly blown away by Rowling's prose (the pseudo-Latin she used for magic spells still kinda irks me, and the very obvious character names--Lupin gthe werewolf, for cryin' out loud!--seemed too transparent to me. I know we're talking about children's books here, but c'mon). She tends to give way too much detail, but the detail doesn't really add to the story, characters, setting, or our understanding of the world she's created. It's all rather superfluous.
I'm probably in a pretty tiny minority in my opinions about all things Harry Potter. I've never really understood why the whole world seemed to have gone crazy over a set of (what I perceived as) mediocrely-written novels about a school of wizards and witches mixed in with a coming of age story. Garth Nix's Sabriel mixes supernatural powers and coming-of-age much better, as does Terry Pratchett's Tiffany Aching young adult novels.
But anyway, yeah, we're waiting for Harry Potter here at Casa de Branco-Cottrell. Woo.
~chuck
Song of the Moment: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, "The Waiting"
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On THE Saturday, I was in Albuquerque, NM, at Wal-Mart and, as of approximately 4pm, there was still a stack of Potters waist high.
A week later at a Wal-Mart in Albuquerque, possibly the same one (who knows?), there was a similarly sized stack still sitting unpurchased.
Potter-madness missed New Mexico.
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