I am done reading, but can't re-enter the muggle world just yet..

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IF YOU HAVE NOT READ/NOT FINISHED READING HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS, PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS POST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At first, I could not understand why people wanted to write reviews for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. However, after reading the book, I understood why. Having read something THAT phenomenal, all you want to do is talk about the book and commiserate with fellow fanantics, because a part of you simply does not want to accept the fact that the series is over.

I loved it...no wait, thats a major understatement. I loved it enough to push it to my list of top 5 books ever read. Is it perfect? Ofcourse not. It meanders for a good 350 pages, there are weeks and months that go by without major events happening. But eventually, the pace picks up, and before you know it, you have plunged headlong into the action faster than Harry jumps into pensieves. This post is not intended to be review - there are more than 800 reviews in amazon, covering every bit of the story admirably (and while you are at it, check out the discussion threads too)

The book reads like the screenplay to a blockbuster movie. I laughed, oohed and aahed, and then cried for 10 minutes non stop when a much loved character dies (i really did, no other book has even elicited such a reaction from me).

Here are some of my pet peeves with the book -

* Harry makes the connection between Godric's hollow and Godric Gryffindor only much later in the book. Duh?!!!!

* After building up Luna, Ginny and Neville's characters book after book, they are grossly under-used in this finale

* Other than Bill Weasley developing a taste for rare steaks, there is no other mention of how he is affected by Greyback's attack

* So many peripheral actors are killed, you dont feel death's impact beyond a point

* I always hoped Harry and Hermione would become a couple. After all, Hermione truly cares for Harry and her intelligence is the perfect match for Harry's guts and there is a tantalizing scene at Godric's Hollow where Rowling makes us think just for a few minutes that they could be together. However, in the next chapter, Harry says she is like his sister. I know, i know, Rowling never ever gave any hints about anything other than friendship between the two characters, but still...I was hoping there would be something more.

* The epilogue - I HATED IT! So everyone marries their high school sweethearts and live happily everafter with a 100 kids each? After all that drama, Ginny and Hermione become suburban soccer moms content with getting babies after babies? (not that there is anything wrong with it, but hey, this is supposed to be fantasy fiction...why bring in the mundane stuff?) So what does Harry do? Does he become an auror, or are aurors now passe cos he-who-must-not-be-named is no longer around? Does he become the minister of magic and help foster a new age of friendship between wizards, goblins, centaurs, elves and all magical creatures alike? Does Hermione not do anything at all for the rights of elves?

And this is what i loved about the book -

* When Hermione finally professes her love for Ron - this is arguably the cutest moment ever created in modern literary history/pop culture. Read the book just for this!

* The Weasley twins' radio commentary about Snape and shampoo and their Mr.Holey jokes

* The brilliant twist in the plot leading to you-know-who's end (i had to read this section a couple of times and then refer to the Half blood prince to fully grasp what had happened)

* The transformation of Kreacher (the little flashback with Regulus, Kreacher and the inferi was truly spine chilling)

Rowling perfectly ties together elements from all the previous 6 books, making you think that she had figured out the entire story 10 years ago. To me, that is the biggest triumph of the Harry Potter series - seven perfect books coming together, with all loose ends tied, plus little insights into characters that you didnt even think of giving much attention to.

Every character's strengths and weaknesses are revealed, and that probably explains the immense popularity of the series. There is no absolute good or absolute evil (with the exception of Voldy perhaps). There are no perfect characters - Harry becomes painfully aware of the failings of all the father figures in his life - Sirius, Dumbledore, and James.

The only absolute truth that wins is love. Plain, pure, simple, unconditional love. To Harry, at first, it seems too simple (he even says "yea love, big deal" to Dumbledore), but when giving Dobby his last farewell, and feeling nothing but love in his heart, Harry pushes away all the doubts and uncertainties in his mind and finally moves forward.

So, when Time magazine loftily proclaimed that the one who dies in Harry Potter is God, they could not have been further from the truth. Harry find his God, in Love - true unconditional love felt towards muggles, witches, wizards, elves, hippogrifs, giants, thestrals, and goblins alike. To Harry, love is God.

Sometimes, life is so worth living!

It was a moment of sheer unadulterated decadent joy...opening my postbox and finding a grubby box from Amazon. I opened the box, and held the treasured work of art in my hands....the journey has been soooo worth it...all the days of waiting and wondering. I have quarantined myself from the rest of the world for the past two days, not reading the news and protecting myself from spoilers. It is time now. In a day, i will know how it all ends. I am not sure if i want to review this book. Why would anyone want to review a harry potter book? It is for every person to discover the magic in their own time.

Four more days.....and the magic will begin...and then will sadly end...

I am all set. Having watched Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix and re-read Harry Potter and the half blood prince, I can't wait till saturday!

We went to the theater, and for the first time, I watched American kids act like Thamizhians during a thalaivar movie. They started applauding when the lights first dimmed, cried and cheered when Neville Longbottom figured out a little magic, and hooted during Harry's famous kiss with Cho-chang. I was watching the movie with Mr.you-know-who who was rather incredulous, but my reasoning was, if we can have our super-star/hero, surely they can have their boy hero? And Harry Potter is a hero for one big reason.....he is not a super hero. He fears, is afraid, gets pure lucky many times, is helped by his friends, makes mistakes, worries about flunking tests, and still ofcourse is the only hope for the planet.

The movie however suffers from the curse of being the fifth movie in a septalogy. Neither do you experience the wonderous thrills of visualizing Harry's world on the big screen for the first time, nor do you have the satisfacton of closure. Also, the Order of the phoenix is an inherently weak book, centered around two major plot disappointments - the obviousness of the prophecy and the shattering weakness of James Potter. However, the movie is bolstered by a superb supporting star cast. Professor Umbridge, Luna Lovegood, Sirius, and Lupin are all played by fabulously talented actors. The most notable character introduced is Bellatrix Lestrange. The scene showing her breaking out of Azkaban is truly spine chilling. The movie is brief but could have lingered more on the increasing angst and impatience felt by Sirius as he is holed away in his ancestral home. Also, the graphics for Hagrid's giant half-brother are really tacky (Grawp ends up looking like the guy on the cover of Mad magazines for some reason)

Anyway, I'm glad i saw the movie, because, despite all it's cinematic flaws, the movies help me put faces to the characters I read about. As I re-acquainted myself with the Half-blood prince this weekend (which to me is the best book in the series), the book played itself out like a movie in my mind. I could visualize Ralph Fiennes as a young Tom Riddle, and woke up at 2 in the morning with nightmares about Inferi!

Our parents can proudly tell us that they saw the swinging sixties, wore bellbottoms, lived and loved with the beatles. And we can some day proudly tell our children of our journey with Harry Potter, of the days we spent breathlessly counting down to each book's release, of the sleepless nights spent to finish 600 pages to find out what happened at the end. Seven times in ten blissful years, every now and then, we could leave our mundane world behind and enter the magical world of witchcraft and wizardry...the world of the "boy who lived" and "he who must not be named". This saturday, the journey will finally come to a bitter-sweet end. Yes, I am happy cos i will find out what happens in the end...all mysteries will be solved...all questions will be answered...but then what? What will then make my dreary muggle existence a little more bearable?

Blogging after a long time

There is a lot going on in my personal life...I do not want to bore you with the details just yet, but, things are very busy. Just thinking about the list of things that I need to get accomplished both at work and at home makes me want to drop dead out of sheer exhaustion. Most of my fatigue is due to the workings of my mind.....I am simply tired. I wish I didnt have so many miles to go before i could take a little nap.

Anyway, I had a wonderful all american fourth of july holiday. Luckily this year, we did not have a long weekend, just one short and sweet day off in the middle of the week. My husband, my lazy friend, and lazy friend's nice husband all went to Naperville's rib fest to watch the fireworks. I was totally into the moment, lying down on the grass and watching the beautiful golden showers in the sky, thought of a nice blog article to write, and then, my anti-blog husband and lazy friend totally killed it by saying "so are you going to write about this in your blog tomorrow? ha ha!!". Jeez....i dont know whats more troubling..the fact that i am so predictable, or the realization that my "anonymous" mom and loyal cousin are the only people who take my writing seriously...