The End of an Era

(quick plug - you've got until next Monday enter my giveaway to win free YA boy books from Harlan Coben, Joe Schreiber and more!)



Last night was it. The finale of the Harry Potter saga.

I still remember the first time I read the books. I was 12 years old -- they'd already been out for a couple of years, but I'd been avoiding them. See, by this point I was already reading adult fantasy (hello, lack of YA books back then), so I was pretty sure that such childish novels were beneath me. To boot, I had this friend who constantly ranted about them, in a way that made them sound like the most boring, cliche books in the universe:

"So like, there's this guy and he's a huge loser and gets beat up all the time, but then he learns he's really a WIZARD. And not just a wizard, but he's like, famous, and he's the chosen one or something, and so like, he has to battle this super bad villain guy, and he's going to school at the same time and there are like, some broomsticks and stuff?? You know???"

Yawn.

But that Christmas, when I came downstairs to find a pile of gifts under the tree, and more scattered about the room, I spotted them. A trio of illustrated covers wrapped in cellophane on the couch.

Okay, I thought. Since they're free. Guess I'll give them a shot.

That afternoon, as we drove to my cousins' house for more present un-wrapping and gift-giving, I opened one of them. As I've done with so many of my favorite series,* I accidentally tried to read the second one first. And even though I had no idea what was going on, the world sucked me in. Oh my gosh, there's a flying car, and there's some really hilarious twin kids cracking jokes, and...

Then I stopped myself. It took a huge effort, but I knew I had to wait and read the first book, you know, first.

The entire dinner at my aunt's house, I was spaced out. Imagining that flying car outside that little boy's window, and smiling at the weird British humor. That evening, I curled up in bed with book 1 and dove into the story for real.

I did not emerge again until 2 days later, gasping for breath, sleep-deprived, and completely in love. The next day, I started to read them all over again.

That first month, I think I read each book 4 or 5 times. Some people do this a lot, but not me. I almost never reread books, and certainly not multiple times within a couple of weeks. But every time I finished a Harry Potter book, I wanted to dive right back into that world. I wanted my Hogwarts acceptance letter, dang it!!! Hell, I'd settle for being an urchin in Diagon Alley.

That is some damn successful world-building, JKR.

Everything that happens in Harry's world, straight down to how Mrs. Weasley washes dishes and the money that Harry uses to buy his books, is insane. Unbelievable. Unrealistic. And yet Rowling treats all of it as normal -- almost mundane -- to the point where you start to believe it has to be real. How could she have invented all of these miniscule details? How could Hogwarts, which I can picture in my head more clearly than the grocery store down the street, not exist?

That is why these books have sold more copies worldwide than almost any other fantasy series in existence. People compare it to Twilight -- Twilight's 100 million sales are a drop in the bucket beside Harry Potter's nearly half a billion copies sold. Combine that with the movie sales; the amusement park; all of the merchandise... The franchise is insanely huge. And why?

I think it comes down to one simple reason. So many of us want to live in Harry's world.

I grew up on the Harry Potter series. After reading the first three together, I stood in line every release date at midnight (not at Barnes and Noble -- down the street at the grocery store, which was empty, so you could grab your copy and be out the door by 12:05). I did not sleep until I finished reading each new installment.

It's one of the only books that has made me laugh out loud. It's one of the only books that has made me cry. It's the ONLY book that has made me do both.

Whenever I'm in a rough spot, I still go back them as my comfort reads. Last summer I went through a tough patch, and I reread the whole series. For me, there is no better escapist read -- and sometimes escape from reality is just what you need. The books will always be there for us, as will the movies now.

But I still felt sad (and excited, and weirded out about how old I am) when last night, with the release of the last movie, the Harry Potter era ended.

Confession: I've never gone to a midnight release for these movies before. I just didn't love them as much as the books -- probably because movies are not books, but I always get irrationally angry at them for, you know, not being books. I mean, there's no possible way to cram all of the ambiance and meaning and tiny plot twists and plot points and foreshadowing into a 3 hour movie. There just isn't.

But I LOVED the Deathly Hallows Part 1 when I saw it. I felt like with this movie, they gave up on trying to explain all the nuance to the newcomers. If you haven't read the book, they said, you probably won't understand any of this anyway. So screw it. Here's a movie for the book-lovers.

Plus, this was the LAST MIDNIGHT RELEASE EVER for Harry Potter. Of course I had to go. And get decked out in my finest.

(&*^#$*^#*$ing Blogger isn't working today SURPRISE so pretend you can see this as a picture here)

That's right. RAVENCLAW REPRESENT. Also, you can't tell from this pic, but everything I am wearing from the waist up is Ravenclaw. I had a jacket and scarf in the Ravenclaw backpack too... IT'S NOT AN ADDICTION I SWEAR.

Also, we totally had the best snacks ever. I saved these from my Harry Potter World trip last February. BOO-YAH.

There is also a really brilliant picture of my roomie the Gryffindor and I dueling in front of the movie poster, but alas, that shall have to wait until Blogger revives itself.

In the meantime, check out how hot Bill is. WHYYYY didn't they put you in more of the movies, sir??

There were little things about this movie that annoyed me. Sub-plots they eliminated completely. Nuances they passed over. A couple scenes where they were a little blunt about stuff. But overall?

I AM IN LOVE.

And also, I saw it twice. Funny story. We had midnight tickets, but the my roomie's friend won some uber-special tickets to see it at 6:30pm instead, courtesy of Deutsche Bank, and there was free pop and stuff. So we went to that in the city, feeling super-cool, and then hurried back to our neighborhood for the midnight showing. YAY I AM SECRETLY ASLEEP RIGHT NOW.

One thing I found really interesting (and this is a slight spoiler if you have not read the books and somehow don't know how this ends):

BOTH theaters clapped when Mrs. Weasley kills Bellatrix and when Neville kills Nagini.

Not when Voldemort dies.

I found this really awesome, for some reason. And also. NEVILLE IS A BAMF.

* Seriously, I don't know why this happens. I always do it. I read Elvenblood before Elvenbane in that series; I read Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart before the first book in the Firekeeper series; I accidentally started to read The Two Towers before I got confused and went back to Fellowship of the Ring... Clearly I just don't pay attention to the giant "SEQUEL" on the covers or something.