Think about it! Ron is the wall between fantasy and “psycho killing dark magic.”
without his humor, the book would be too depressing for me to read.

but for your sake and the lives of all authors, I do hope harry lives =]

There’s something to be said for light reading in my opinion, if every citizen doesn’t want to dedicate themselves to War & Peace – that’s fine with me. Getting people to use their imagination is a good thing, rather than just watching Lost or American Idol (and their corresponding advertisements).

Sure there’s room for improvement. But they are KIDS books who got way more attention than ever expected. Did CS Lewis ever get this kind of literary crit? I read most of them, and wasn’t a huge fan, I still didn’t want the fans to suffer. (true it wasn’t even sort of a new series by the time I read them)

It’s just that I know lots of people who hate all things popular, dunno, I’ve always though of myself as cynically cheery. Maybe I’ve lost some of that cynical quality when it comes to books/music because there’s so many other things to be cynical about right now.

First off, congrats Justine — winning the Norton is a well-deserved honor.

As for Harry Potter, my take is this: those kids who started reading HP when the series first started are now older teens/young adults — many of them will be much more cynical now than when they first started the series, and perhaps a bit embarrassed at having been fans of the books when they were younger. With that in mind, I don’t think they will be as upset if Harry dies as the adult fans will be…

Have a lovely day!

i do not think that harry is going to die. i’ve heard rumors, about how jkr is going to kill him off just so that nobody else can use him, but i don’t think it’s true ’cause that’s a bs reason. people would find a way to bring him back anyway. you can never kill a fictional character dead enough to keep someone, somewhere, from bringing him/her back. there are alternate dimensions, faked deaths, and oh yeah, magic spells. people will buy it. i also think it’d be a pretty dismal end to the series–aren’t ya/mg books supposed to end with an optimistic outlook for the future? although it is jkr, after all…. i guess she can do whatever she wants. all i can say is, i hope it’s good, whatever she does. i didn’t really like the sixth book. although that may have had something to do with the fact that i was not enjoying myself at the time (camp counselor = job from hell). i should probably read it again. but my final vote is that harry lives. and also that snape is loyal….ish. mwahahahahahahaha…. maybe harry’ll live, but something hideous will happen to him, like he’ll be disfigured or turned permanently into a squib. such things have happened in…. er, certain other books i’ve read. so he’d be alive, but it wouldn’t be a cliched happy ending either. which would be a nice balance for me, and would fulfill the prophecy without v-man running rampant throughout the wizarding world.

“I’ve heard she’s gotten death threats”

wow, really? that’s nutters. i knew some people were obsessed, but that’s just scary. one more reason not to ever become famous.

“Ginny and Draco can ride away happily on a white horse”

oh, those poor misguided people….

I disagree. I thought the first four HP books were fantastic. Loved them. Really, really loved them. Unfortunately, I think the last two were appalling. They felt like rough, unedited first drafts. There didn’t seem to be much structure, or narrative, or any emotional integrity of character. I was deeply, deeply disappointed, and expect I will be by the final one.

I’ll still read it, though.

As far as Harry potter goes, I will be very upset if Snape bites it, but I’m thinking he’s probably one of the ones to go.

I hope JK isn’t counting the inevitable death of Voldemort as one of her two major deaths. Because THAT would be cheating.

congrats Justine – well deserved.

and who’s this harry potter person? something to do with beatrix potter?

I will be buying it, hiding it until I have read it, and then either hiding it forever or facing her partial wrath (she will be angry that I bought it early in secret but happy that Harry lives).

In any case, it doesn’t seem to me like a capital offense.

I usually like Harry, but by the 5th book, Harry’s whining became too much for me. But, many kids I know got into reading because of Harry Potter….If he ends, surely 1/2 of the kids will come back to video gamesjnm

Of course Harry living would be terrible from an artistic perspective, because it’s the predictable thing, and art that is predictable isn’t art, is it? But really, if you want a character who dies in the end, they either have to not be a main character, or they have to be the hero of a single book, not a seven-book series.

I guess he could die heroically, but at this point Ms. Rowling has made a habit of killing characters off in seemingly pointless and sudden ways, so I don’t see it happening with Harry. Either he lives, or he’s taken out by a stray blodger to the back of the head. You aren’t going to get any artistic satisfaction.

So I say, let him live.

forget kids’ literature & the industry, i need my holiday to be unspoiled!