Sarah93
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Post by Sarah93 on Jul 5, 2018 15:33:07 GMT
It's finally happened guys. After 10 long months of diligently reading every book in the series, I have finally finished. I just concluded the Deathly Hallows tonight (still yet to watch the movies though). I'm a mixture of emotions. On the one hand, it's so satisfying to finally finish it and to know the ending. On the other, it's incredibly sad to come to the end of what was such an amazing journey. I have many thoughts about the series. First, JK Rowling is an amazing writer. The themes found in Harry Potter are deep, profound, and philosophical. Themes like "Do not pity the dead. Pity the living, especially those who live without love." It's so smart and deep. She writes about things that can apply to real life, despite the fact everything takes place in a fictional magical world. There is a reason Harry Potter is the best selling book series of all time and has sold half a billion copies worldwide. It is really just that freakin' good. Second, I was so pleasantly surprised at some of the plot twists at the end involving Snape and Dumbledore. The epilogue where Harry names all of his kids after Dumbledore and his parents. Ron and Hermione getting married. It's all just so perfect. I admit when I finished the very last sentence, my heart had a pang of sadness. I'm so sad to finish the series. I know I can read it over and over again, but there is nothing like reading it with fresh eyes for the first time. It's only new to you once. I will never be able to read it again quite with the same excitement I did the first time, not knowing what happens and reading each page faster and faster, literally on the edge of my seat, to find out what happens next. I'm sure I will forget details. And now knowing the full story, when I read it again, I will likely find new details I may have missed the first time. But still, it won't be the same as that first time. Fortunately, there are the spinoffs, like Fantastic Beasts, The Cursed Child, and I actually just over the weekend bought the Tales of Beedle the Bard, which is the book of wizarding fairytales mentioned in the Deathly Hallows. There are also the movies. I know it's not over and I can enjoy Harry over and over again, through the books and the movies. But it is sad, all the same for me. I strongly suggest if anyone has only seen the movies but not read the books, to definitely read the books if you get the chance. The movies don't even come close to doing the books justice. The books, in my opinion, are some of the greatest literary works of our time. Absolutely genius and brilliantly written, brilliantly thought out. I love how JK Rowling really created an entire universe where each thing has its own name and everything has that feeling of feeling real. That's what makes it so enticing to read. It sucks you in to the point that sometimes I was so lost in it that I wasn't even aware of what was going on around me. It really says something that initially I thought the whole concept of Harry Potter was some stupid copycat fantasy series that everyone only liked because it was popular. My thoughts changed completely as soon as I began reading the first book. I became an instant Potterhead, fully dedicated to reading each book in full and watching its respective film to properly explore the tale in as extreme and accurate detail as possible. As JK Rowling wrote in the dedication of the Deathly Hallows, I stuck with Harry until the very end. Wow, congrats
I spent one month in Germany, so I'm still reading The Order of The Phoenix haha but I agree with you 100%.
I still remember when I went to the movie theater to watch The Deathly Hallows Part 2, and my friends and I all realized "our childhood is over" once you see Harry, Hermione and Ron as parents haha it was quite a sad moment, so I can't even imagine how I'll feel once I'll finish the last book.
I do agree HP is one of the best contemporary literary writing series: it's a complete parallel world, and it's so perfectly described, that you believe it's true, beside, as you said, it talks about so many themes in such a great way that... yes, JK Rowling is an amazing writer.
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and yes it's not over 'cause you can still read the books over again and watch the movies again (I've personally decided to held an HP marathon in the months of October and November, where I read the books and watch the movies again haha), but you're right... there's nothing like reading the book for the first time, not knowing how it's going to end, and Rowling writes in such a great way that she captures you, you don't want to close the book 'cause you want to know how it's going to end
About the movies... you guys are right, the movies are nothing compared to the books, but I also have to say that the movies are of great quality with the best actors ever, I could never imagine an HP remake with other actors, as you guys have also said and I think it's due, not only for the length of the books, but also because of its complexity and many characters, it's never easy to adapt a novel into a movie, so I think they did their best
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katy
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Post by katy on Jul 20, 2018 20:21:07 GMT
So me and some friends went to the studio tour in London yesterday and did a quiz night in the great hall afterwards. It was SO bloody fun! So cool to be able to sit in the hall for a few hours too. We didn’t win unfortunately hahaha
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BogoGog24
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Post by BogoGog24 on Jul 24, 2018 11:56:35 GMT
I picked up a copy of the Cursed Child the other day! Started reading a couple nights ago.
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thyarchery
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Post by thyarchery on Jul 25, 2018 20:40:56 GMT
^Great! Will love to hear (read) your thoughts about it! What are the rest's, btw?- no spoilers here, but I think you either love it or hate it. I am in the second group. I actually call it "The Damned Child"
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BogoGog24
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Post by BogoGog24 on Jul 25, 2018 21:48:48 GMT
^Great! Will love to hear (read) your thoughts about it! What are the rest's, btw?- no spoilers here, but I think you either love it or hate it. I am in the second group. I actually call it "The Damned Child" So far it seems odd to me. Did JK write the script or just the story that the script is based on? Because it doesn’t even sound like her own writing.
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TamyXD
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Post by TamyXD on Jul 25, 2018 22:36:24 GMT
^Great! Will love to hear (read) your thoughts about it! What are the rest's, btw?- no spoilers here, but I think you either love it or hate it. I am in the second group. I actually call it "The Damned Child" I don't like it either. The story hardly made any sense and a lot of the characters were totally ruined. Ron was the worst - he seemed to be there for nothing but his lame-ass jokes; a complete waste of lines. The "real" Ron didn't deserve that!
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thyarchery
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Post by thyarchery on Jul 26, 2018 17:02:18 GMT
^Great! Will love to hear (read) your thoughts about it! What are the rest's, btw?- no spoilers here, but I think you either love it or hate it. I am in the second group. I actually call it "The Damned Child" So far it seems odd to me. Did JK write the script or just the story that the script is based on? Because it doesn’t even sound like her own writing. I think she basically gave her yes to the general idea and allowed the writers to use her characters and general "paraphernalia" , but I'm not sure about this- anyone knows better? . But yes, it doesn't feel like hers at all. More like a fan fic. ^Great! Will love to hear (read) your thoughts about it! What are the rest's, btw?- no spoilers here, but I think you either love it or hate it. I am in the second group. I actually call it "The Damned Child" I don't like it either. The story hardly made any sense and a lot of the characters were totally ruined. Ron was the worst - he seemed to be there for nothing but his lame-ass jokes; a complete waste of lines. The "real" Ron didn't deserve that! It would be hard to pick a "worst" for me- but Ron was definitely one of them. I absolutely agree with you. They used him as a prop
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Sarah93
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Post by Sarah93 on Jul 29, 2018 16:56:56 GMT
I'm in the middle of the Deathly Hallows
I'm also curious about the Cursed Child and has anyone watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? What do you guys think about it?
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thyarchery
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Post by thyarchery on Jul 29, 2018 19:51:03 GMT
I'm in the middle of the Deathly Hallows
I'm also curious about the Cursed Child and has anyone watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? What do you guys think about it?
^I loved it! Partly because my expectations were VERY low after the Cursed Child. The worse thing about that movie is one of the actors' weird make up. I won't tell you whom in order to not to spoil it for you.
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Sarah93
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Post by Sarah93 on Jul 29, 2018 19:54:53 GMT
^I loved it! Partly because my expectations were VERY low after the Cursed Child. The worse thing about that movie is one of the actors' weird make up. I won't tell you whom in order to not to spoil it for you. Haha thank you
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BogoGog24
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Post by BogoGog24 on Jul 29, 2018 20:15:39 GMT
I'm in the middle of the Deathly Hallows
I'm also curious about the Cursed Child and has anyone watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? What do you guys think about it?
I watched Fantastic Beasts but I thought it was just ok. Not a big fan of the 1920s/30s theme. VERY dark IMO. I’d say the upcoming films, like the Crimes of Grindelwald, will probably be more worthwhile though. Like I didn’t think anything in Fantastic Beasts was really absolutely necessary to watch. Has almost no connection with the HP story. But I believe the upcoming films will. I’d say watch it if you just love anything HP but IMO it’s not essential.
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thyarchery
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Post by thyarchery on Jul 29, 2018 20:43:46 GMT
I'm in the middle of the Deathly Hallows
I'm also curious about the Cursed Child and has anyone watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? What do you guys think about it?
I watched Fantastic Beasts but I thought it was just ok. Not a big fan of the 1920s/30s theme. VERY dark IMO. I’d say the upcoming films, like the Crimes of Grindelwald, will probably be more worthwhile though. Like I didn’t think anything in Fantastic Beasts was really absolutely necessary to watch. Has almost no connection with the HP story. But I believe the upcoming films will. I’d say watch it if you just love anything HP but IMO it’s not essential. I agree that's not essential to understand the Harry Potter series but I found that it gave sort of a nice "historic framework" and a perspective of how the wizarding world works outside Britain- something I had always wondered. But probably the thing that makes our appreciation differ the most is that I absolutely love the 1920s theme . Making the move happen in New York in the roaring 20s was the exact move to win me specially when I saw the Woolworth Building turned into the American Ministry of Magic- and the scenes in the snowed Central Park are just...maybe it's that I'm not American and New York is a bit of a myth for me- with its own share of magic about it, but I absolutely loved it. Oh, and I forgot to note the great acting. Eddie Redmayne is just an incredible actor- at least in my opinion- and Alison Sudol managed to play every single Cameron Diaz character in one movie and make it convincing.
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BogoGog24
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Post by BogoGog24 on Jul 30, 2018 0:50:11 GMT
I watched Fantastic Beasts but I thought it was just ok. Not a big fan of the 1920s/30s theme. VERY dark IMO. I’d say the upcoming films, like the Crimes of Grindelwald, will probably be more worthwhile though. Like I didn’t think anything in Fantastic Beasts was really absolutely necessary to watch. Has almost no connection with the HP story. But I believe the upcoming films will. I’d say watch it if you just love anything HP but IMO it’s not essential. I agree that's not essential to understand the Harry Potter series but I found that it gave sort of a nice "historic framework" and a perspective of how the wizarding world works outside Britain- something I had always wondered. But probably the thing that makes our appreciation differ the most is that I absolutely love the 1920s theme . Making the move happen in New York in the roaring 20s was the exact move to win me specially when I saw the Woolworth Building turned into the American Ministry of Magic- and the scenes in the snowed Central Park are just...maybe it's that I'm not American and New York is a bit of a myth for me- with its own share of magic about it, but I absolutely loved it. Oh, and I forgot to note the great acting. Eddie Redmayne is just an incredible actor- at least in my opinion- and Alison Sudol managed to play every single Cameron Diaz character in one movie and make it convincing. I will agree with you about Eddie and I also liked the character of Queenie and maybe the baker guy too, the fat guy who was non-magical. Can I just say Eddie Redmayne is super hot and cute though? Definitely made the film easier to watch lol Oh forgot to add I did also like that they explored more of the topic of obscurists. That was something that always intrigued me that HP didn’t really talk much about.
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Sarah93
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Post by Sarah93 on Jul 30, 2018 6:45:45 GMT
I'm in the middle of the Deathly Hallows
I'm also curious about the Cursed Child and has anyone watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? What do you guys think about it?
I watched Fantastic Beasts but I thought it was just ok. Not a big fan of the 1920s/30s theme. VERY dark IMO. I’d say the upcoming films, like the Crimes of Grindelwald, will probably be more worthwhile though. Like I didn’t think anything in Fantastic Beasts was really absolutely necessary to watch. Has almost no connection with the HP story. But I believe the upcoming films will. I’d say watch it if you just love anything HP but IMO it’s not essential. Thank you I'll probably still watch it, just out of curiosity but yeah, I think Crimes of Gringelwald might be more interesting since we hear about Gringelwald in HP already so it will definitely be more interesting to learn about his story
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thyarchery
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Post by thyarchery on Jul 30, 2018 18:31:54 GMT
I watched Fantastic Beasts but I thought it was just ok. Not a big fan of the 1920s/30s theme. VERY dark IMO. I’d say the upcoming films, like the Crimes of Grindelwald, will probably be more worthwhile though. Like I didn’t think anything in Fantastic Beasts was really absolutely necessary to watch. Has almost no connection with the HP story. But I believe the upcoming films will. I’d say watch it if you just love anything HP but IMO it’s not essential. Thank you I'll probably still watch it, just out of curiosity but yeah, I think Crimes of Gringelwald might be more interesting since we hear about Gringelwald in HP already so it will definitely be more interesting to learn about his story *Not-such-a-spoiler* Grindewald upraising actually plays some part in Fantastic Beasts d Where To Find Them
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