Day 101 / 101 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Since this series encompassed so much of our school year, it only seems appropriate that my 101st post should be about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I actually read the seventh and final book of the Harry Potter series twice.  The first time I raced through it in a weekend to see how the story unfolds.  Then, I read it audibly to my daughter, and since the book clocks in with a mere 759 pages, that took us a few weeks.  I'm proud to say I only teared up three times while reading it, the second time, out loud for my daughter.

It really is a great series.  I'm so glad we invested the time this school year to read the epic tale of Harry Potter.  In this last book we see Harry move from innocence to adulthood.  We see good versus evil.  Love versus hate.  Harry versus the Dark Lord.  The search for hallows and horcruxes.

And, whereas I truly loved reading all about our hero and his friends, including the epilogue that clearly lays out their futures, my absolutely favorite part had to be Chapter 33, The Prince's Tale.  Here we see the motives, actions, and loyalties of Severus Snape revealed, as well as reading a story of redemption and forgiveness.  Finally, the truth.

"But this is touching, Severus," said Dumbledore seriously.  "Have you grown to care for the boy, after all?"...."After all this time?"
"Always," said Snape.

I read a New York Times review of the book from 2007, the year of its release.  I believe the author of the review, Michiko Kakutani, does an excellent job summing up the series.  I wholeheartedly agree with her thoughts below:

The world of Harry Potter is a place where the mundane and the marvelous, the ordinary and the surreal coexist. It’s a place where cars can fly and owls can deliver the mail, a place where paintings talk and a mirror reflects people’s innermost desires. It’s also a place utterly recognizable to readers, a place where death and the catastrophes of daily life are inevitable, and people’s lives are defined by love and loss and hope — the same way they are in our own mortal world.