The World's Latest Review of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

So much to say, I don’t know where to begin. It’s been an eventful week. As tempted as I am to barrage about Britney Spears pathetic display of lip sync and butt cheek, I feel as though her performance speaks for itself. And beyond that...YouTube will continue to speak for her. Glorious YouTube.

I was going to go into the chaos that was my life last week. My Mongra's funeral (which I will write about at some point in the near future), seeing Eugene Mirman on Saturday night. Seeing Wolf Parade for free in the front of the VIP section late Sunday night (thanks James!!!). God they're an awesome band. Do you remember when I told you that once before? Well...a year later, my opinion still stands.

I was going to jump into some world events...give a little social commentary...a little editorial piece for the masses. But I didn't have enough energy yesterday (Going out on a Sunday night has become difficult. Damn adulthood). And I don't actually have time to do it today. Stupid job.

So I'm not going to talk about any of those things. I am, however, going to inform you all that I have finally finished the very last ever Harry Potter book. I know some of you are thinking "Gee whiz, Kara...that was, like so 2 months ago". And some of you are thinking "Shucks, Kara...I've already reviewed it on my more traffic-receiving website.". Well I know that everyone and their grandmother has reviewed it. But none of them matter. Well, they may matter, but their reviews don't. Because I'm here to do mine. Unless I have to stop writing this and go back to work (may happen any second...the honeymoon with this position is definitely over)…see, just there, I had to let this post sit for, like an hour. Blurgh.

Back to Potter. It took me so long to start it because a. I don’t get a lot of time to read nowadays. And b. I wanted to re-read book 6 because I’d just seen 5 in the theater and I wanted it to all be in a row. Because I’m LINEAR like that. Suck it. Anyway, I finished book 7 about midnight last night…which sucked because I was soooo droopy from the night before, but I soldiered on. AND at the second to last chapter, I got teary eyed. TEARY eyed! Don't worry, though. I’m choosing to believe that was because of the late hour and my body was just sad that I wasn’t sleeping yet.

I guess calling this a review is somewhat totally misleading, because I’m not going to go into the story. I was ok with how it ended, I was mildly ok with who was killed off and who wasn’t. And I had a HUGE suspicion confirmed to my satisfaction, so all in all…it was a fitting end in many ways. But that’s not the issue here. The issue here is that it’s THE END.

There will never be another Harry Potter book. Yes, she may go on and write other fabulous books, and I’m sure she’ll create new and wonderful worlds and characters. But fuck that. I want to continue to have an excuse to insert the word “muggle” into general conversation. I want to continue to see kids lined up in cloaks and stupid looking hats in front of Powell’s on the eve of the next book release. I want to continue to be able to completely immerse myself in a world that, though it’s meant for the young’uns…allows me to take a jaunt down that fanciful lane once again without having to feel like I’m dumbing myself down for doing so. And I’m not convinced that there will ever be anything else comparable to these stories when it comes to inspiring children to read. Not only to want to…but to really be driven to.

These books were the Arrested Development of children’s literature.

Yes, you can use that. I give you all permission.

Oh well.

What’s wacky is...this was the first time I ever saw Harry’s birthdate in any of the books that I can remember. He’s my age. I don’t know how I feel about that. Except…kind of good.

I’ll miss you Harry. I'll miss the world you live in. I'll miss the way you helped me forget what a mundane world I live in...if just for a while. Well...a little over a decade, but who's counting.