I finally finished Harry Potter. I decided to go for it the other night, and John came into the bedroom to find me glued to the book. I probably had about a third of it left, and he said, “Are you going to finish that tonight?” I said, “Oh, I don’t know.” He said, “I TOTALLY think you should.” And so I did. It was very, very good. I know lately people get drawn to modern, alternative, or “artistic” type ending movies and books and story lines, but I’m not going to lie. I love a good wound up ending, where everything (or at least mostly everything) turns out exactly the way you want it to be, Happily Ever After. I don’t want to say to much, because I don’t really want to a) get into a hardcore review or b) ruin it for anyone else. Although, I’m pretty sure I’m the last person on the planet to read it. Anyone who hasn’t read it by now it probably just waiting for the movies.
As I read it, there were so many major themes that I could find in so many of my favorite books, especially the Chronicles of Narnia. It sometimes makes me wonder if we’re all just trying to write the same story in a different way. Stories about love, self-sacrifice, true wisdom, good kicking evil’s butt. I won’t go into all the religious overtones and undertones, but it made the story attractive to me in a very deep way. It doesn’t hurt that we’ve spent years with these characters, and that Rowling really let them grow up in front of us. Ron with his dirty mouth, Hermione who becomes more and more feminine as time goes on, and Harry, who finally gets all of his answers and lets go of the anger and darkness that has surrounded him for a couple of books now. I’m no expert on this series. I love reading them, but don’t take the time to remember the details as many of the die hard fans do. I tell myself that it’s a good choice for my future, because I could probably read the books in a couple of years and still be surprised by things (I get this trait, by the way, from my Mother, who can never remember if she’s seen a movie or not, even as we are watching it). Just as a point of interest, as I got done reading the book, I took out the scrap of paper I’ve been using as a bookmark. I couldn’t remember where it had come from, other than the fact that John handed it to me on the airplane to mark my place when I had to get up and go to the bathroom. I opened the scrap of paper, and there was a quote on it. This is what it said.
“Resurrection. The book of Job poses the universal question, “If a man die, shall he live again?” (Job 14:14). The question of resurrection from the dead is a central subject of scripture, ancient and modern. The resurrection is a pillar of our faith It adds meaning to our doctrine, motivation to our behavior, and hope for our future. The assurance of immortality also helps us bear the mortal separations involved in the death of our loved ones. Every one of us has wept at a death, grieved through a funeral, or stood in pain at a graveside. I am surely one who has. We should all praise God for the assured resurrection that makes our mortal separations temporary and gives us the hope and strength to carry on.” Dallin H. Oaks.
Ok. So I AM NOT saying that God spoke to me through my bookmark, or that He reads Harry Potter, and I’m usually not one to bring gospel understanding into things that I so thoroughly enjoy for what they are, regardless of their religious slant or theme or application. For me, this bookmark just made me think, all of a sudden, about how TRUE it is. People have wondered forever. Is there life after death? Will we live again? Can we conquer death? These are not new questions. Years ago, they looked for magical fountains. Now, we invest in Botox, and for the seriously obsessed, cryogenics. All I’ve got to say is that sometimes a story is so good because it reinforces what we WANT to believe. We want to believe the people we love are still there, and that we can be with them, and that there will be some separation between all that is good and all that is bad, so that the good can have peace in the end. I actually don’t just believe these things, I claim to KNOW because of the way they resonate with my soul. Truth is truth is truth. And I’m not surprised that millions of people bought a book, and have followed a series all leading up to one final statement about life: It IS about love. It’s not about death, there is so much more to life than death, before AND after. And all we’ve got to do is our best, and with a little help from our friends, we’ll get somewhere good.
