Oh, Harry!

Well, friends and neighbors, she did it! She tied up all those loose ends in a neat little package, but not before adding even more subplots to make her job difficult. I'll not tell all because we still have several reserves on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but there are some observations that I can make that shouldn't give anything away.

It's long.....but, what else is new? The books have gotten progressively longer as the plot has become increasingly convoluted. Nonetheless, most readers are confirming to me that they enjoyed this last meander into J.K.Rowling's wonderful world and were reluctant to see the journey end. Some of the library kids have literally grown up with Harry and have a really emotional investment in his story.

She has to use the infamous deus ex machina to get herself off high center and pointed toward the end. There is a really long part of the book where our three favorite friends are wandering around trying to determine how to go about hunting a horcrux while the author is trying to figure out how to pull it all together and end the book. She finally just places one in their way and then everything takes off for the reader and, I think, for her.

She has set up a difficult conundrum that the best of us find difficult to resolve in our own lives. She has made Harry realize that if he kills, he becomes a killer. He fears that he will become You-Know-Who if he destroys him. Now how do you finish a book when the hero can't kill the villain? Her solution is beautiful.

She has grown as a writer as she has journeyed along with Harry. The final book has flaws, but we forgive them because we love the characters and we care about her. We have watched her struggle with her writing as she has spun out this wonderful tale, and we applaud her maturity in this last book of the series.

When the time came to lay Harry to rest, she did it gently and gracefully and we are grateful that her ending was appropriate and satisfactory, whether it was what we expected or not.

Here's to you, Ms. Rowling. Thanks for a wonderful trip, and may you live long and comfortably on your royalties.