Harry Potter and the End of the Series

I'm reviewing this one first. Hah.


People are going to say that this book is a fitting end to a wonderful series, one that nicely wraps up a delightful and exciting storyline and one that leaves us feeling saddened that they must go, but joyful that we got to know the characters that we now feel incredibly close to.

Other people are going to say that this book is a letdown, one that tries to cram entirely too much final action into too small of a space and one that, in its attempt to achieve a perfectly happy ending, eschews the many lessons that could have been learned in this final volume and instead relies on an at once both complex and annoyingly simple resolution that could have come straight from the Clue movie.

Both of these people are correct.

Harry Potter and the Multi-Million Opening Sales is a book that is torn between giving us a satisfying ending in which all of the wishes we have for our favorite characters come true and giving us a gritty, substantial story in which our favorite characters are put to the tests of real life and have to deal with death and injury and guilt and failure. In some respects, Rowling has done a good bit of both, what with bumping off scores of important characters and then telling us that it was all worth it in the fight against the Dark Lord. She treads the line well, occasionally running off for a bit on one side but always coming right back in time for another Harry, Hermione and Ron ambush. Seriously, they walk into, like, 12 traps. Idiots.

The storyline runs fast and for a good while (somewhere around 800 pages, if I remember correctly) and it will certainly keep your attention, just as well as, if not better than, the other books in the series, but I'm not quite sure where to rank this one just yet. There's the Finality Factor that adds some points, but there's also the I'm Pissed Off That It's Over Factor that detracts a bit. Honestly, I love the book until I start to think that that's it (actually, until I think about the Epilogue again), and then I get angry at Rowling for not being able to string this one along any further. Come on, what about Harry Potter and the Ex-Wife From Hell, or Harry Potter and the Mid-Life Crisis, or Harry Potter and the Half-Rate Nursing Home? At the very least, Rowling's left us a bit of an opening at the end for more books. You won't guess how though. Or maybe you will. Maybe not.

Seriously, if you spend most of your time with this book trying to decipher the ending or trying to figure out if Snape is evil or good, like I did, you're going to be wrong. No matter what you guess you will not figure out the immensely complicated ending that Rowling has come up with. If I have to dislike one thing in this book, that's it. The ending is absurd and you only get a few chapters in which to digest it. I didn't even go back to reread any of it until I was done because you get it so freakin' close to the end. The whole thing makes sense, and so there's no continuity problems, and we do get to see a lot of the actions that make the whole thing work out rather than Rowling just defaulting to exposition, but it's still a bit convoluted and too-good-to-be-true-ish.

In the end, I recommend it, just because the only reason you would consider reading it is if you've already read the other 6 and hey, there's no way you're going to skip the last one and be the only person who doesn't know what happens, right? Right. Harry dies...JUST KIDDING!


Or am I?

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins

I'm going to have to start this review by putting my own religious views into perspective somewhat, a task I would normally be adverse to doing but one that I believe is necessary so that any readers can understand why I may seem to be recommending this book in a particularly forceful manner.

I am an atheist.

This means a few things and doesn't mean a few things. One thing it means is that I am rational and reasonable and try not to review books based on any sort of passionate feeling I get while reading them unless I can easily define that passion and explain why it should be instilled in another reader. One thing it doesn't mean is that I only like atheist readings or atheist authors and dislike religious readings or authors.

Now, that said: You should read this book.

Richard Dawkins is an intelligent man and has written a great many books on several subjects (The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Unweaving the Rainbow,). He has also hosted BBC television shows (Root of all Evil?). His latest book, The God Delusion, is a rationalist's handbook of sorts, going through what Dawkins calls "The God Hypothesis" and systematically debunking the whole thing. He begins with the "proofs" for the hypothesis and refutes them. He then goes through the reasoning against the hypothesis in scientific form, utilizing probability, rhetoric, and empiricism to come to a final conclusion.

The remainder of the book tackles less scientific claims for the existence of God, whether or not religion is a necessary thing, where it may have evolved from, both culturally and neurologically, and a few other, smaller topics that are important given today's political and social environment.

Again, as an atheist I enjoy this book because it serves as a guide for my own beliefs, but that is not the only reason why I recommend this read. This book is well thought out, well written and, most importantly, it's damn funny. Dawkins has a sense of humor about the subject he's tackling that makes the book exciting and entertaining to read. It most certainly treats the topics with gravitas, and it pulls no punches when dealing with the more serious one's, such as child molestation, terrorism and the "American Theocracy", but, peppered throughout are witticisms and anecdotes that will make you chuckle out loud, if only at others stupidity and assumed authority.

I suggest reading this if you are also an atheist. As I said, it's a good guidebook and contains within it information with which to back up your choices as an atheist.

I suggest reading this if you are religious. It contains within it the most commonly utilized, and most well though out, refutations of religious doctrine and practice and, at the very least, should be studied in order to gain a better perspective on your own faith.

I also suggest reading this if you have no desire to read about religion or politics or philosophy or science. If you don't have an interest in these things you might be dead and trying to pick up a book and read it is a great empirical test to determine if you are indeed a fully functioning human being.

"Neverwhere" - Neil Gaiman

I have to apologize for the brevity of this review. It was originally written for a magazine and readers with short attention spans and so comprises only a paragraph. What's funny is that I said most of what I wanted to say about the book. Read the review and then find the novel. It's good. Trust me. That's why you are reading this, right?

Gaiman’s Neverwhere: A New Alice.
By: J. Pierandozzi

Ask Richard Mayhew and he’ll tell you: London is boring, and he’s sick of it. But, after helping what appears to be a harmless street urchin, Richard is pulled into the dark, mysterious, and dangerous world of London Underground, home to great beasts, imprisoned angels, and where rat-speak is a very popular second language. Neil Gaiman, writer of such cult hits as Anansi Boys, American Gods, and the ever popular graphic novel The Sandman, hits again with Neverwhere, leading us through the twists and turns of London Underground, a land unknown to the common folk of London Above and the stomping grounds of Door Portico, Hunter, and the Marquis de Carabas, our heroes alongside Richard. In this 1996 novel, Gaiman channels Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, updating and darkening the story but staying true to the magic and surprise that Carroll created. The characters are as loveable and unpredictable as the plot and you’ll keep turning the pages long past bedtime to find out what’s going to happen to poor Richard and his friends next. The story appeals to the child in all of us, but is certainly not for children or the faint of heart as Neverwhere has some of the nastiest and most creatively cruel villains to stalk Piccadilly Circus since Jack the Ripper. Much like Carroll’s Alice, Neverwhere has been adapted for TV and is now available on DVD. Give it a try if you can take the 40 dollar hit, but if, like me, your pocket book’s a bit thin, pick up the text version instead, as well as anything else Gaiman has written; you won’t want to put it down.

"American Psycho" - Bret Easton Ellis

American Psycho: Insanity and Mutilation as Social Commentary?

Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho has the reader worried from page one, and for good reason. The main character, Patrick Bateman, is a thoroughly disturbed individual, completely entranced by every single detail of his 1980’s, corporate lifestyle, from the type of clothes people wear, the music they listen too, even the water that they drink and he remembers it all. He can’t keep from analyzing his own choices in wardrobe and apartment decoration and he’s consumed by the green-eyed monster every time he is upstaged by one of this contemporaries. But it’s ok; he’s got a method for blowing off steam: he goes murdering. Don’t be alarmed, he works out too, keeping his body in perfect form with his own version of yoga and Pilates, but when the exercising is over, he exorcises his demons by picking up hookers and torturing them, physically and sexually, often videotaping the acts for his own viewing pleasure later. It’s this mix of insanities that Ellis uses to keep the reader entranced that makes American Psycho a perplexing story of the tragic lifestyle of business well-offs in the 1980’s, and a book that should be required in all college freshman English survey courses. All at once you are thrown into the world of cocaine use, binge drinking, big spending and bad habits, and by the time Bateman gets down to his true passion, you’re hooked and waiting for the next victim to stroll alongside his limousine. So how can a decisively unreal portrayal of the work world serve as a social commentary of the very real Wall Street boom that took place while the rest of us danced to Huey Lewis and the News? Even without the butchering and brutality, Bateman and his co-workers are still disturbed, seeking only to gratify themselves in any way, shape or form, be it lavish parties, high-priced dinners and cocktails and sexual escapades that would make Bill Clinton blush. Bateman serves as the narrator and jack-the-ripper minded socialite who can’t make enough money, have enough sex, or drink enough J&B on the rocks to ever be satisfied, and so he’s constantly envious of his friends to the point of rage. Business cards become the new “Whose dick is bigger?” game, and the inevitable whipping out of the herring-bone white status symbols only serves to drive Bateman further into his own downward spiral. The thing is, if he weren’t tearing people limb from limb and mutilating them he’d still be just as crazy as the rest of them, as is made painfully apparent during the long conversations devoted to popular music, proper times to wear a sweater vest and, of course, bottled water. Considering the fact that Ellis has been known to be semi-autobiographical in his writings, you might want to avoid any book signing tours of his. The point is: everyone’s crazy; some are just crazier than others. American Psycho, the book, will keep you on the edge of your seat and probably give you nightmares (I was afraid of jumper cables for weeks), but at the end of it all you’ll understand the madness that was corporate 1980’s. Avoid, however, the movie version. Despite the fact that Christian Bale is spot on as Bateman, sporting the rock hard abs and sadistic taste like he’s got a dungeon/gym in his own basement, and even despite the fact that Willem Dafoe is in it, the film version chooses to gloss over the normal insanities and fixates on the killing aspect, completely missing the point. Like most adaptations, the book trumps, and I highly suggest that those of you with strong stomachs and a weakness for the finer, slightly demented, things in life pick up this classic and seriously reconsider that major in accounting.

The Beginning

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There is some great literature in the world and you are probably not reading it. We're here at last to fix that mistake.

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