BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Harry Potter SPOILER ALERT!!

I also thought that the ending being so focused on their kids was kind of stupid. I just kind of felt like if that was the extent of their adult lives, then that's pretty lame considering what they accomplished. All of the experience they gained and all that they learned, just culminates to them chuckling at their kids once a year when they get on the train? How about what they do after the train leaves with the kids?

After reading all 7 books and staying up until 4am to finish this one to find out what happens to Harry and his friends after Voldemort and finishing school, I get the Hogwarts class list 19 years later, listing characters I neither know nor care about. If she wasn't going to fill us in on anything significant about the characters we've been reading about since book 1, then she just should have ended it after Harry fixes his wand and said THE END.

I thought the book ending was much more powerful than the epilogue.

I have to say one thing about the bookstore harry potter party I went to. I was somewhat apprehensive because of the parents and kids that would be there. However there ended up being more teenagers and adults than little kids. The kids that were there were with parents who seemed to be more into harry potter than their kids. Everyone was dressed up, the adults in more creative costumes. The bookstore organized games and debates for adults as well as kids. All in all it was a great experience. Kudos to those parents who really parented their kids that night or left the younger ones and uninterested ones at home.

You crack me up! I will say that my local bookstore (privately owned) did an AWESOME job and should be commended for the way that they handled everything (there were over 700 pre-ordered books there, and there were more people than that at the party.) We just heard that their other bookstore had the largest party in the nation!

The bookstore organized everything, they closed down Main Street for a few hours, it was cool. We were number 152 and we got our book at 12:05. Our friends were number 560 and they got their book at 12:25. They say everyone got their book by 12:35.

So go booksellers all over the country, you rock!

My husband is really mad that I don't like the epilogue. He says "it's because you're CF!" Well, a little, but I DID want to see Harry with a family (but why, oh why does Hermione have kids?) My husband says that the epilogue demonstrates that life continues and everything's okay.

But I don't care about the kids! Mention that they have them, sure, have them at King's Cross, but can the adults have at least one intelligent exchange between them? PLEASE???

And I agree that all the other stuff needed to be wrapped up. Why is Neville the only one who gets to have a job?

Ingilbert...You're in Chicago, I think the Mugglenet.com people were at a book party in Naperville, IL...I wouldn't be surprised if that's the bookstore you mentioned that had the biggest party in the nation! I was at a pretty big party in Lexington, KY, where I was traveling last weekend (normally I'm in TX). I don't know how many people were there, but it was a LOT. I had my book by 12:30 though, and I was pretty far back in line.

Anyway, I learned last night that J.K. Rowling is planning to write a Harry Potter Encyclopedia, including all the notes and histories she has created over the course of writing the books. Hopefully this will tie up some of the loose ends about the main characters' jobs (though it sounds like Harry was rich enough to not have to work, if he didn't want to). Maybe he works for the new Ministry? Maybe Hermione does too, and Ron stays home with the kids? Just because they didn't mention their jobs doesn't mean they don't work. I don't know if there's much need for Aurors (Harry's ambition) with Voldemort gone, but there might still be evil wizards, just not as evil as Voldemort was. Maybe Hermione works in Muggle Relations somehow? Or House-Elf rights? Anyway, I think once the Encyclopedia is published it will answer a lot of those types of questions. (She said she won't write it immediately, she wants a break! I guess she deserves it!)

Oh, and also, remember J.K. Rowling is a mom, albeit a working mom, and her focus is going to be on kids.

Cindy

My fiancee just finished reading the last Harry Potter. I never got into them, but he told me about the end and like many of you I was like, "WHAT?" I found it very ridiculous and very unneeded that she had to add their kids in there. I was very upset especially when Tim told me, "Well, I think it was a good idea because it's a 'feel good' situation." I WANTED to get sick to show him how much I disagreed.

I finally finished reading last night. I agree -- the epilogue was SO anti-climactic after the book ending. It completely knocked the wind out of my sails. Still, I didn't have a huge problem with showing them with their kids, I just would have liked to have found out what the rest of their lives entailed.

I like the idea of the encyclopedia to tie all the loose ends together - sure beats taking notes!!

I didn't get all that out of the epilogue. What I got mostly was that Harry named one of his sons after Snape, the bravest man he ever knew. WOW. After all those years of thinking Snape was scum and hating his guts. That was gut wrenching to read. And he did mention his scar and the fact that it hadn't hurt him in 19 years.

I would have liked to have seen a longer d�nouement. The end of the book was great, don't get me wrong, but I thought the book itself ended a bit abruptly. What I liked about the epilogue is that it seemed like Harry got to have a happy life, and he deserves it. But there was WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYY too much Naming of the Offspring and too much dialog from the kids, about whom I did not give a damn. I also got confused as to which one was what one and what one was whose, and didn't care a whole bunch. Wondering if that is a setup for "Hogwarts: The New Class". But I am still glad that Harry got to grow up and have a life. Maybe we will see some of those gaps filled in future works. LOVED the book overall. I finished it last night, and when I leanred that Harry was the 7th Horcrux, I started yelling "no no no no no no no" aloud. My DH told me to get a life!

I also thought the kids names were confusing - who belonged to whom, etc. I saw an interview with JKR talking about their careers, etc. She said the original epilogue was much longer/more detailed but somehow it didn't work with the rest of the book (how?), so they shortened it.

The whole Snape/Lily thing was so bittersweet. And all this time we're led to think Dumbledore had something really dirty on Snape to keep him in line. I loved the doe Patronus. My first instinct was that somehow it was his mother's love still protecting/guiding him. I liked what it really was even better though.