Kevin Howell

Harry Potter Anxiety
July 19, 2007

Harry Potter has my nerves on edge. It’s not that I can’t wait to find out how the J.K. Rowling series ends, it’s that I’m living in dread of someone telling me how it ends before I can read it myself.

The world is full of spoil-sports and Cliff Clavin braggarts who want to prove that they got there first by announcing some plot twist as “proof.” Proof of what, I’m not sure. Proof that they read the last few pages the second they got their hands on the book or proof that they sped through the book like a gourmand rather than a gourmet.

Not only am I a slow reader, but I also read more than one book at a time (when I get Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Saturday, it will share space in my backpack with Mick Brown’s Phil Spector bio, Tearing Down the Wall of Sound and galleys of Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter in the Dark and Joe Hill’s short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts). So, I’m like a sitting duck for some chatterbox on the subway, overeager newscaster or newspaper headline.

I see that the New York Times’ Michiko Kakutani has already posted her review in Thursday’s print edition and online—three days before this embargoed books will reach the hands of readers (who didn’t purchase their copy from deepdiscount.com). But I wonder who wants to read it? It’s not that I think she’s going to actually tell us who lives and who dies, but there’s more to spoiling the fun of reading a great book than just revealing its ending. I don’t even want hints that the ending is rousing or somber; or whether an unidentified main character lives, dies or is resurrected.

Once I’ve read the book, I’m happy to find out what she thought, but until then, she’s just another voice to avoid. I know, it’s an odd opinion for someone who works for a magazine that reviews books. But, the Harry Potter books are different than most books released and reviewed. I don’t read many series, so I feel differently about stumbling over some spoilers for a series that I’ve been reading for nine years.

I wonder how long The Crying Game’s secret would have stayed unrevealed in today’s proliferation of 24-hour news channels who fill the time with a blather of “who-cares?” stories. (Please tell me you didn’t really care about Paris Hilton’s jail visit or the paternity of Anna Nicole’s baby.)  

I really don’t even think the final book is supposed to have a “surprise” ending. I just think this book represents the end of a long journey that each of us has made via the solitary pleasure of reading. And it’s one we would like to complete without the helpful assistance of others.

Posted by Kevin Howell on July 19, 2007 | Comments (2)