My sister Doris bought for me the first six in the series in the Philippines. She had to badger National Bookstore just so I could get the same edition - the one with the Mary GrandPre covers.I also even have the companion pieces: Quidditch Through The Ages and Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.
I have yet to collect the DVDs because silly me thinks all seven films must be completed and available in a DVD collection before I get the collection myself. But after buying HP and the Deathly Hallows from Jarir Bookstore today (July 22, 2007) here in Riyadh, I was given a SR20 gift voucher which will take off SR20 from the SR199 price of the 4-DVD collection of past HP movies (excluding of course the latest - HP and the Order of the Phoenix). The voucher is valid up to September 30, 2007 only.
Should I buy the 4-DVD set now?
My nephew James thinks the HP saga is for kids. He admits he likes the latest HP movie precisely because it is not kiddie-ish (?). I quite agree with him in that the books seem to target children but I think this was just a marketing ploy. I think the HP saga must appeal universally as it tackles the proverbial good versus evil storyline. Besides, J. K. Rowling's greatest strength as author of the HP series is her talent for synthesizing myriad elements of myth and literature from various sources including J. R. R. Tolkien (of The Lord of the Rings fame) and even Star Wars. These stories might seem for kids but their themes certainly are not kidstuff.
As an article in CNN mentions, "[Rowling] is an excellent writer and one more attuned to her audience than almost any other writer... "[And] ... more adeptly than any other popular fantasist, she has shown herself adept at using fantasy to address social issues that frame her readers' experience and doing so in ways that are well suited to her core readership. Her books imaginatively raise issues of gender equality, social class, race, media culture, the self-serving nature of many politicians, the potential flaws of justice systems and a host of other satiric targets."
The final installment in the HP epic is more than 700 pages long (total page count for the US edition which I have: 784; while the UK edition has 608 pages) and about two inches thick. But just as I sat through the first six installments, and enjoyed every page, I would too with this one for I long to know if Harry Potter indeed dies in the end.
There, I did not spoil it yet for you, did I?
