I've been out of the abbey two days, I've beaten a lawman senseless, I've fallen in with criminals. I watched the captain shoot the man I swore to protect. And I'm not even sure if I think he was wrong.

Book ,'Serenity'


The Buffista Book Club: the Harry Potter iteration  

This thread is a focused discussion group. Please see the first post below for the current topic and upcoming book discussions. While natter will inevitably happen, we encourage you to treat this like a virtual book club and try to keep your posts in that spirit.

By consensus, this thread is reopened specifically to discuss Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It will be closed again once that discussion has run its course.

***SPOILER ALERT***

  • **Spoilers for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows lie here. Read at your own risk***


Connie Neil - Oct 23, 2007 1:17:34 pm PDT #3204 of 3301
brillig

I'm struck now...that it didn't strike me as odd.

The man does wear funky boots.


Vortex - Oct 23, 2007 1:51:11 pm PDT #3205 of 3301
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman

Seven Clues that Dumbledore was gay


Typo Boy - Oct 23, 2007 1:57:27 pm PDT #3206 of 3301
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

Yeah, OK. I have no problem with Rowling not putting everything she knows about her characters in her work; most good writers know stuff about their characters that is not in the text - although by not putting it in the text they leave their work open to equally valid alternative readings.

But she put a fair amount of trivia in the work. Even if she did not see it as essential to the series did she not understand that it would have been far from trivial to many readers? Honestly, is there any shortage of sentences she could have cut out to make room for something along the lines people here have suggested "I was blinded by his beauty for a time"?


Kate P. - Oct 23, 2007 4:17:55 pm PDT #3207 of 3301
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love

Do they actually say the character's races in Anansi Boys?

I don't think any of the black characters are ever described with the word "black," if that's what you're asking, but I think there are a couple of instances where a character's skin color is mentioned or implied. I remember Rosie's mom, for example, is described as resembling Eartha Kitt. Which doesn't necessarily mean that she'd be black, but that's certainly what I would assume until told otherwise.

The story would also have to take place in a setting where, to some extent, queer was the default.

Anansi Boys didn't take place in a black setting as far as I could tell.

Is Jamaica not a setting where one might assume that most people you meet will not be white? I'm honestly asking, as that was the impression I got from the book. I'm not sure what a "black setting" would be, exactly, but I do think that Anansi Boys took place in a setting where I found it easy to believe that most of the characters we met weren't white.

I think the question of whether you can parallel Anansi Boys with a story that treats sexuality in a similar way is interesting, but I'm not sure I can answer it fully. I can say pretty definitely, though, that J.K. Rowling's story is not that story.

I find it hard to make the leap from that to "being gay in the HP universe is totally not a big deal!" when we're given nothing else to support that reading.

I didn't say she'd succeeded in portraying that world. I just meant that may have been her thinking. (Which means I agree with you.)

Sorry, Emily, I did understand that you and I were in agreement. I was just taking your point and running with it.


Kat - Oct 23, 2007 4:23:20 pm PDT #3208 of 3301
"I keep to a strict diet of ill-advised enthusiasm and heartfelt regret." Leigh Bardugo

I think the question of whether you can parallel Anansi Boys with a story that treats sexuality in a similar way is interesting, but I'm not sure I can answer it fully. I can say pretty definitely, though, that J.K. Rowling's story is not that story.

But Boy Meets Boy, a YA book, might be close. Not my favorite book. But it does create a non heteronormative world.


Typo Boy - Oct 23, 2007 4:39:49 pm PDT #3209 of 3301
Calli: My people have a saying. A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken.Avon: Life expectancy among your people must be extremely short.

Also I think Swordspoint was a non-hetronormative world -- though I'm not sure queer identity existed in it as such. There was not much concern with genitals of sex partner, and much of the sex was between people with matching genitals types.


§ ita § - Oct 23, 2007 4:53:41 pm PDT #3210 of 3301
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Is Jamaica not a setting where one might assume that most people you meet will not be white?

Well...I wouldn't. I know people are surprised by white and "Chinese" and "Indian" Jamaicans, but they're completely and totally run of the mill. If someone told me Jamaican I would assume they've told me nothing about their race, just as if they'd told me Latino.

Add on top of that him almost using the name of a big white Jamaican family...even less so.


beth b - Oct 23, 2007 5:06:01 pm PDT #3211 of 3301
oh joy! Oh Rapture ! I have a brain!

Snape and lily - I saw as friends. I believe Snape wanted more, but they never got any where close to romantic.

D/G - their relationship was certainly passionate. I don't know if it was ever consummated. I never really put a label to their relationship. If someone had asked me if they were a couple- I would have been startled at my missing the obvious. ( I do this in real life too). ( I can be very clueless)

The original interview question is interesting. With everything revealed in book 7 , It is clear that that Dumbledore couldn't trust himself to love anyone again. ( but it was a kid that asked, right?)

I can see the point: and adding a line or so would have made things clearer, and wouldn't have hurt. But I am going to assume that JKR left it out because she didn't find a way to put it in. ( not saying it was impossible - but she didn't find away for that and 1000 other details)


Vortex - Oct 23, 2007 5:07:11 pm PDT #3212 of 3301
"Cry havoc and let slip the boobs of war!" -- Miracleman

With Anasasi boys, I started with the assumption that the characters were black because the legend has african origins. I think that there may be some comparison, because if you assume that the characters are straight, that's what you'll find. If you assume that they're gay, you'll find that as well.


-t - Oct 23, 2007 5:17:24 pm PDT #3213 of 3301
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration

Well, I just brought up the fact here that the really evil characters had French names and basically everyone tried to persuade me otherwise.

Persuasion was not my intent, ftr.