7/21/05

Should I, or should I not?

I want to talk about the new Harry Potter book so bad, but Miriam hasn't finished reading it. We were going to go one chapter at a time, but I just got hooked, and ended up reading the last 75% of it yesterday. I even read it on my lunch break.

So since I can't talk to Miriam yet, I want to post about it, but then there'll be all these spoilers up, and someone who hasn't read it yet (or who won't be reading it until the movie comes out, ahem, ahem) might catch a glimpse of something they might not want to see. I have to admit, despite all my rhetoric about "suspense" not mattering all that much to me, there is a certain amount of entertainment that comes from the twists and turns, revealing of backstory, and character development that accompany such a long series. There's never a replacement to the feeling you get when you first read something that's truly surprising.

But I was thinking, I knew that Darth Vader was Luke's father before I saw Empire Strikes Back. So when I saw it for the first time, I eagerly anticipated those famous words - "Luke, I am your father!" I don't think it took away from my enjoyment of the movie, and in certain respects it added to it. I cherish why things occur sometimes more than what actually happens. You can ask me about that in more detail some other time. But I realize that, even though it didn't take away the enjoyment, I still missed out on that moment of shock, and that's something you can't really get back. I think in the end, if it's something that's good and can continue on to bring more perspective to the moment, it doesn't really matter as much. But if Star Wars, or Harry Potter, was just crappy afterward, or if that's how it ended, I would more keenly miss experiencing that moment in suspense.

So, I'll spare you. For now...