When this final installment of Harry Potter arrived in the bookstores, I knew there going to be people who stayed up reading until they finished. I figured there was going to be a flurry of spoilers out there and I was almost afraid to go on the net for fear of them. I really prefer to read books knowing as little as possible beforehand. All I want to know is the genre and the overall tone of the book, because sometimes I’m in the mood for something heavier and sometimes not.
So I was a bit surprised that no spoilers came my way. I’m sure I could have found out the answers to all those questions of who would live and who would die if I had really wanted to. But the media (at least what I watch and read) didn’t give anything away. All my friends in cyberspace were discreet. My children were at camp the week after the book came out and there was a rule that anyone caught talking about the book would have to dress like a clown.
So my oldest child and I were able to read the book through the way we like, unfolding as written. I’m glad of it.
Though the term “spoiler” is a bit extreme. If knowing what happens ahead of time were really a spoiler, I’d never reread a book or watch a screen adaptation. There has to be more to a story that’s worth experiencing. Still the first time–as with anything else!–is special.
Then there are the people who can’t wait to know. A friend of mine who hasn’t had time to get to read HP7 yet pumped me for answers over drinks. She truly prefres knowing things ahead of time. She often speed-reads to get major plot points and then goes back later for a deeper read.
So how about you? Do you ever skip ahead or do you prefer not to know? Did anyone “spoil” your HP7 experience? Let us know but remember camp rules: anyone giving out spoilers has to wear a clown nose!
Elena
www.elenagreene.com
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I haven’t read any HPs or seen the movies – never got into them – but since there was so much hype about this one, I did want to know what happened, so I looked for the spoilers to see who died and all that. Most of the spoilers I didn’t get because I never read them, but anyway, still had to know. 🙂
Lois
I’m a hopeless end-reader, and I’ll read spoilers online for favorite tv shows. I also sometimes skim through books as your friend does and then go back and reread slower, so I can savour the story and the writing. And I like the reread favorite books multiple times, so knowing what happens doesn’t spoil things for me. I haven’t read the HP books (I’ve seen the movies and I keep meaning to read the books but haven’t yet). I deliberately read a few spoilers online, but I haven’t inadvertently stumbled across many, so it seems it would be possible to read the book without anyone having given anything away. Last weekend I had dinner with friends. The husband had read the book and was dying to talk about. His wife, who was reading it, kept telling him not to mention the book at all for fear he’d reveal something.
Elena, I’m like you, only perhaps more so. 🙂 I really hate spoilers — and I, too, was happy that journalists and folks online seemed to behave themselves this time and not run around with headlines like (this is made up, no spoilers) FANS MOURN THE PASSING OF NAME-OF-CHARACTER or FANS REELING FROM THE REVELATION THAT YADA YADA YADA…
(I’ve actually had TV shows that I have taped to watch the next day because of a rehearsal or something — shows like Lost — where before I could watch it, a character’s death was given away by an online headline. Evil!)
And for me, it does spoil it a bit. When I re-read or rewatch something, I can still have with me the memory of my initial reaction to whatever it was — and I can bring back the feeling if I want. But if I learned it from someone else, and my initial watching or reading was full of waiting for this character to die, or that revelation to come, I never get that first, real experience…and so I can’t draw on it.
Anyway, that’s one reason I hate spoilers!
And as a writer, I know I work darn hard to set up clues and red herrings, suspense and mood and all that, and if it’s all given away by the back cover, what’s the point???
Cara
I will admit to doing something I’ve never done before: Reading the end first. I just HAD to know if any of the main kids died so I would be prepared. And even though I knew who lived and died among the main characters, I was still unprepared . . .
I don’t know when I’ll get round to reading the latest HP, but the word is that those who’ve deciphered the Rowling code (and yes, there is one) are not surprised by what happens.
My problem is I can’t remember what happens in the books although I’m very happy when I’m reading them. I remember thinking about three quarters of the way through the last one What is this About? but it didn’t really matter.
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Sorry, Janga, don that clown nose! I had to delete your comment because of a spoiler. Here’s the non-spoiler portion.
My sister and I repeated an argument today that we have been having for most of our lives. I always read the end of a book first; she is convinced that I am diluting the experience of reading the book. But if the destination is not one at which I will be pleased to arrive, I don’t care to take the journey.
I think this proves there are different sorts of readers. To each her own.
Personally I don’t mind sad or bittersweet endings so I can read even in genres where the HEA isn’t a given. I have to admit occasionally I am disappointed with an ending. Sometimes a HEA seems too neatly tied up or a bittersweet ending seems contrived to be “literary”. But I can’t know that without reading the whole book.
I learned my lesson about spoilers once when I idly flipped through the end of Joseph Heller’s devastating Something Happened and learned to my horror what did. Could never finish the book after that, which was a loss.
I didn’t want any Harry Potter spoilers, and was careful to keep my eyes averted from anywhere they might fall, but truthfully, it’s much as Janet says — what you think will happen, does. Lovely book, mostly, and the series as a whole is a marvel (I stood in line at midnight for this last volume). But as with any novel — and I’m clearly in the minority in a romance reading crowd — the end was a bit of a letdown. I never really enjoy the end of a book as much as I do the middle.
Pam and Janet, I too found several items resolved the way I expected. But then we are storytellers ourselves, besides having been readers longer than the average HP fan. Judging by my 11 year old’s reactions, younger readers are more easily surprised and experience the story more intensely.
I had to reflect on what the spoiler could have been. Then it hit me. I am so sorry. I was trying to be careful too. I aologize, Elena! The spoiler was unintentional.
I seem to be in a very small minority here, but I do know that there are other end-readers out there somewhere.
No worries, Janga. And you are in good company as Tracy said she’s an end-reader too.
Riskies, family health issues kept me offline for the better part of the last ten days.
Many, many congratulations to Ammanda, Cara, and Megan for claiming three out of the eleven spots. Way to go, Riskies. May six spots be taken up in the next edition of the book!
I like to see/read spoilers and reviews for movies and TV shows (except for my reality habit), but I’m a rabid no-spoilers-thankyouverymuch for books. I’ve been known to avoid back copy blurbs for some books, too, to maintain a pristine reading experience.
FYI… No “Notorious” or “Gentillity” in SoCal B&N so far. While my online copies are probably on their way to my home, I couldn’t wait, and so went earlier today to a B&N (on my way to the CVS) to see if I could snag a copy sooner. No luck yet. Perhaps tomorrow I can go to B&N on my way to Safeway. 🙂
I definitely avoided the spoilers for HP7, although I have been known to read the endings of books if it’s a new author that I haven’t read before. And I have no problems with spoilers when it comes to reality TV. But with HP7, I wanted to keep the experience as pure as possible, and I’m glad that I did.
I am not nearly as spoiler-averse as My Darling Wife, who has been known to threaten to do terrible things to me with a fork if I give anything away about a story before she’s read it. However, for this particular book I exercised my willpower and didn’t look ahead to find out what would happen. (The fork threat wasn’t a problem here, since MDW read the book first this time.)
For other stories, I have been known to look ahead to find out how a particular crisis is resolved. (Usually not the whole book.) And I do enjoy rereading significant bits of books that I liked the first time, even though I know how it ends.
Todd-who-knew-how-this-comment-would-end-before-he-got-there