stunt_muppet

Bella spent almost the whole book on the verge of throwing herself at Voldemort, and it kind of worried me.

I dunno. While I didn't hate Dumbledore after learning about his Dark Secret Past (c), the fact remains that he neglected his sick sister (which I find, as I said, inexcusable) and advocated cultural imperialism. Whether or not he "should have" had to take care of his family was irrelevant - he still had to do it, and his neglect of that duty is, in the long run, what killed Ariana.

Now, I see both of those incidents as evidence of youthful selfishness and 'academic' (i.e. insulated) idealism rather than moral depravity, so I can't hate him for that. In fact, I'm sort of relieved that he's no longer the standard against which everyone must be held in terms of moral perfection.

What irritated me was Rowling's overly conciliatory tone in the "King's Cross" chapter; she seemed desperate to make us love him again in spite of everything ("See? See? He's still the good guy. You still like him, right? Right?"). That got on my nerves.

But I still liked the book, so...yeah. Glad to hear that you liked it too!