Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (NO SPOILERS)

Went to the library yesterday to check out Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’d put a hold on it before it came out, but I was still pleasantly surprised that I was able to get it so quickly. Spent last night staying up way too late reading it, then woke up way too early to finish it. Unfortunately, in between there, I checked my email, popped out to LJ, and promptly had the ending utterly spoiled for me. At which point I shut down my computer and resolved not to have any other outside contact with the world until I was done.

Bastards!

I don’t understand the glee which people get when they ruin the enjoyment other people get out of something. Mean-spirited much? I’ve been being so careful not to encounter any spoilers, and then someone posts the ending climax in big, bold letters as the top post in their LJ without a cut or warning or anything. It wasn’t anyone on my flist, but just someone whose post I saw in a community and hopped out to their blog to see who they were. I still finished the book, but the whole impact was lessened, and I can’t help but wonder how it would have hit me if I hadn’t known what was going to happen. Guess I’ll never know now.

After my marathon reading session, I fell asleep for the rest of the day. Now I’m trying to play catch-up on all the things that needed my attention when I was either reading, offline, or sacked out. My sleep-wake cycle is whacked.

Bookmark the permalink.

17 Responses to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (NO SPOILERS)

  1. pegkerr says:

    Yes, I got spoiled on the book because someone posted an image of the crucial page (I think it was 606) with three key words underlined on twenty-four hours before the book was released.

    Bastards.

  2. weswilson says:

    I avoided ALL the spoilers on LJ, but was eager for a laugh at http://ytmnd.com . They had file names distinctly listed for multiple pages with the three word spoiler…

    My girlfriend had JUST started the book… like ONE PAGE into it… and I called her out of bed and said, “Hey, have I ever showed you this site?”… not realizing the spoilers that would be on the opening page…

    people suck.

  3. amokk says:

    It’s called being a jerk.

  4. skeletal504 says:

    apparently in some city… some guy drove by one of the harry potter book release parties around midnight and yelled the ending out to a crowd of children… so of course, much crying ensued. i just ignored lj ’til i finished the book. all of my hunches were correct, so i wasn’t surprised, but at least it wasn’t spoiled for me.

  5. melonaise says:

    Ugh. People suck.

    I’m surprised I managed to remain spoiler-free, since I read fanfic journals/communities and supposedly a lot of trolls were posting spoilers.

    There are people who are confused about why others care so much about a book that they react poorly to being spoiled, and they take great pleasure in mocking the “Harry Potter Phenomenon.” But why would I want *any* book or movie spoiled? Reading something that’s popular shouldn’t make me a target for idiots, but it does. Idiots.

  6. Anonymous says:

    From Dreamwind the Critter

    Have to admit, I wrecked the ending for myself by flicking to the last page and reading the three terrible words… but at least I did it to myself. Bad bad Dreamwind! But I did NOT reveal those three words to anyone, though the people I had lunch with on 16/07 knew something bad was going to happen by the expression on my face.

    I knew to avoid all LJ and USENET stuff after book 5. There were whole bunches of people who posted messages in alt.fan.harrypotter with headers like “Sirius dies and Bellatrix kills him.” Such people ought to be shot in the stomach and dragged into the cellar to die. I hope the person who screamed out the ending to all the kids got lynched by angry parents.

  7. coronalrain says:

    I understand your pain. I finished it last night and have been avoiding everyone so as to not have it spoiled, but while I was sitting on the beach on saturday reading it a woman was laying out her blanket and she started saying things about the book and I was cringing but when I asked her to please not spoil it for me she was nice about it so it was kewl. Glad to hear you still enjoyed it

  8. sylphon says:

    Luckily I ended up with time the sunday after it came out, and since amazon had decided to be unusually kind and deliver my copy on saturday instead of the normal ‘super saver shipping’ delay, I could read it (which was good, that way I didn’t have to stay offline long).

    I’ve seen spoilers plastered in comments spammed hundreds of times per comment, scans of pages as early as sunday afternoon (just after I finished the book), seen comments in non-lj areas, on webcomics, and even once on a political blog. Blech. Jerks are everywhere. I heard that toucher on the local radio station also spoiled it, as well as a shock dj elsewhere in the US. Apparently in england some wonderful person even hung a banner on a bridge to spoil everyone that drove that road.

  9. aimeempayne says:

    I was spoilerized as well.

    Though pleased at the various romantic entanglements of our beloved heroes.

  10. remipunx says:

    I am sorry you got spoiled sweety. Fandom people on my flist got spammed by a journal made just to spam, and it told them the big ole surprise. I was spoiled, but I meant to be. I hate not knowing what is going to happens. Makes my tummy hurt.

  11. One of the benefits of being an internet hermit is that you don’t wander around to a bunch of sites where idiots like that hang out. So when I got to the crucial scene, I was, as I wrote earlier, totally gobsmacked. I’m sorry that it was spoiled for you. For Book 7, though, I feel forewarned. I’m pre-ordering it from Amazon, and then shutting off all media until I finish it.

  12. Anonymous says:

    Spoilers

    With few exceptions (mostly mysteries or a twist like the boy who could see dead people), I don’t care if people tell me the endings. I want to know how the story gets there.

    Joel

  13. Wow, that’s *so* rude. I’m sorry that happened to you. 🙁

  14. Anonymous says:

    Since Rowlings is one of those authors whose voice makes my brain all tingly and creative, reading was interrupted with frequent bouts of serious wordage on the WIP. (Weird, but all my favorite books do that to me.)

    So, even though it arrived on release day, I didn’t finish it until four days after. Grrr. I was running into spoily stuff even on some of the political blogs I habit. Jeez, beeze folks, at least give it a couple of weeks.

    The hubby is working his way through it now; need to warn him about all the spoilers out there–he’s a slow reader.

    Pat Kirby

  15. mabfan says:

    I knew some spoilers from news reports, and for some reason, it didn’t seem to matter. Perhaps because as I was reading, what occurred felt to me to be inevitable.

  16. I too, was spoiled. I was out of town and just got on the computer one evening to check lj and there it was in someone’s icon. Grrr. Mean people suck.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *