More magical the second time around

I had deliberately not re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows before seeing the first installment of the film, because I was afraid that doing so would make me one of Those Fans; hyper-critical and whiny about all my favorite parts being left out. As I left the movie theater though, I was plagued by one question: "I did read this book, right?"  I remembered a lot of running around in the woods and I remembered being a wreck at a certain point about 30 pages before the end, but I didn't remember most of what happened in the film. I definitely didn't remember the Ministry = Nazis, Muggles=Jews allusion being quite so heavy-handed,

So it seemed a re-read was in order, if only so I can whine and complain when the second part comes out this summer. Maybe I was wearing rose-colored glasses from the film, which I liked a lot, but DH is a better book than I remember it being. The extended travelogue through the woods of England didn't drag so much, the house elves weren't as annoying, and the last fifty pages are as wrenching and satisfying as the conclusion to any epic could hope to be.

As for the complaints/hopes/predictions for Part Two, I have only this to say: Steve Kloves, you better do right by Alan Rickman. You just better.