You people make me sick.
Obviously, I wouldn’t spoil a book/movie/etc for anyone. I just think sequentialism is over-rated. 
I don’t think it’s possible to really appreciate how a story is told on the first read. For a really good book, it takes many subsequent reads to properly appreciate the author’s craft in creating the book. Sure, on the first read, it’ll be a great surprise to learn that Hermione was really a tormentor in a dress and wig the whole time, but it’s only on the re-read that you can pick up the subtle hints and foreshadowing that was used to set up the revelation, and (in the really, really good ones) the way the whole structure of the story points inescapably to that revelation without giving a hint to what that revelation is. That, to me, is the truly fascinating part in literature, not the transitory sensation of surprise at an unexpected plot-twist. Even better, it’s an experience that can be appreciated nearly infinitly, and is only re-enforced through repitition.
Not that I don’t also enjoy the unfamiliar territory of experiencing a work for the first time with no foreknowledge or preconceptions. But it’s not the only, the primary, or the superior way to enjoy a work of literature, and what each person looks for from their reading experience is going to be different. Myself, I like the sense of looming, unavoidable tragedy that comes from knowing that a particular story is going to end badly for everyone involved, that it has to end badly for everyone involved, and yet still hoping on some level that, when you get to the end, it’ll some how be different this time. That the characters won’t make that one mistake that sends it all crashing down, that the last chapter will miraculously have changed since the last time you read it. The Once and Future King is a perennial favorite of mine in this regard, although almost any take on the Arthur Mythos works about as well. As an aesthetic experience, I rate that far higher than mere surprise, but other people’s mileage will obviously vary.
Thanks Veb for fixing the spoiler on the first page.
Oops. Sorry. Maybe I should have made it bigger, added more room or something, I don’t know. Although I thought it was pretty amazing- Darth Vader, Harry Potter’s father? Who would have guessed? Oops, I shouldn’t have said that. Back to the spoiler boxes for me.
Right now on the CNN.com home page, it says
Readers shocked by new Potter book.
And
Potter fans furor.
I’m only halfway through the book, but what this says to me is that a beloved character dies.
Even though it’s not much information, it’s still too much and should have been hidden behind a link. :mad:
Well, if you don’t want to know how it ends don’t click here:
Hogwarts is hit by a huge asteroid ridden by Bruce Willis.
oh and :
Rosebud
Sampiro you are far kinder than I would have been.
A FOAF sitting behind me (we were two rows of friends )at the movies spoiled the ending of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. I was so mad at this guy that I didn’t really know that I opened a can of verbal whoop ass on him in the show that his friends still talk about to this day.
I’m much better now.
No no, Shirley:
Harry’s dead through the whole thing.
Plus which,
Hermione is really a man.
Richliam, you are confused.
Bobby dreamt the whole book series of 1-7 .
or possibly
Hermonie dances with Johnny Castle. Harry gets Baby. and they all dirty dance happily in the Catskills.
You maniacs! You blew up Hogwarts! Damn you! Damn you all to hell!
I love it when Hagrid says “Nobody puts Buckbeak in a corner!”
A DJ on a Birmingham (AL) radio station gave away the boxed secret in the OP (the lamest book of the series: HARRY POTTER AND THE UNBOXED SECRET) on his show this week and is being besieged by hate e-mails. (Can you even begin to imagine the number of people twiddling their pencils like wands and pretending their hexing him?)
Well! I take back what I said about the odds of having HP spoiled being slim!
Can someone move this to MPSIMS please?
How is the book spoiled if it is something you want to read anyway?
Shit, have you never read something just because you enjoyed reading it? Have you never read a classic that you knew not only the ending but the whole plot?
At the end of the day it is a book aimed at kids. If you think kids were hurt by spoilers then you have never seen a kid enjoy a movie or book for the 10th plus time.
The people who “spoiled” the book for you wern’t being arseholes…they were just talking about something they enjoyed.
Get over it or read faster. There is no need for anyone to read something and not talk about it.
Because I wanted to read it WITHOUT knowing what was coming next, perhaps? Perhaps I wanted to read it without thinking the whole time, “I wonder how this huge thing is going to happen!” It’s distracting if you already know what’s coming but haven’t read the book yet, because it takes away from the rest of the action.
Yes, I read books over and over again, and see movies too, as do many people. I would also like to have not known what was coming.
Then you need to live in a bubble or not hang out wanting to know what happens in something that is so popular.
Seriously…either read the book because you enjoy it or just wait for someone to tell you what happened. Those are your only choices with something that is so hyped worldwide.
Just don’t grizzle if someone else reads faster and wants to talk about it.
Did anyone actually READ Harry Potter? Because
The Half-Blood-Prince is actually the “sacred feminine”
and
its buried beneath that pyramid in front of the Louvre
Because I like the surprise of not knowing what is going to happen.
Yes, but that is different. Those classics were not released on the day I read them.
Where do I mention kids? I was talking about me and my enjoyment of the book.
Actually, the person who spoiled it did so on purpose to ruin the experience of reading the book for as many people as possible. I think that makes them an arsehole.
I read the book on the day of release. I don’t think asking people not to reveal major plot points less then 24 hours after it was released is too much.
Maybe it is because I live in New Zealand but I find it very hard to get upset about spoilers. Perhaps I am just used to enjoying something despite knowing the outcome.
When I read a book or see a movie, I enjoy the experience. I don’t give a shit if I know the outcome, I only care if I enjoy what I am reading or seeing.
I do find it hard to believe that anyone could think they could read such a hyped book without coming across spoilers unless they bought it then took off to the wilderness. It had a WORLDWIDE release time! The plot line was never going to be a secret unless you read it very very fast.