I literally posted earlier this is week about LOVING MoaM. I’m not seriously thinking about not finishing. I’m in chapter 36 but I skipped over MANY pages in Hermione’s agonizing overthinking after Draco pulled back to let her decide. I’m definitely one for a slow burn (it’s my preferred) but I don’t know if I can continue reading. I even skipped to their declaration and I’m not even satisfied. Anyone else feel the same? I can’t imagine reading like 500 more pages still. Just me?
I definitely struggled as well! I also love slow burns, adult Hermione & Draco, solo POV with effed up Ministry/old pureblood politic prejudice stuff… so I thought this would be an easy top 3. I didn’t really feel a BURN though? I don’t want OTT, premature declarations of love, but damn.
I would say finish it… the ending/resolution is actually satisfying. There are enough side plots to carry through lulls in the romance, I think. Also - no one would judge you for skimming the repetitive inner-monologue angst fests (that’s what I did!)
My opinion is that there’s a lot of spinning wheels, repeated thoughts, plotless maundering, in the back half of the book and a beta reader would probably have helped—I’m confident that it’s very very hard to write something of that length and that most of us would get stuck in our heads. Really made me want to produce a streamlined version, though.
Agreed - as a writer I find it's definitely very easy to do all the things that you mention, and a beta has made a huge difference to my writing quality.
Myself, I DNFed it because I found Hermione far too self-aware, and the rest of the characters too self-contained, for my personal liking. Their awareness of their own thought processes was just too foreign to me, and their fears regarding inter-personal connection just didn't ring true.
I finished it but basically agree. My notes say that hearing Hermione’s inner monologue felt like watching the opening voiceovers of Call the Midwife on a loop. (If you’re not familiar: Vanessa Redgrave describing the vagaries of love/loss/community at a distance of 50+ years from the events she notionally experienced when young.)
MOAM Hermione is sort of… distant from and untouched by moment-to-moment plot, was my feeling. There’s points when that deep calm is very comforting but sometimes you want to really feel the feelings… Really good Scorpius and Draco though.
Hah, true! I have seen Call the Midwife a few times, and I see that similarity.
MOAM does have a lovely meditative quality to it at points, because of that distance - as you say, a deep calm - and I imagine that's a very appealing vibe to many people.
I found the Scorpius/Draco dynamic bewildering, myself - perhaps that degree of massive emotional disconnection, on Draco's part in particular, just isn't something I can comprehend. But then not everything is for everyone!
I love it. I read it “live” so I think for me that worked because it meant I was reading chapters one at a time. I can see how it can be difficult to get through when binging it. Hermione is a frustrating character in it! But it’s probably my favorite Draco or at least top three. The smut is top tier and I think the writing is some of the best in the community overall. I think it’s one where skipping actually hurts the read because it’s so layered. The meditative quality of the writing makes the pay so well earned.
It’s worth finishing!
Your not alone. Trust me. It was my first reddit Dramonie post because I desperately needed recs after reading MOAM. It was my first Dramonie fic and almost turned me away from the fandom all-together.
I DNF’d at about a little more than 75%. I got swept up in it to start because the prose felt good and substantial.
But the two of them were just so SERIOUS. and they planned every damn minute of every damn day. I’m sure people do that? But it’s not my cup of tea lol.
But moreso, it forgot Draco’s uppitiness and Hermione’s manic tendencies. It’s a lot of words to say I found them boring. Like I was reading a lot about people I should strive to be while simultaneously remembering why I am not like them.
Well written regardless. (Mint 🥹🌵)
I’m glad I’m not the only one. I’m sure it’s a masterpiece if it’s your ideal characterization of Hermione. I just don’t see her that way and to be in her head to that extent was too much. I really wanted to love this, as Scorpius was a huge draw, Draco too. But I didn’t like her at all. The writing itself is lovely, just not for me.
I literally could not get past the first line. "The quietest people have the loudest minds"? Really??? What is this, livejournal circa 2007?
I’m going to use this thread to vent my feelings on this one, because after nearly a year of reading it off and on, I finally finished it.
This fic was really good in some ways and really off-putting in others, for me. I technically DNF — I skimmed the entire last 50%, sometimes skipping quite a few entire pages or chapters.
Everyone was so completely OOC. I can overlook that, sometimes that’s a bonus, but I just never understood what made this Draco so swoon-worthy and I became completely exhausted of Hermione’s agonizing over everything to do with him even though she was apparently at peace and mature in every other sense of the word. I was also never fully sold on their relationship and feelings for each other — and that’s hard in Dramione works for me as I’ve read so many and familiarized myself so deeply with these characters and their various iterations and tropes that I can almost always get on board with them being together.
The good? I loved the gardening and home improvement descriptions. I enjoyed Narcissa’s character more than anyone else in the fic. I liked the portrayal of Scorpius, he was adorable, and I liked his relationship with Hermione. I liked the extremely complicated Mother-Daughter relationship, that was heart-wrenching and hit close to home.
I wish both the romance and the action plots were a bit more front and center — it got lost in the huge amount of words and inner dialogue imo. And I know the author warned us, but I just felt like Hermione really had the same crisis over and over and over and didn’t really have many thoughts about anything else going on, she was quite stubborn and didn’t grow much, which was disappointing because the world built around her had a lot of potential to be really rich and the various subplots surrounding her could’ve been catalysts into her changing her thought processes. I believe the author was going for that, but I don’t think it was executed so well. She seemed quite stagnant throughout the entire story.
I wish Ginny and Harry and Ron were more in-character, or at least had a bit more personality — I felt the author gave the majority of personality to Pansy, which was a fine addition, but all of the other side characters were a bit lacking and it was sad because I love big ensemble casts. I also didn’t feel they played a huge role like the author said they would aside from continuously cornering Hermione about her love life. Again, only Pansy really got a subplot and Ron was only really a plot device.
I feel so conflicted over this fic. There really isn’t anything else like it, and I think I just get sad because it had so much potential and executed some aspects really really beautifully, but others fell so flat for me.
I just skimmed a few chapters. It’s a “classic” and I remember being glad I finished it! I think there was a bit about >! Werewolves!< that was interesting but I could be mixing it up.
You’re not mixing it up, definitely one of the highlights of those story for me! There’s so much growth and trauma in this story that makes it worth it’s epic length, even if I think most of us agree probably 100-200k words could be cut out and it still be just as good if not better. I mean honestly how is it almost double the length of manacled and LIATOTZA??? Those both feel just as long to me? But maybe it’s just because they’re so dark
The story line was one of the main draws/keepers for me too! So much so that I immediately looked for other fics that featured this similarly when I finished MoaM lol
Anytime Kingsley is involved, skip
I finished it but I’m not a fan. I think it suffers from white feminism and main character syndrome. Some of the metaphors used are very on the nose — plants as a symbol for growth. The story is too verbose and would benefit from strong editing.
There’s a lot that’s good about it — the smut, Draco as a very attractive, competent, capital ‘M’ man if a bit OOC (which is fine), and some of descriptions of Draco and Hermione getting hurt were very vivid.
I think it suffers from white feminism and main character syndrome.
I find your point interesting because it was difficult for me to understand MOAM Hermione, all her problems seemed superfluous. The philosophy, personal growth or therapy that Hermione wanted to implement on others, I saw it as her wanting to feel superior, rather than helping.
If we think about it like that, Hermione is somewhat in character. She was always a bit of a judgemental, know it all brat at Hogwarts. But I think I just didn’t like the execution.
I didn’t like the push and pull between Draco and Hermione. It felt forced and unconvincing, especially when she’s already so involved in Scorpius’ life and has so many opinions about how to raise him. She picks the strangest things to have boundaries about. I also don’t know if I could forgive someone
To your point of feeling superior, that’s what I had issues with, which led me to think that the story has main character syndrome. Most of the characters seem to be waiting around for Hermione to show them “the way.”
When Draco says, “a dutiful woman, she is not,” I was like who speaks like that 2008? But also, Hermione in this fic is the most dutiful woman.
The dialogue didn’t really flow for me, and was more about the characters speaking in roundabout ways to lecture one another. That includes Shacklebolt and Draco. I would think it’s exhausting to be around characters like that. And I found it exhausting to read, especially when the characters could have solved it with one longer conversation.
As I said, there’s a lot to like about the fic. I can understand why people consider it one of their favourites. I liked the notes that Draco wrote to Scorpius; I wanted to see more of Draco; I think the WASP-iness of Narcissa was an interesting take in some ways.
I did something like DNF, I actually skipped a lot of pages/chapters, and skimmed to the end just to find out how it ended.
This was one of my first fics when I entered the fandom, so I was fresh from knowledge, and since it's one of the most popular ones I tried to read it, but the truth is I obliged myself to finish it.
Hermione's internal monologue instead of making me empathize with her, made me dislike her character. I still don't understand why she decided to jump into Scorpius's life knowing that she was filling the void of a Mother but at the same time didn't want to be romantically involved with Draco? It doesn't make sense.
So in the end, I would have preferred to early DNF it rather than continue, because the truth is that I didn't even enjoy the plot. A lot of people comment that they loved the Draco in this fic, I beg to differ. I didn't get to know him and maybe he showed a small percentage of who he is. He himself showed no interest in Hermione and then gave her an ultimatum, it was really at this point that I decided to skip to the end because I couldn't take it anymore.
I could not finish this work. Far too much thinking and far too many children. I just found myself bored.
I’ll reserve emotional growth and effective communication for my real life, thankyouverymuch.
Just skim a bit when you’re not feeling in the mood for the deep introspection. It’s worth it to finish!
MoaM was one of those fics that I listened to on audio and it was really enjoyable.
I searched "measure of a man" to see if anyone else had the same thoughts as me. I did DNF it after ruminating about it for a while. It has so much potential, but it just needs to be edited. There's slow burn, and then there this... I shouldn't read over 1000 pages and still have a barely existent relationship. If there's ever and abridged version, I'm sure I'd love it. Although, I do find Hermione insufferable in this.
Hermoine’s inner thoughts can be lengthy and tiresome. However, I’ve read MOAM as my first dramoine fic and I loved it. I really like the relationship between hermoine and scorpius (I have wanted to be an adoptive mother since my early 20s). The smut and slow burn is pretty good imo. I appreciate how real the decline of narcissa feels while reading. (I work in a neurology dept)
I’ve read it twice, still one of my favorites as I’ve grown into other fics and tropes.
I read it and LOVED it. But I’m re-reading it and this post was a godsend cuz like … Hermione are you dumb? Luna says you’re next at a wedding and H is like next to what? Luna says it’ll be in the summer and H says it’s fall right now… ma’am please! In my first read I thought Draco doesn’t show how interested he is. But now all I can see is him trying and initiating and H going we’re not together but I crave him, we’re not together but we’re going on a date with his son, we’re not together but he told me I have a say in his son’s life. I think what got me hooked and still does it the house, and the lifestyle. The regular meet up with friends. The conservatory. The job where she gets to cook and garden and not sit at a desk all day. The Scorpius storyline is lovely and I enjoy every bit of it. But Hermione herself is quite flawed but then again the author did warn us of that early on. The smut is so intimate and I just don’t understand how H doesn’t understand their dynamic after that.
the thinking in circles and questioning everything is EXHAUSTING. I quit another fic called Seek & Find for the same reason. It’s like ok I get over thinking but Hermione could win an Olympic gold with the way fanfic believes she can overthink. Now I will say I’ve read MOAM twice and I stand by it being one of my personal top dramiones but I can’t read it in one go. It takes me like a month and I take breaks with shorter stories as needed. Then I wait a year until I think I’m ready to put myself through it again lol