The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Hobbit
Book Review: An All-Time Favorite
Summary: 5 Stars
Bilbo is hysterical. Gandalf charms. The writing shines. If there were 6 stars I'd give it 7. That said, my 11 year-old daughter couldn't get into it. I'm not so sure the 4-8 year-old crowd (stated as the suggested audience on Amazon) is quite ready for this masterpiece; I'd say 10-14, or 10-110 rather. I loved the narrator and Tolkiens's vivid imagination. Things like Bilbo saying, "...and I missed second breakfast." Oh that delicious world of hobbits! Incredible. I adored every page.Book Review: An adventure for all ages
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read The Hobbit in eighth grade, on recommendation from a friend of mine (whom I am extremely grateful for, since it was my introduction to a world I have never managed to find my way back from and never want to). Though it may seem a little slow-moving at first, it is actually an excellent adventure story, though perhaps a bit much for younger children to attempt to read for themselves. (However, reading it aloud to them is strongly recommended!) Bilbo is a likable character, easy to relate to, because all of us want to go out and have adventures and slay dragons, and yet we also enjoy the comforts of home a bit too much. Gandalf is appropriately mysterious and yet somehow feels like a loving grandfather, and the Dwarves are endearing and bring a smile to your face. Even if you don't like fantasy, give this book a try. Who knows, it could end up being your new favorite.Book Review: Better than LOTR
Summary: 5 Stars
I think this book is a much better read than Lord of the Rings. I also think Peter Jackson should have made a movie out of this book. There are a million reviews out there for this book, so I just want to add that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Beautiful imagery, interesting storyline... This is one book that everyone should read.Book Review: Bilbo and the Thirteen Dwarves
Summary: 5 Stars
When I was in fourth or fifth grade, every afternoon we'd have private reading time. One kid in our class had a copy of this book called "The Hobbit", with this smug looking dragon on the front guarding some glowing gold. Between the pages of his book there was a bookmark with a royal red tassell on the end. I was more interested in the bookmark at the time, but I'd never forget that image. For ages I thought a hobbit was a type of dragon!
A couple of years later, my younger brother got into Tolkien and would tell me bits and pieces about "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" (the riddles, the heroes, Gollum, etc). One of my Dad's friends was into Tolkien and Middle Earth too. I had an encyclopedia of works of fantasy, and they spoke of Tolkien like he'd hung the moon. I was into fantasy, but looking at the covers, thick volumes, and the elven language everywhere, I avoided Tolkien's books. For ages, the only work of his I'd looked at had been "The Father Christmas Letters", which I thought was all right. I saw the "Lord of the Rings" movies, tried to follow them, though I ended up falling asleep halfway through "Return of the King". Though to be fair, I hadn't got much sleep the night before I saw that one.
What was wrong with me? Fantasy lovers seemed to get so much out of Tolkien, but I could never catch on, try as I could. I tried one last time the other day, picking up a copy of "The Hobbit". Tolkien had written this as a children's story, so maybe I might be able to plug into his world a little easier here. I was right, and I did. It's a pretty good book.
The book is all about a hobbit (a quiet, short creature with hairy feet) named Bilbo Baggins. He's very friendly, very helpful and a something of a homebody. He lives in a world full of all sorts of magic and wonder, but he has no interest in adventures. Or does he? Gandalf the wizard seems to think he'd be quite an adventurer, a burglar in fact. Gandalf is so confident about this that he's gone and invited thirteen dwarves to Bilbo's house. Gandalf has told them that Bilbo is going to lead them back to their ancestor's homeland, to get back both their treasure and territory guarded by Smaug the dragon. Despite the promise of a share in the plunder, Bilbo is not at all interested. Still, he gets dragged along, and after facing trolls, goblins, wolves, elves and giant spiders, becomes all the more stronger a hobbit for it.
I think the main reason I'd been so put off by the idea of Tolkien's work is the way that others have interpreted it. Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films, for example, are all in washed out, filtered or pastel colours and are full of mud, sweat, metal and bleakness. I found this book showed Tolkien's fantasy world to look nothing at all like that. In the book of "The Hobbit" the dwarves wear bright hoods, the autumn leaves are a deep red, enchanted waters are a mysterious black, the gems in Smaug's cave reflect light in every colour of the spectrum. There's a flavour to the work that's just absent in about every interpretation I've seen of the work. It's hard to put a finger on it. C.S. Lewis described such moments as "the joy" and "northerness". It's like behind every object, every tree, there's something deeper. This is a world you can get lost in. The narrative is warm and witty, as if your grandfather was telling it to you, complete with asides and hints at the story to come, which was nice. There is something of a twist at the end, with a message within the twist. It's not what you'd expect, and it may disappoint some, but I found it to be rather interesting.
J.R.R. Tolkien was a Anglo-Saxon language professor of at Oxford university, and it really shows. He's very particular about the words he uses. Check out the way that Gandalf tells Bilbo off for his vague use of "good morning", for instance. There's a lot of plays on words too, and lots of poetry. I haven't read as much ancient and classic literature as I'd have liked to, but I can see elements of what I have read in the Hobbit. Beowulf, one of the oldest stories in the Anglo-Saxon language, (and one I've read) features great halls, feasting and battles with a horrible beast by water, and so does "The Hobbit".
I heard that during the 1960s a lot of the trendier types were into to Tolkien (the Beatles had wanted to make a movie around one of his works, for example). "The Hobbit" has strange creatures, unusual names and a wizard who can puff mulitcoloured smoke rings which he can command, so I do kind of understand why this happened. Kind of funny actually. I also think it's funny that throughout the book Bilbo is caught in a fantastic place, longing to be in his warm and cosy home, while Mr Tolkien was probably in his warm and cosy home writing, longing to be in a fantastic place.
The edition of the book I read came with illustrations and a couple of maps, I'm guessing drawn by Tolkien himself, as there's no other credit for them. They also added to the depth and the "northerness" of the story.
"The Hobbit" I can see now has been rather influential on the world of modern fantasy. Joe Dever's "Lone Wolf: Flight from the Dark" features green scaly Giaks riding Doomwolves, similar to the goblins and the wolves they ride in Tolkien's work. Dever's sequel "Fire on the Water" features a mountain with a cave going through it, rather like Smaug's mountain. J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" has a dark forest full of giant spiders, as does the Hobbit. I could go on listing examples, but I think my review's getting a bit long.
I'll probably get round to reading "The Lord of The Rings", but before I do I'll probably get my hands on one of those Middle Earth inspired prog rock CDs (Jon Anderson's "In Elven Lands: The Fellowship", Glass Hammer's "The Middle Earth Album", etc) get some atmosphere going.
Recommended to lovers of fantasy and adventure.
Book Review: Bilbo: A Study in Character Development
Summary: 5 Stars
The Hobbit is one of my favorite books of all time. Perhaps it is because I read it as a child, and it first introduced me to dwarves and elves in a way far different from their Disney counterparts. Perhaps it was the humanity of characters laid out for me to see. I am not sure exactly what it was, but after rereading it for the upteenth time, it still has not lost a smidgen of its charm.
Sure, Lord of the Rings is the serious book, the more adultish, more classic quest fantasy to save the world from mortal peril sort of thing. The Hobbit is more of a quest to save Bilbo from living his life without a single thing happening that was unexpected. I think this central difference, combined with a younger target audience for this book, makes this book have a much more carefree attitude, and a generally much more merry tale.
The pace of the Hobbit is pretty rapid, since really the journey of this story would have been of a similar length as Lord of the Rings, with a lot of detail simply missing from this book. The first leg of the journey was almost identical to Frodo's in route at least, yet it is over in a couple of chapters. Really, the lesser significance of this quest required a lot less development early on.
What you really do see happen in the Hobbit, which is nearly absent in Lord of the Rings, is how a bit of a fussy homebody is changed into a daring and wise companion by means of the journey. Bilbo proved to be the lucky 'fourteenth' man on the quests of the dwarf Thorin to reclaim his homeland and treasure, and that was lucky for not only the dwarves, but for Bilbo himself. Even Gandalf discovered that there was more to Bilbo than meets the eye, as the hobbit proved himself useful in a lot of very different situations.
It is a wonder to see a character develop like Bilbo during the course of a single novel. It is an exceedingly rare sight these days, to see something like this happen, and it is refreshing to see it again here.
The songs in this book aren't the poet things from Lord of the Rings, but more like drinking songs with simple rhymes. This [songs] is not a favorite now a days, but I kinda like them. Trying to figure out a tune to go with each one is difficult at times, but it makes it that much better. You can always just skip them, like I did when I was a kid.
Highly recommended.