The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition by J.R.R. Tolkien Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Lord of the Rings: 50th Anniversary, One Vol. Edition
Book Review: One of the Best Books of All-Time
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of my top five books that I have read all-time. The books can be very confusing at first especially with all oof the similiar names but watching the movies first helps to put some faces with names and gives you a general outline and this book becomes much more easy to digest. I am having a hard time finding a book to follow-up with because seriously there is not much that comes close to this book. I particulary liked the 50th Anniversary Edition because I liked having all the three books in one hand and the appendixes that were included at the end.Book Review: The Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring
Summary: 3 Stars
The book I read for library class was The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The book was written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is fantasy.
The book starts when Gandalf, a wizard, sends Frodo, a small creature half the size of a man, called a hobbit, and his three friends, also hobbits, Merry, Pippin, and Sam on a journey to destroy a magical ring that Frodo's inherited from his Uncle Bilbo, who found long ago. The four hobbits travel to a city called Bree and meet two wanderers called Aragorn and Boromir. They find they are friends of Gandalf and the two wanderers decide travels with them. Before the hobbits leave Bree an inn keeper gives them a message from Gandalf. The message tells them to go to an elf named Elrond's Palace. The hobbits soon arrive there and find Frodo's uncle, Bilbo, and Gandalf are also at Elrond's palace. They also meet a dwarf named Gimli and an elf named Legolas, who decide to join them on the journey. In order to get to a volcano that can destroy the ring, they all must go through a dwarf kingdom, called Moria, to get there. Gimli the dwarf says it is not a good idea because the palace was taken over by orcs, bulky, horned, creatures, long ago. Gandalf decides that they should go anyway and they soon arrive in Moria. In Moria, Gandalf is killed by a huge creature called a balrog in the process of saving everyone else in the party. The remainder of the group escapes from the kingdom and they once again set out on the journey. The rest you will have to read to find out what happens.
The book was very interesting and kept my attention throughout it. The book is probably best suited for middle school boys and people who like the middle-ages.
Book Review: arguing with despair
Summary: 5 Stars
There is so much that can be said about The Lord of the Rings... The power of the book for me was in the piercing spiritual insights into the challenges and choices of how to face despair. Against overwhelming odds, and a sure knowledge of the HOPELESSNESS of all possible action, Denethor, who was so mighty and noble and wise and therefore should have been one to have more self-confidence, chose to succumb to the despair and committed suicide. In contrast the two hobbitts, by nature weak and frail and therefore with even less hope than one as mighty as Denethor, took into account the utter hopelessness of their situation but chose to go forward anyway. This is where the value of Tolkien's own experience shows: he who had been called away from his home to a hopeless war, away from the one he loved, held a keen understanding of the paths that Sam and Frodo walked, and the darkness that Denethor faced...
The height of spiritual courage is conveyed in a few brief sentences that tell of Sam's progression while on the road in Mordor from hopelessness into a resolve that is made heroic by its utter selflessness... "But even as hope died in Sam, or seemed to die, it was turned to a new strength. Sam's plain hobbit-face grew stern, almost grim, as the will hardened in him, and he felt through all his limbs a thrill, as if he was turning into some creature of stone and steel that neither despair nor weariness nor endless barren miles could subdue." (p.934)
The book reveals the hopelessness of the road in Mordor in a way that the movie cannot do... the dread and despair of that journey as they realize there is no hope of return, and little hope of success ahead.
After struggling with the despair Sam's resolve turns to steel and he reaches the point where he rises above the despair.
"With a gasp Frodo cast himself on the ground. Sam sat by him. To his surprise he felt tired but lighter, and his head seemed clear again. No more debates disturbed his mind. He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them. His will was set and only death would break it." (p. 940)
There are many worthwhile insights in the book, but the single phrase: "He knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them," contains by far the most profound of all Tolkien's insights. It reflects the stance I believe that Tolkien took during his own dark days in the trenches, far from home, far from the hopes of his life. The lines he composed "Cold be heart and hand and bones, cold be travellers far from home... they do not see what lies ahead when sun has failed and moon is dead" were very apt and effectively conveyed the grim horror of being alone in the darkness far from home and hope that are meant to be conveyed as well in the dreaded journey of the hobbits to finish their task in Mordor.
It is human nature to give in to despair. It is harder still to forge on despite being familiar with "all the arguments of despair". The reality is that there are some who choose this path and then never waiver, even as they face their own deaths. Essentially, Tolkien is describing the highest achievement of the human spirit, which is to carry the heaviest burden WITHOUT HOPE, and yet not renounce the journey, in essence to renounce self and all self interest as secondary and less important in comparison to fulfilling the heroic quest. This was the point that Sam reached, and ironically, it led to "a new strength" for Sam. Denethor could not renounce self, and his insistence on clinging to his self interest bound him as a slave to despair, just as the wringraiths were bound as slaves to the darkness of Sauron, as all others who could not renounce the rings(self-empowerment) were bound to the same doom.
It is interesting to note that the same struggle between self-interest/self-preservation and self-sacrifice in service of the soul's higher calling is an age old struggle and well recognized in the ancient books of the world (John 12:27 "Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.")
Tolkien offers a whole world of amazing complexity and depth; this is just a scratch of the surface.
Tolkien's story is a great tale when read simply for the story itself, underneath the story lies a profound metaphor which taps into great reservoirs of spiritual truth.
Well worth the read.
Book Review: Beyond Five Stars
Summary: 5 Stars
I have already read this excellent and marvelous book (and am sure that many other viewers have too). I am not here to review the contents of it, since many other reviewers have already written what I wanted to say. I want to comment on a particular edition, the One-Volume Hardcover 50th anniversary edition. I wanted a sturdy, well-made copy of the Lord of the Rings, but was not willing to buy the expensive collector's edition. So I searched for an alternative, and I found this. It is less than half of the collector's edition price, with the same 50th Anniversary text. Plus, it is a sturdy copy, and well-bound. It has the same illustration on its dust jacket as the paper-back edition, illustrated by renoun artist Alan Lee. The best thing about this edition, though, is its pages. It is not the regular kind of acid-free paper, it is a strong, almost shiny paper (no, it doesn't hurt the eyes); it is hard to explain, but you'll know what I mean by this if you get it. This book is a beautiful, well-made copy of Lord of the Rings that will last for a very long time. Get this one.
As a side-note, I bought my friend the paperback version of this book as a present (she being a Tolkien Fan and in need of a replacement for her beaten up copy) and found that the paperback is also a wonderful alternative to buy for one who doesn't want a hardcover edition. It is a sturdy and pretty copy, and though the paper in the paperback is not of the quality of the hardcover, it is acid free. Plus it has the revised text.
Book Review: Experimental, psychoanalytical 20. century novel
Summary: 2 Stars
There is something strange about this ring business. If the ring is so darned powerful, why did Sauron lose it when he had it? And how come he seems so powerful now that he don't have it?
The answer must be that the ring isn't magical at all. Rather, it is an object of obsession for the poor Sauron lad. Surely he had an unhappy, traumatic childhood, and the ring has come to represent loss and repressed sexuality. There is a streak of the pervert in Sauron, that old peeping tom in his tellingly shaped tower. (tower and ring: the symbolism isn't exactly subtle.)
Obviously, the entire novel is written from his point of view, and describes his pathological visions of grandeur, of finally "getting the ring" (as I said, not exactly subtle.) All in all, it is an interesting literary experiment, but it goes on for way too many pages and becomes quite boring in the end.