Title: The Hobbit
Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
Publisher: Mariner Books (2012)
Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Classics,
Length: 276 pages
Synopsis: "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit." Thus begins a grand adventure with the most unlikely of adventurers at its center. Bilbo Baggins, the humblest of hobbits, meets with goblins, dragons, dwarves, wizards, and elves in his journey "there and back again." Danger awaits at every turn, and Bilbo knows that if he ever makes it back to his hobbit-hole in the Shire, he will never be the same again.
My Rating: 5 Stars
My Opinion:
I don't need to shape anyone's opinion about this book. I couldn't hope to, at this point, more than 70 years after it was written, in the wake of an enormous movie franchise and with legions of fans more numerous than the goblins of the Misty Mountains. But I have an opinion, and might as well share it. What struck me most about this rereading was the language. This was, actually, the first time I've read the book for myself. It was read to me as a young child, and I loved it. Now, reading it myself, it somehow seems even more special. The conversational tone of the narrative and poetic language are reminiscent of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series (which makes sense as the two authors were friends and the books were written for the same audience around the same time). But what strikes me most is how special this particular tone is now. There's no way a book like this, with its paternal, articulate tone, could be written today. It would come across, at best, as pretentious or condescending. We don't talk like this anymore. We can't get away with the second person point of view Tolkien often uses, as if he were sitting beside the reader telling the story himself, just as he originally did with his own children. It adds something to The Hobbit that couldn't work in The Lord of the Rings. Where that series is, in the truest sense of the word, an epic, The Hobbit is fanciful, endearing, and, in an odd way, fragile despite its timelessness. It's unique and irreplaceable. Thankfully, I don't think we'll ever have to worry about it going out of style.
I don't need to shape anyone's opinion about this book. I couldn't hope to, at this point, more than 70 years after it was written, in the wake of an enormous movie franchise and with legions of fans more numerous than the goblins of the Misty Mountains. But I have an opinion, and might as well share it. What struck me most about this rereading was the language. This was, actually, the first time I've read the book for myself. It was read to me as a young child, and I loved it. Now, reading it myself, it somehow seems even more special. The conversational tone of the narrative and poetic language are reminiscent of C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia series (which makes sense as the two authors were friends and the books were written for the same audience around the same time). But what strikes me most is how special this particular tone is now. There's no way a book like this, with its paternal, articulate tone, could be written today. It would come across, at best, as pretentious or condescending. We don't talk like this anymore. We can't get away with the second person point of view Tolkien often uses, as if he were sitting beside the reader telling the story himself, just as he originally did with his own children. It adds something to The Hobbit that couldn't work in The Lord of the Rings. Where that series is, in the truest sense of the word, an epic, The Hobbit is fanciful, endearing, and, in an odd way, fragile despite its timelessness. It's unique and irreplaceable. Thankfully, I don't think we'll ever have to worry about it going out of style.
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