"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."
So, the time has come for me to read one of the most famous works of fiction in the world. (Well, depends on who you ask: Tolkien fanatics would probably tell you it is the most famous work in the world.) My first introduction to Tolkien was through movies - I cannot now recall when exactly I've seen the adaptations first, and whether it was only the first movie or the whole lot. It was on TV, so some time must have passed since the theatrical release, but I believe I was still in primary school. All I remember of it was liking Legolas. (I prefer Aragorn now, so I suppose it is true what they say about girls and these two.) But I have watched them numerous times in recent years and have come to love them dearly. And now, I've got the books under my belt too.
To say I was excited was not exactly accurate. I did feel it but deep in my gut a feeling of dread was stirring. The journey I was to embark on was daunting: the trilogy was long, some 1000+ pages of densely printed text in a fairly small font. Also, over time I'd just accepted the fact that Tolkien was hard to read. I expected to find some very unusual turns of phrase, words whose meaning eluded me, whole paragraphs I'd have to read thrice over to understand what was going on... I had my dictionary at the ready and was resigned to spending at least two weeks on the books. Yet, none of that was needed. The reason behind the difficulty of getting through was Tolkien's writing. His rather dull writing, I'm sorry to say. At times, reading this felt like a chore.
As of the time of my typing this I have finished the whole trilogy. My opinion is much better for it as the books improve, and I may not be as sharp and critical as I was when I had first finished 'The Fellowship'. Having watched the movies prior to reading definitely did not help. In my opinion Peter Jackson took the best from the books for his adaptations, and anything cut from it could have been cut from the book as well, for all its relevance and the enjoyment it brings. I minded the writing, some of the characters, the pace, the way the plot was set up... But let us start slowly, before I get myself wound up.
The first thing that I will say - and this goes for all the books as they're set up in the same way - is that I hated the division onto 'books'. Each novel of the trilogy is divided into two books and those carry different points of view. 'The Fellowship' starts off with the Hobbits: Bilbo's party, Frodo inheriting the Ring, after a decade Gandalf comes back - having been investigating the origins of the ring - to tell Frodo he must leave the Shire by the end of summer, then Frodo and Sam leaving, with Pippin and Merry assisting them on their journey, the Black Riders, The Prancing Pony in Bree, meeting Strider, setting out with him, meeting the Ringwraiths on Weathertop, then an Elf carries the wounded Frodo away to the Elves. The second book deals with Elrond's Council, the formation of the Company, setting out, the treacherous road through Moria, Gandalf's death at the hands of the Balrog, their stay in Lothlorien, Galadriel's test, setting out again with Elven boats, Boromir's madness, Sam and Frodo going on their own, the Orcs' attack. Ta-da! This works for the first novel, as the timeline is linear, but it somehow felt as if Tolkien stretched the first part so he'd have the some number of chapters as in the second. Can you tell I very much dislike the first part of 'Fellowship'?
"The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater."
Now, before I become a downer and before Tolkien's Nazgul descend on me for being sacrilegious, I shall also list the things I liked about the book. And first off - the world. Tolkien has created such a life-like world that it feels as if it truly existed somewhere. He has maps, he has names for everything - in different languages on occasion, knows the layout of every town, the family tree for each main character. Each species has its own language, their own songs and customs. It really is a great world and a perfect one for adaptation to the big screen, if you have the budget. He also writes friendship with great skill, as all in the Fellowship are loyal to one another, and Frodo and Aragorn are especially loved by their companions. I truly loved Aragorn and Gandalf here.
I am also partial to Merry and Pippin. In the movies they are little more than comic relief - the incompetent Hobbits who come along because they think it's a fun adventure and always moan about food. They are a hindrance and a nuisance and I had no great love for them before. But reading the books changed my opinion completely. They are loyal friends to Frodo, who observed him changing for years and offered their help when they realized he was going away. They arranged for his accommodations and then followed him through dangers to Rivendell because they loved him. They don't jump into the Council meeting, recklessly joining the Fellowship without knowing where they are going and what they need to do. Instead, after the meeting they bemoan the fact they cannot follow their friend and Gandalf vouches for them so they are allowed to go. I'm not saying they are without fault and without fear but they are a deal more important and mature in the books and are not used just as silly Hobbits who say funny things and need to be saved all the time. I really never thought I'd like them this much, but there it is. (Frodo, on the other hands, is a whiney little punk and I could do without hundreds of pages of him complaining. People on Goodreads said the Ents were boring but I found their adventure with Merry and Pippin far more interesting than Frodo's with Gollum.)
What don't I like? Oh boy... Well, I mentioned the writing before. As I said, I'd heard it was difficult to read and expected some tangled complexity I'd have to read several times over to get to the gist. It was not so. The writing was just - drab. I'm sorry, but Tolkien was not the best of writers. His imagination was beyond compare, to that I will admit anytime, but I stand behind my words that his writing ability does not match up. In a lot of places I felt as if I was reading history, geography and anthropology texts in turn, with such dry writing and handing out of information. I was wondering what of that I was supposed to memorize, as if I was going to be quizzed on it later. Another thing that bothered me were the endless poems/songs. The Hobbits are always singing, they have a song for every occasion: bathing, eating, walking, traveling... I was beyond sick of it by the time I finished the book. I did say before that the songs are a part of the creation of the world, each culture has their own, but they did not help this book's case. I liked the intention, but the execution not so much. (And don't forget Tom Bombadil, he did get them out of some nasty situations, but I found him annoying.)
I am not a fan of Russian writers. I never read Dostoyevsky, for example. I started Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' but abandoned it half-way through because of its overlong and tedious paragraphs upon paragraphs of descriptions. Well, Tolkien put me to the test by doing the same thing here: describing every nook and cranny, every tree and blade of grass, every person and their garb, the landscape, the weather, the endless miles the characters walk... I persevered, I somehow did (maybe I should try Tolstoy again), but I did not enjoy it and it served only to pull me out of the book. I know its intention was to ensnare you, to make the world so vivid you'd almost believe you were walking with the company, but for me it just had the opposite effect. I'm sorry to the late Tolkien and to all his passionate fans, but this didn't work for me. I appreciate the sentiment and the intention but it fell clunky and overlong. I could somehow see that he was a scholar in his writing, with all this attention to minutiae and the long-windedness. He really needed a real writer to help out and a heck of an editor to trim this down. There are so many accompanying books he's written about Middle Earth, a lot of this could have been moved into one of them.
To conclude, I appreciate the book for what it is - the precursor of all modern fantasy and the inspiration behind many works of fiction that came after it. I promise, I enjoyed the two following books more and will have more flattering things to say in posts to come. But as for this one, I simply cannot abide by its slow pace and the almost total lack of action, of things happening... But I read it and am glad for it. I leave you now with this poem, one you've probably seen before even if you've never read Tolkien, composed by Bilbo Baggins and concerning Aragorn, son of Arathorn. Farewell, and I'll be back soon with posts about the rest of the story.
"All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king."
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