Book Review: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

[hells_half_acre]

I have finished reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy!!

It was very interesting to read something that I'd been told about since I was nine. I was surprised by some things... like how Tolkien doesn't write characters very well unless they are hobbits, and even those are kind of sketchy at times. Also, my best friend is such a huge Gimli/Legolas fan that I really expected there to be, you know, actual build-up to their friendship and a good deal of bromance. My friend always complained about how there wasn't enough Gimli/Legolas in the films, but my god, I think the films actually did it better.

I forget who said it recently... but I agree with the idea that Samwise, not Frodo, is actually the real hero of the trilogy. I also like Sam's ending the best, but I'll get to that.

Fellowship was extremely slow moving, and I was annoyed by characters acting illogically... not to mention the previously mentioned character-writing weakness. The Two Towers started off fairly slow, but then ramped up. I actually kind of liked the way he wrote non-chronologically, and instead followed one storyline before going back to the departure point and following another storyline. It made events less repetitive. I usually always write chronologically when I'm writing from multi-POVs, so it was interesting to see it done a different way.

I think Return of the King was probably my favourite book. It was pretty action-packed, and the characters were written the best in it. I had been warned that the ending dragged on, but it wasn't actually THAT bad. I actually thought it was kind of neat for Tolkien to include aftermath of everything.

And man, for a while there at the end, Sam is living the dream - getting to shack up with both his wife and his boyfriend!

I do think the ending was a bit of a f*cked up message though...and it may just be me interpreting things in a sort of twisted way... but to me, the ending just seems like a neon sign that says "Suicide is a good solution to your problems!"

Anyway, better lessons I learned from Lord of the Rings:
1. Don't accept presents from world-traveling family members unless you know the object's provenance.
2. Always make sure that your loved ones are dead before you start the whole grieving process.... we'll just tack this lesson onto the horror-movie lesson, and we'll just say "Always make sure that dead people are actually dead!"
3. Whenever possible, allow your enemies to kill themselves - saves you the trouble.

I'm going to eventually read the Hobbit, but I think I'm going to wait until all the films come out first. I kind of like seeing the films first and then reading the books - since seeing the films doesn't affect how I enjoy the book, but reading the book affects how I enjoy the films (if that makes any sense.)

I'm not sure what I'm going to read next. I've gotten some suggestions on FB - World War Z, Snow Crash, The Night Circus, and Monkey Beach have all been suggested. As well, I've been recommended Karen Chance's books, but I'm not sure those are available in audiobook, so they might have to wait until I'm ready for a new paperback (I don't go through paperbacks as fast as I go through audiobooks).

Anyway, so far I'm leaning towards World War Z.

Comments

[kuhekabir.livejournal.com]

The films are great. The books not so much. Sure, the guy has a great mind, he did create an awesome world, but the writing really can't draw me in. I read it years ago when the first movie came out because I was curious and wanted to know what would happen.

I don't think I would have ever finished if it wasn't for the movies! Kudos to you finishing too! :)

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking today that I haven't seen a post from you in a while!

I'm kind of amazed that you hadn't read LOTR before now. But interesting to see someone's reaction seeing the movie first :)

When I read them as a teen, they were the best books ever! Reread them about 15 years ago and they were all right. I agree that Samwise is the real hero :)

[ramblin_rosie]

Actually, I'd say sailing West is more like moving into assisted living than like committing suicide. Frodo and Bilbo don't die on the voyage--that's one image I think the movies skewed; rather, they "retire" to the one place in Arda where they can find some measure of healing and rest for what remains of their natural lives, at the end of which they will die peacefully and move on to the Timeless Halls, which are outside of Eä altogether. But that might be clearer if one reads The Silmarillion as well (and/or some of the amazing Tol Eressëa fic that's out there).
[/Tolkienist]
Anyway. Yay for having read listened through the books and at least somewhat enjoyed them! :D And I'll spare you the Dean = Samwise and Sam = Frodo meta that somebody's probably already written somewhere...

[franztastisch]

Aawww, I'm glad you enjoyed it. :) And I understand that Tolkien is not the most gifted of writers, but to me that is really really not the point. And I agree with ramblin_rosie, that the West isn't to me a metaphor for death - to me its more like a mertaphor for eternity or something. But then again, the entire concept of the West - of Arda and the Undying Lands - is expanded on in The Silmarillion, so you get a better understanding of what it is by reading those. I mean, Sam eventually goes to the West. He takes the very last ship, after Rosie dies. And Legolas and Gimli also go to the Undying Lands. To me it's a form of eternity; the only mortals there are Earendil (who becomes a star - "this is the light of Earendil, our most beloved star"), Tuor (who goes with his wife, the elf Idril) Bilbo, Frodo and Sam, (ringbarers) and Gimli, at the blessing of Galadriel. Suicide is just suicide. You don't go anywhere, and certainly not the Undying Lands (re: Saruman's death - he can never go home). And Merry, Pippin, Aragorn and Boromir all remain in Middle Earth.

ANYWAY. :P

Read the Night Circus! It's wonderful wonderful wonderful.

I don't know

[caroline bozec (from livejournal.com)]

Totally agree than going to the West is like getting some help and a quite life more than committing suicide. But then, I read the Silmarillion too...

While I can take some criticisms about The Lord of the Ring (barely lol), I think you have to take into account that he voluntarily wrote the book as an epic story, the way they wrote heroic deeds and mythology centuries ago (and thus not empathising on the people but on their deeds). By instance, Tolkien was heavily influenced by Northern mythology. So, while it's true that character writing is not his best talent (but not that bad either, I thought), I think it's actually part of the charm : the story fits with all the legends I used to read and love as a child.

I don't know if that's clear...

I understand what you say about watching the movie before you read the book: I don't care enough about the movie (even if I like it) to be disappointed by the book...

[jeymien.livejournal.com]

World War Z is an awesome book! I second that one :)

[jeymien.livejournal.com]

A note on how LotR was written - it was actually serialized when he wrote it. He sent chapters to his son while he was in South Africa in 1944 He actually wrote it as each book is actually 2 books - for 6 books but release his publisher wanted it to be 3 - and he himself wanted it all as one volume for release. It's all very confusing on how it came together, but that's why it's written the way it is. - the serialization of story for his son.

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

One of my brothers was big into the Hobbit books when we were growing up. And I recall he enjoyed the Rings trilogy as well. I never read them in my youth. Only read the Rings trilogy after the movies were released. I really enjoyed the books and found them to have some nice insight into the characters that wasn't fleshed out as much in the movies.

As far as the ending and Frodo and others going to the far off lands, I never saw that as suicide. I saw that as that these people were done with their earthly life and they were moving on to the next stage of life, meaning they were dying without really dying. In our realm we would interpret this as moving on to Heaven without having to die. There is a lot of religious symbolism in these books and this was definitely one of them - at least that is my interpretation.

I haven't read any of the books you are thinking about reading, so good luck with your choice.

[nerthus.livejournal.com]

Book rec, here--I just read two great books by Alison Goodman, EON and EONA; they're teen books but so well written and suspenseful. They're about a young girl who pretends to be a boy serving in the house of a revered dragon master; she wants nothing more than to become a dragon master herself and bring riches and honor to her master's fading house, but if anyone found out she and her master are perpetrating a ruse pretending Eona is a boy, Eon, then the penalty is death. The 'world' of these two novels is a parallel of sorts to real world ancient China but also distinct and inventive; and of course there are DRAGONS, but the only people who can see them are the dragon masters; each dragon has a master and the master can only see his own dragon; the master and dragon share power and energy. But Eona finds she can see ALL the dragons, and in fact an elusive Mirror Dragon no one has seen or mastered in centuries returns and is slated to be Eona's dragon. But she still has to pretend she a male, Eon, and while hiding that she has to fight against another evil dragon master and the evil brother of the new emperor, who wants to kill the new emperor and all his other siblings and take over the empire himself. I like books with dragon themes but the paranormal ones always seem to have hunky dragons who look like male model humans, sigh; in this two-book series the dragons are actual dragons, and there is such a rich history the author creates of these dragons and successive dragon masters and this world's politics and people that it just sucks you right in. There IS a 'romantic' entanglement of sorts but it blends very well into the overriding action and plot of the books; I also loved one character who is a very important part of the novels and is in effect a transgendered person and one of the most interesting figures in the series. If you look the books up on Amazon they have a 'look inside' option and you can read the first part of Eon to see if you like the style, etc. I really enjoyed this story and in fact got so stirred up emotionally over some parts of it that I had to put it down and calm down before going back to it; certain characters put me in such a rage I wanted to call down my own dragon to do some righteous smiting, ha!!

[etoile444.livejournal.com]

You ate brave. Those are enormous books to read. Rewatching the movies however, is on my summer to do list. Interesting you say Samwise is the real hero. Kinda like how Dean is the real hero in SPN.

[galwithglasses.livejournal.com]

I agree with the whole SPN - LOTR connection and Samwise being the hero of the books.  It's been a while now but I think I really liked book!Faramir when I read it.  At first, I mostly felt like the books were bits of really exciting action separated by 300 pages of description of crossing the countryside and rhyming verse, sometimes written in a foreign language.  I confess I skimmed quite a bit of it when I read them after the first movie.  Then my kid got interested at about age 6 so we read big chunks of them together. I was really surprised at how much my real life each time impacted my feelings about the books.  I enjoyed them a lot more reading aloud.  Maybe that's part of their staying power.  There's something for everyone and you get something different out of them each time.  I'm glad they left the attack on the shire mostly out of the movie.  I think the movie benefitted from being able to interweave the two halves of each book together also.

The Hobbit is a fun read about an adventure that flows more like a story than the other books.  Part of the fun with the book is seeing what's going to happen next and if you wait til after you see the movie it will be a huge spoiler.  I suppose that could work the other way too but the movies have added extra stuff not in the book and it somewhat confuses the story.  Martin Freeman is a really great Bilbo though so you have that to look forward too.  I'll be interested to get your take on it after you've seen it.

[pxr5.livejournal.com]

Heh. I find I am near the opposite. I adore Tolkien. My fave is Fellowship, followed by Return, followed by the Valaquenta portion of the Silmarillion, with Two Towers last. The slogging through Mordor bit just bores me to tears.

For me, Fellowship is all about the Shire and the Party, and I love them both. Plus, the beginning of the Hero's journey!

[pielover62.livejournal.com]

I read LOTR when I was much younger and loved all of it. All this discussion makes me wonder if I might need to revisit it as an adult. I think if I do though the audio books sound like a great idea. I like to listen in the car, especially on long drives.