Goodreads | The Hobbit (Paperback) by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Scott rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

05/28/07

bookshelves: halcyondaysofmyyouth, multiplereads, post-college

Read in January, 2008

There are some days when I actually think that the humble Hobbit is superior to it's bohemoth brother, The Lord of the Rings. It's a much tighter story, and Bilbo is a much more appeal character than is Frodo. I also just love this poem, from The Hobbit

Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.

The dwarves of yore made mighty spells,
While hammers fell like ringing bells
In p...more

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Matt rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

08/26/08

bookshelves: childrens, fantasy

Read in August, 1979

recommends it for: Children, parents, all those that stay children in their hearts

Some books are almost impossible to review. If a book is bad, how easily can we dwell on its flaws! But if the book is good, how do you give any recommendation that is equal the book? Unless you are an author of equal worth to the one whose work you review, what powers of prose and observation are you likely to have to fitly adorn the work?

'The Hobbit' is at one level simply a charming adventure story, perhaps one of the most charming and most adventurous ever told. There, see how simp...more Some books are almost impossible to review. If a book is bad, how easily can we dwell on its flaws! But if the book is good, how do you give any recommendation that is equal the book? Unless you are an author of equal worth to the one whose work you review, what powers of prose and observation are you likely to have to fitly adorn the work?

'The Hobbit' is at one level simply a charming adventure story, perhaps one of the most charming and most adventurous ever told. There, see how simple that was? If you haven't read it, you should, because it is quite enjoyable. At some level, there is little more to say. Enjoy the story as the simple entertainment it was meant to be. Read it to your children and luxuriate in the excitement and joy that shines from their faces. That's enough.

But if it was only simple entertainment, I do not think that it would be anything more than just a good book. Instead, this simple children's story resonates and fascinates. It teases and hints at something larger and grander, and it instructs and lectures as from one of the most subtle intellects without ever feeling like it has instructing, lecturing or being condescending.

At it's heart, the complaint I opened the review with is just a variation on one of the many nuanced observations Tolkien makes in 'The Hobbit' when he complains that a story of a good time is always too quickly told, but a story of evil times often requires a great many words to cover the events thereof. How often has that idea fascinated me?

Consider also how the story opens, with Bilbo's breezy unreflective manners which are polite in form but not in spirit, and Gandalf's continual meditation on the meaning of 'Good morning.’ How much insight is concealed within Gandalf's gentle humor! How often do we find ourselves, like Bilbo, saying something we don't really mean and using words to mean something very unlike their plain meaning! How often do we find ourselves saying, "I don't mean to be rude, but...", when in fact we mean, "I very much mean to be rude, and here it comes!" If we did not mean to be rude, surely we wouldn't say what we say. Instead we mean, "I'm going to be rude but I don't want you to think I'm someone who is normally rude...", or "I'm going to put myself forward, but I don't want you to think of me who is normally someone so arrogant...", or even, "I'm going to be rude, but I don't want to think of myself as someone who is rude, so I'm going to pretend I'm not being rude..."

I think that is what makes this more than just a good book, but a great one. Tolkien is able to gently skewer us for our all too human failings, and he does so without adopting any of the cynicism or self-loathing so common with those that seek out to skewer humanity for its so evident failings.

We fantasize about heroes which are strong and comely of form, and we have for as long as we've had recorded literature. Our comic books are filled with those neo-pagan mythic heroes whose exaggerated human virtues always amounts to, whatever else may be true of them, 'beats people up good'. These modern Ajaxs, Helens and Achilles dominate the box office, and I would imagine dominate our internal most private fantasy lives as well. Oh sure, the superhero of our fantasy might have superhuman ethics to go along with his superhuman ability to kick butt, attract the opposite sex, and enforce their will upon others, but it is always attached to and ultimately secondary to our fantasy of power and virility. How different is Tolkien's protagonist from Heracles, Lancelot, Beowulf, or Batman - short, small, mundane, and weak. Of all the principal characters of the story, he possesses probably the least of that quintessential heroic attribute - martial prowess.

And yet, he is not actually merely an 'average Joe'. Bilbo is just as much an exaggerated idealized hero as Heracles, it's just that those attributes in which Bilbo is almost transcendently inhuman isn't the sort of attributes we normally fantasize about having ourselves. Bilbo is gentle. He is simple. He is humble. Power and wealth have little attraction for him. He is kind. He takes less than his share, and that that he takes he gives away. He is a peacemaker. Though wrongly imprisoned, he bears no grudge and desires no vengeance for the wrongs done to him. Rather he apologizes for stealing food, and offers to repay in recompense far more than he took. Though mistreated, he harbors no enmity. He never puts himself forward, but he never shirks when others do.

How often do we fantasize about being this different sort of hero, and yet how much better we would be if we did? How much better off would we be if we, like Thorin could declare in our hearts, "There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." How often is it that we hunger after all the wrong things? What profit would we really have if we had in great measure the power to 'beat people up good'? What real use could we put it too? How much better off would we be individually and as a people if we most desired to be graced with Bilbo's virtues, rather than Achilles speed, strength, and skill with arms? How much less mature does this mere children's book of a well lit-world cause our darker fantasies to seem?

Now, I admit I am biased in my review. I read this book 36 times before the age of 16. I broke the spines of three copies of it with continual reading. Yet in my defense I will say that I'm considered only a moderate fan of the book by many. I've known several devotees of the book who, like the protagonist of Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451', can recite whole chapters from memory - ensuring that this would be one of the few books that would survive the sudden destruction of all the world's technology if only the world's story teller's survived. If you are inclined to think no book can be that good, and that my review overhypes it, so much the better. Go in with low expectations so as to be certain that they will be met or exceeded. Forget all I have said save that, "If you haven't read it, you should, because it is quite enjoyable."

...less

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Adam rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

09/14/07

Read in January, 1982

My parents had a BBC version of this on vinyl when I was about 3-4 years old, and they taped it for me onto four or five analog tapes that I listened to every morning. I'd spend hours and hours at the beginning of each day listening to the British actor read these words, taking them to heart and memorizing them until they became rote. By the time I was five, you could start me at any point in the book and I could continue on, word for word spilling out of my young mouth. I remember gathering ...more

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Bryon rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

12/21/07

Read in February, 2007

recommends it for: Anyone who can comprehend it.

This book took me on a great adventure, one that took me through a great range of emotions, and I have to say, it must be the cutest adventure I've ever been on. How can you not adore Bilbo and his hobbit friends with thier furry feet and quaint past-times?
Of course, by the same Tolkien (pun intended), how can you not be afraid for Bilbo as he faces trolls, gobblins, men, and numerous other dangers? I for one don't know how you couldn't, not with J.R.R.'s gift f...more

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Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0261103288)

07/21/08

Read in July, 2008

Personally I think that Tolkien is somewhat of a genius. I mean anyone who went through enough trouble to write an entire volume of history for a three book trilogy, the length of which is as long as any of the books in the installment, has got to be operating on a different mental tear. I mean the guy created entire languages for races of ancient people that he had made up the day before. I mean literally, if there ever was a father and founder of modern fantasy as we know it, weather it be ...more

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Joel rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

05/12/08

bookshelves: fiction, young-adult

Read in May, 2008

There are not many books that I have read twice. The first time I read The Hobbit, I liked it a lot. But I hadn't read The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and still haven't (so i guess I didn't like The Hobbit enough). But it brought a smile to my face when I saw it on our shelf this past summer and I decided that I would read it aloud to my 10 year old daughter. In reading it aloud, a few things happened. First, it took a very long time to read the whole book (8 months, in fact). Some of this ...more

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John rated it:

(review of isbn 0395177111)

08/06/07

Read in September, 1989

recommends it for: Everyone

Because it was meant for both children and adults, its tone is warmer and more easily accessible than the more famous and dense Lord of the Rings that followed. The tone tempts one to read it aloud, belying Tolkien's intent for parents to share it with their children. Despite the intent, it should inspire more mature writers to take care of how their language sounds. The story is magnificent. There are battles, lovely settings, feats of bravery without a Conan or Arthurian hero, morally-e...more Because it was meant for both children and adults, its tone is warmer and more easily accessible than the more famous and dense Lord of the Rings that followed. The tone tempts one to read it aloud, belying Tolkien's intent for parents to share it with their children. Despite the intent, it should inspire more mature writers to take care of how their language sounds. The story is magnificent. There are battles, lovely settings, feats of bravery without a Conan or Arthurian hero, morally-enforcing character growth, and one of the best endings in English literature. I don't care what you tell me about Lord of the Rings: this is a better ending. Not to spoil it for the fifteen people who don't how it ends, but everyone ought to have learned by now that a conflict doesn't end after some villain is slain. In fact, it usually a lot stickier and worse after that. But building to that curious end is a wonderful journey, speckled with the most bizarre creatures and problems, that are never too sugary or bleak - in fact Tolkien does a great job of giving the characters a kick in the butt when they have it too good, and of reminding readers of the futility of giving in to hopelessness when things seem impossible.

This book is particularly important to me, as it was crucial to getting me over my A.D.D. Throughout my childhood I couldn't focus enough to read more than very small, very short illustrated books. I relied mostly on comics to build my vocabulary. After Rankin and Bass' wonderful cartoon adaptation of the book (and after pretending to be Gandalf in my backyard for a few weeks), I was hard set on reading the book. My parents gave it to me for my birthday, in print and audio. I did my best to read it every day, and listened to it every night as I fell asleep. Never have I been so overcome with admiration or love for characters, from the brave, tiny Bilbo, to the grand, powerful Gandalf, to the threatening, gigantic Smaug. Along with a couple of books by Mark Twain, this instilled a love of storytelling in me that has never gone away. It made me want to be a reader, a writer and a hero - not bad for a kid's book from another country....less

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Christine rated it:

(review of isbn 0261102214)

08/18/08

Read in August, 2008

recommends it for: Anyone who would like to read Lord of the Rings

This book was a very ancient candidate on my "to read list" and I always planned to read it just before the Lord of the Rings. So far, things have worked out and I have started Lord of the Rings the same afternoon I finished the Hobbit.

I don't think I would enjoy Lord of the Rings as much as I do, had I not read the Hobbit just beforehand. The Hobbit really provides the reader with a lot of background information, which is an advantage when you get started with the trilogy.

Nev...more

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Nathan rated it:

(review of isbn 0261103288)

10/01/07

bookshelves: books-i-hope-die, fiction

Read in June, 1988

recommends it for: Pretentious assholes who are too stupid to see how right wing this book is.

The only Tolkien I've ever read. And it guarantees it'll stay that way. That's right, I'm one of the five people on the planet who didn't pretend to have read the Lord of the Rings trilogy after the movies came out. And that's using the term loosely. They weren't really movies, they were more like protracted masturbatory fantasies for stoner geeks and people who would otherwise be making b-horror film remakes. The Hobbit wasn't a part of the trilogy, and I can only assume that it got left it out...more

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Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0345339681)

11/18/08

Read in September, 2008

recommends it for: anyone looking for a quick fantasy fix

One night, my friend Josh son of Roy came over to my place, and we drank mightily, punishing our poor, withered livers with reckless abandon. We’d gone out, under the guise of 'grabbing some brews', when in reality, we were merely trying to find out where the cougars dwell in these fair lands, so that when my man Mike son of ‘Big Jim’ visited next time, we could watch him practice his newly discovered Cougar-Slaying prowess on the unsuspecting masses of suburban Chicago Soccer Moms. We w...more One night, my friend Josh son of Roy came over to my place, and we drank mightily, punishing our poor, withered livers with reckless abandon. We’d gone out, under the guise of 'grabbing some brews', when in reality, we were merely trying to find out where the cougars dwell in these fair lands, so that when my man Mike son of ‘Big Jim’ visited next time, we could watch him practice his newly discovered Cougar-Slaying prowess on the unsuspecting masses of suburban Chicago Soccer Moms. We were met with little success, after hitting the scummiest places within a three mile radius, beginning with a bowling alley. Our rationale seemed quite reasonable: Cougars should obviously know that a bowling alley bar is a phenomenal place to meet men and rob them of their youth, as it’s guaranteed they are getting bird-shitty, and unlikely any of their marks’ womenfolk are going to accompany them to waste their time at such a lame place. Also, they would see this as a wise location to lay their strapping-young-stud-trap, seeing as the competition shouldn’t be very fierce. Lo, we were disheartened with our scant findings, and sallied forth to the nearest alternative watering hole, one of those places that strive to be classy and charges too much for their half-assed selection of swill. Yet, there were cougars, and we made a mental note of this before rolling out to shotgun beers in my townhouse basement, and to shamelessly geek out.

Well, some nights are for Cougar-Slaying, and other nights, those difficult to recall ‘why-did-I-wake-up-on-the-couch-with-my-hand-down-my-pants-cupping-my-overly-large-balls-in-front-of-another-dude-and-where-the-hell-did-that-case-of-beer-we-bought-go’ nights, those my friend, are for Dragon-Slaying. Surely, finding a dragon in this day and age isn’t so easy, but if it was, wouldn’t everyone be proudly displaying a severed dragon-skull on their wall? So, sometimes you just have to discuss the honorable deed of dragon-slaying, and where better to start with drunken ramblings concerning fantasy books…

My current companion, Josh son of Roy, once sported a fantastically huge, awe-inspiring, and curly mullet (‘may it never wither!’ we would exclaim when he’d done someone a good turn); this might be all I need to say in order to prove he’s spent his time in the role-playing trenches, but if it wasn’t, let me now state that he bamboozled and perplexed me on this night with his equally badass narrative on a hardcore sonovabitch named Lord Soth, with whom he spent many an hour while engrossed in the Dragonlance series of books. He also took this time to openly scoff at me for being unaccustomed to the ways of this dastardly Death Knight, and proceeded to ask what, if any, were my credentials in the realm of ‘fantasy’. I was wasted and grasping at straws, sputtering, stuttering, slurring, and groveling for a chance to explain myself; all for naught, as he viciously punk-slapped me upside the head, demanding a reasonable and articulate answer.

“I’ve got a Bowflex you, wretched knave, I will kill you!” he shrieked (managing to drown out Shellac’s ‘At Action Park’ kicking ass on volume 84, no easy feat). “I expect a sensible answer immediately!!” Another well-placed slap laid me to the ground prior to a few deserved weasel-kicks. I curled in the fetal position and begged for mercy, and seeing none coming as he prepared for another, more thorough thrashing, spat out the only thing which seemed promising.
“I’ve read ‘The Hobbit’, don’t kill me,” I wept pathetically, “Brother, I‘ve read the Lord of the Rings trilogy as well, spare my worthless hide!”
“Prove it, lowly dog, besmirched descendant of rats!” Josh son of Roy demanded. I scampered off, half-crippled, to fetch my copies of “The Hobbit” and the LotR series, and brought them hastily for his scrutinizing perusal.

Upon seeing what I had hastily laid at his majestic alter I was sincerely crestfallen. I had originally acquired all four books at once during once of those Scholastic book drives in elementary school, swindling my folks with the twofold promise of some insignificant discount for purchasing 'the lot' and a pledge to potentially read a little more instead of scouring the house for dad’s porn. Each spiffy volume sported a somewhat-appealing black cover announcing it was a member of the much-sought ‘50th Anniversary Edition’. While this obviously kicked ass back in the day, I was thunderstruck on closer inspection of their current condition, immediately recollecting that during my last re-reading that “The Two Towers” was in such dilapidated condition I had to chuck it and buy a new, post-Jackson-movie copy. This would not go over well, an incomplete set; he’d smell my fraud as easily as the Great Smaug would recognize elven beer-shits in his cavern.

Looking back, at least I can firmly state I was right about that much. He quickly snatched the once-read copy of “The Two Towers” and made a face which showed utter contempt, the face a dwarf might make if you told him you considered pewter the most precious of metal alloys. Upon examining the other three in the collection, he seemed relatively reassured in my decency as his associate. Both surviving LotR books have obviously been re-read multiple times and generously mistreated, but the coup de grace that saved my lowly esteem was “The Hobbit”, which is just plain bedraggled; you couldn’t tell what the hell it was by examining the binding, and the pages fell out in clumps of about one-hundred apiece. Hell, he almost seemed impressed by this.

“Read it again,” Josh son of Roy intoned, dropping this battered tome at my feet, and hastening towards the dwindling cache of beer. Misunderstanding the urgency of this haughty command, I picked the book up and dove right into chapter one, An Unexpected Party, and got so far as the first use of the word ‘hobbit’ when I was pelted in the junk by a beer can. “Don’t read it now, retard, creeping Christ,” he muttered, and sauntered into my basement, where we managed to get more unhinged and resumed talk about finding a place where we could send our man Mike on a Cougar Hunt.

With that weird weekend out of the way, I faced another week of work on Monday, and, per usual, had about two minutes left to catch the train, and was frantically spazzing out affront my two classy Ikea bookcases looking for something to read. I’m such a nimrod that I even have a shortlisted selection at hand for just these moments, but never seem to want to read any of them in these situations…go figure. They’re almost exclusively re-reads anyway, (let's drop some names); Borges’ “Collected Fictions”, Ellison’s “Deathbird Stories”, Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”, Suetonius’ “Twelve Caesars”, and a few collections of stories by Lovecraft, Bukowski, and Twain. The books I haven’t read in that pile don’t seem to tickle my fancy at these moments either, so I just freak the hell out, hoping to find something before being relegated to playing Vortex on my iPod on the train. On this particular morning, amongst the many articles dislodged and eventually collected to be returned to their rightful places over the weekend, I espied the book which assisted me in narrowly escaping a righteous beat-down: “The Hobbit”. I gathered the several clumps of pages which somehow manage to remain bound together and chucked them into my laptop bag, realizing that this would probably prevent a future asskicking should the acolyte of Lord Soth feel like honoring my abode again any time soon and remember his decree.

I can’t believe how much I’d forgotten about “The Hobbit”, hell, I’d forgotten so much I was surprised the damn thing reads like a children’s book, I’d go so far to say that it makes the Harry Potter books read like Pynchon. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but for some reason I was somewhat shocked. I also wondered how this worked as an introduction to the Lord of the Rings, for some reason I thought that the LotR trilogy was pretty highbrow literature during my last reading, but upon reflection I have to admit I was probably smoking too much grass for my own good around that time, even the ‘Mr. Man’ books probably would have struck me as some hardcore philosophical insight.

That said, “The Hobbit” still kicks an adequate amount of ass to demand a reading for several reasons. First, I strongly advocate everyone take a break to geek out with some swords & sorcery once in a while; sure, it’s nice to be well-read and to tackle books of great import (or so I’m told), but it’s far more important to flex your imagination muscle, and since your own is probably atrophied from years of tedious junk foisted upon you in the cookie-cutter educational system we have, let Tolkien be your guide and launching pad for your own bizarre thoughts. Secondly, everyone has read this and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, so actually reading the books is a good way to help appreciate the references which our culture will bombard you with, as everyone from Zeppelin to The Simpsons is going to pull material from J.R.R.’s oft-praised realm. And lastly, do you really have the stones to tell me you get enough great adventure in your days? Are you really so caught up in your own glorious quests that you can’t spare the time to hear a hobbit’s tale, in which an unassuming little-dude from the Shire is duped by the wizard Gandalf into venturing forth at risk of life and limb to assist a crew of dwarves in regaining their rightful homeland from the dread dragon Smaug?

Don't wait to be muscled into reading this by a guy who has lost his mullet; take some initiative and be prepared....less

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Alex 8-22 rated it:

(review of isbn 0395362903)

09/30/08

Alex
10-1-08
8-2
The Hobbit

This book started out pretty slow but as it went on it got better and better. The book beginning wasn’t that bad though, it was pretty interesting to know about the origination of The Lord Of The Rings. After the begging though, there was a lot of action and adventure
This book had adventure, action, and friendship; the only thing it was kind of missing was the romance. That is all of the things except one that I like in books and if it would have had roman...more

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John rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

07/28/08

Read in July, 2008

I picked this book up with the intention to read only a few chapters before another book I ordered from the library had arrived. The narrative moves so quickly, though, that I was half-way through in no time and decided to finish it.

Like many people, I first read this book when I was very young, and re-reading it, I more fully appreciate what a great children's story it is. It is amazing how much Tolkien fits into a mere 300 pages (his story-telling is more restrained than his somewhat ram...more

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Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

11/09/08

Read in April, 1981

recommended to Chris by: My Mother
recommends it for: Everyone, but especially pre-teens.

This book started it all for me. I was in the 4th or 5th grade and, until then, it had been all picture books and starter books (i.e. Superfudge, Ramona the Pest, etc.). Then my Mom read me the first chapter of The Hobbit. She said I could read ahead and she would just continue from where I left off. Of course, I took the book and ran head first into Middle Earth. By the time I looked up, Smaug was dead and Bilbo was back in Hobbiton, with a really cool magic ring in his possession.

I've...more

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Holly rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

04/25/08

bookshelves: young-adult

recommended to Holly by: My Father

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
The hobbit-hole in question belongs to one Bilbo Baggins, an upstanding member of a "little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves." He is, like most of his kind, well off, well fed, and best pleased...more

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Ijul rated it:

(review of isbn 0261103288)

04/10/08

bookshelves: adventure

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in March, 2008

recommends it for: anyone who likes the idea of dwarf, orc and dragon!

When The Times already dubbed this book "A flawless masterpiece... One of the most influential books of our generation.", what more can I say?

Smaug certainly looked fast asleep, when Bilbo peeped once more from the entrance. He was just about to step out on to the floor when he caught a sudden thin ray of red from under the drooping lid of Smaug's left eye. He was only pretending to be asleep! He was watching the tunnel entrance...

Whisked away from his comfortable, unambitious life in his hobbit-hole in Bag End by Gandalf the wizard and a company of dwarves, Bilbo Baggins finds himself caught up in a plot to raid the treasure hoard of Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon... ...more

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Yahya rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

03/27/08

Read in March, 2008

این داستان توصیفات جغرافیایی زیاد و خسته کننده ای داشت. نویسنده لازم نیست هرچه را به مخیله اش می رسد روی کاغذ بیاورد. از طرف دیگر، قهرمانان نقش چندانی در داستان نداشتند و ارتباط چندانی میان شخصیت پردازی آنها و داستان وجود نداشت. خیلی جاها مشکلات با کمک امدادهای غیبی حل می شد (ع�...more این داستان توصیفات جغرافیایی زیاد و خسته کننده ای داشت. نویسنده لازم نیست هرچه را به مخیله اش می رسد روی کاغذ بیاورد. از طرف دیگر، قهرمانان نقش چندانی در داستان نداشتند و ارتباط چندانی میان شخصیت پردازی آنها و داستان وجود نداشت. خیلی جاها مشکلات با کمک امدادهای غیبی حل می شد (عقابها و بیورن و بعضا گاندالف، از ناکجا آباد سر می رسیدند). به نظر من، این نوعی ایراد است، چراکه شخصیت های داستان را تبدیل به عناصری اضافی و بی خاصیت می کند. حتی گاهی هم که شخصیت های داستان، تلاش می کردند که کاری بکنند، نقشه های آنان در نهایت بی خاصیت می شد. البته شاید نویسنده عمدا این وضعیت را پیش آورده؛ "البته! چرا نباید درست از آب در می آمد؟ تو که به پیشگویی ها بی اعتقاد نیستی، چون خودت در وقوع آنها نقش داشته ای؟ مبادا فکر می کنی که تمام ماجراجویی ها و نجات یافتن هابیت ناشی از شانس بوده است. تو شخص شریفی هستی آقای بگینز و من خیلی به تو علاقه دارم؛ اما در این دنیای بزرگ، تو فقط یک موجود کوچک هستی". در ضمن فکر می کنم شخصت بیورن هم در داستان اضافه بود. شخصتهایی مثل بیورن، به دلیل آنکه خیلی قابل تأمل هستند، بهتر است در داستانها نیایند. چراکه تمرکز بر داستان اصلی را کم می کنند. نه نقشی در پیشروی داستان دارند و نه بدون آنها به داستان لطمه وارد می شود. اما از انصاف هم نباید گذشت. این کتاب، ردپای ارزشمندی بود از یک انسان شریف که دغدغه های عمیقی درباره بشریت داشت. شخصا، عاشق بیلبو بگینز هستم و قصد دارم یک پرتره درست و حسابی از او بکشم و بزنم روی دیوار اتاقم.ا...less

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Melissa rated it:

(review of isbn 0618260307)

09/13/08

Read in May, 2003

So much, in both our world and Middle Earth, rests on the shoulders of Bilbo Baggins, the reluctant adventurer of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. But while Bilbo was reluctant to journey into the unknown, Tolkien effortlessly lures his happy reader into an epic adventure with his loveable characters, witty charm, and incredible world. Okay, maybe not effortlessly. Definitely not effortlessly. The man created a new world, language, species, (some argue literary genre)… that’s effort...more So much, in both our world and Middle Earth, rests on the shoulders of Bilbo Baggins, the reluctant adventurer of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. But while Bilbo was reluctant to journey into the unknown, Tolkien effortlessly lures his happy reader into an epic adventure with his loveable characters, witty charm, and incredible world. Okay, maybe not effortlessly. Definitely not effortlessly. The man created a new world, language, species, (some argue literary genre)… that’s effort. But very worthwhile.

As a bookstore employee working through the first two Lord of the Rings movie releases, I watched customer after customer insist on starting in the trilogy and just skipping over The Hobbit. They were foolish. The Hobbit, I think, is vital to the trilogy, to an understanding of the One Ring, of Gandalf, of Bilbo, elves, dwarves, orcs… So if you’re gonna read the trilogy, add a bonus one.

This review will highlight Tolkien’s enchanting narrative style. Though his narrative is third person, the narrator seems to have a concern, love, and interest in his/her subject. The narrator’s amicable approach to Tolkien’s characters and world easily rubs off on his reader. The narrator is self-aware and acknowledged his/her role in the story telling process, taking time to address the audience, or comment on a situation, noting that he/she would not want to be in such a nasty predicament, or something of that sort. Tolkien creates this narrator masterfully, as it comes across as charming, but not corny. I looked for examples to include in here but found none that could adequately demonstrate what I’m talking about. Taken out of the stylistic context, they just don’t quite work.

Quotes make the world go ‘round:

“You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.” (That was the narrator. It kinda shows what I’m talking about. Here he/she’s addressing the reader.)

“So comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their ending!” (Bilbo).

…much like my horrid reviews.
...less

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Nathaniel rated it:

The Hobbit

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The Hobbit

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